ABSTRACT

The term contextualisation emerged from discussions around the third mandate programme of the Theological Education Fund, then closely related to the World Council of Churches. The epochs of Christian art in the Global South follow the phases of the missionary expansion of the Christian faith. The terminology and theory developed in the research on contextual theology can also be applied to contextual Christian art. Regarding the genre of local iconographies, this chapter distinguishes between temple and court art, on the one hand, and folk art, on the other hand. It concentrates on examples from the fourth epoch, the era of contextualisation. When regarded in the context of Dalit theology, this appears to be a reflective contextualisation that renounces inculturation following the dialogue of theologians of Brahmin descent with Hinduism. Sigit Santosa not only breaks new ground iconographically and theologically, but also crosses the boundaries of the whole contextualisation project.