This post is an assignment for class. The first half will be key assertions Albert Hsu makes in the book The Suburban Christian: Finding Spiritual Vitality in the Land of Plenty. The second half will be my interaction with the book along with some thoughts about how this connects to my context.
Suburbia–Paradise or Wasteland?
“…suburbs are [...]
Entries Tagged as ‘Christianity and culture’
April 27, 2009
The Suburban Christian…
March 16, 2009
The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture…
In The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture, Shane Hipps advances a thesis first put forth by Marshall McLuhan–media is the message. Hipps builds a convincing case for the way media functions as a cultural architect conditioning both the way we perceive reality/faith and the way we practice. The book offers a convincing proof of this [...]
March 15, 2009
Jesus confronts market-driven Christianity…
Lent 3B
March 15, 2009
John 2:13-25
On March 19, 1966, Texas Western College, now known as the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), put an all-black starting five on the floor for the first time in an NCAA basketball championship. That night the Texas Western Miners, led by coach Don Haskins with star players David Lattin [...]
March 10, 2009
The Great Emergence…
This post on Phyllis Tickle’s book, The Great Emergence, is an assignment for my Eastern Mennonite Seminary course–The Good News, Culture and Anabaptism. For Steve and those in the class, the first section is a survey of the book. My own critical engagement comes in the second half. You can skip to that by going [...]
February 18, 2009
The Christendom mindset…
Incredibly helpful analysis provided by Stuart Murray (200-202).
He says, The Christendom mindset includes:
Orientation towards maintaining (but perhaps tweaking) the status quo rather than advocating radical and disturbing change.
Wanting to control history and bring in God’s kingdom (even coercively) rather than trusting the future to God.
Over-emphasizing church and internal ecclesial issues at the expense of God’s [...]
February 17, 2009
A dialogue on abortion and the politics of Jesus…
With the permission of my conversation partner, I am inserting all the emails we exchanged in sequence. My intent in my blog post from February 15 (EMS class assignment to engage with Stuart Murray, Post-Christendom) was never to misrepresent in any way V.’s perspective. In the interest of open dialogue with the common goal of [...]
February 15, 2009
On faith and politics in Post-Christendom…
A movement that proclaimed grace and practiced justice, a faith that had at its center a crucified man as the hope of human and cosmic transformation, could not have been converted to a religious civilization like any other without serious damage to its very essence.
-Vinoth Ramachandra, Gods that Fail: Modern Idolatry and Christian Mission
Perhaps the [...]
January 27, 2009
The Good News, Culture and Anabaptism…
Third Eye Blind – Non Dairy Creamer (new studio version!)
Steve opened our class last evening with this video. Here are some of the questions we considered as we reflected on the song, the lyrics–our culture and how the Good News (of Jesus Christ) intersects:
Who is the person singing this song? Is [...]
January 26, 2009
The Gospel of Escapism…
Channel surfing the other night I happened upon the new Jim Bakker show. I Googled it and found out he is beginning a new show today. (I don’t know how I was able to see it the other day). His guest was Larry Bates and the were talking about biblical prophecy, the end times, economic [...]
July 11, 2008
Submergent meeting in Philly…
I went to Philadelphia last weekend to be a part of the Submergent Next Steps meeting. Jason Evans (Ecclesia Collective) provides some good reflections on the meeting as well as a way in which this conversation might be understood. Eliacin (Mustard Seed Associates) provides a more detailed review of our time together.
Conspiring together with Steve, Mark, Jessica, [...]
