Living the Tension: Toward a Theologically Reflexive Methodology for Diaspora Missiology

Abstract

Diaspora churches in North America inhabit the intersection of theological conviction and cultural complexity, navigating tensions between inherited frameworks and the pluralistic realities of their host contexts. This article proposes a theologically reflexive methodology for diaspora missiology, addressing Joel Robbins’s critique of the “awkward relationship” between theology and the social sciences (Robbins, 2006). Drawing on Paul Hiebert’s critical realism, Peter Berger’s sociology of knowledge, and Dallas Willard’s epistemic realism, the article’s framework—termed Living in Tension—integrates theological reflection with sociocultural analysis.