© The Author(s) 2016 197
K.J. Archer, L.W. Oliverio, Jr. (eds.), Constructive
Pneumatological Hermeneutics in Pentecostal Christianity,
DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-58561-5_12
CHAPTER 12
Diakrisis Always En Conjunto: First
Theology Understood from a Latino/a
Context
Daniel Castelo
D. Castelo ()
Seattle Pacifi c University , Seattle , WA , USA
“All theology is contextual” is a common remark, but at day’s end, what
difference does the phrase make? On the one hand, the phrase validates
theological perspectives from various self-identifi ed ethnicities (such as the
Ghanaian, Puerto Rican, and Korean, among others), and this develop-
ment certainly is important. People from different contexts will appropriate
features of the Christian way of life in a variety of ways, and these differ-
ences are rich with possibility for expanding and deepening one’s appre-
hension of the mystery that is the Christian God who bestows the “good
news” of healing and redemption. On the other hand, the phrase that “all
theology is contextual” has the danger of itself becoming a decontextu-
alized abstraction—a shibboleth that all recognize verbally while having
little to no effect on the way theology is pursued. Lamentably, for those
who simply “do theology” in some generic sense, the tendency might be
to recognize this phrase with a single chapter or an isolated lecture on
“contextual” or “global” perspectives while the bulk of the endeavoring
might go on to refl ect a more “typical” presentation or order forged in
