What Just Laws You Have . . .

Check out this verse from Deuteronomy:
“And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this whole law that I am about to share with you today?”  Dt. 4:8
This is a fairly loaded statement about culture in a small space. We often read the Old Testament, the Torah no less, and are amazed [...]

Who Tells Your Stories?

One of the latest books I’ve picked up is Island at the Center of the World. It’s the story of Manhatten Island and the founding of New York City from 1600 to roughly 1664 when the English took it over. Many modern histories mention the Dutch only briefly and quickly move on to the [...]

One of the Best Blog Posts Ever

Andrew Jones has put together one of the best blog posts ever about the emerging church and new media. It is filled with relevant links and playful interaction with the importance of the web and blogging today. In particular, he provides analysis of how society has changed since the time of Neil Postman’s book Amusing [...]

The Temple Scroll in Cleveland?

It’s kind of crazy to think that the first stop for one of the ancient dead sea scrolls is in Cleveland, OH, but alas truth is stranger than fiction. According to NPR:
 
For nearly 2,000 years the Dead Sea Scrolls sat undisturbed in tall, earthen jars hidden in a honeycomb of caves in the [...]

Clashing of Cultures

I am currently listening to a book on tape called, Sea of Glory, that details the US exploration of the South Pacific and Antarctica from 1838-1842. While the story is full of human conflict, fear, and peril, I have also noticed the clash of European Enlightenment ideals  with native cultures on the islands.
The explorers [...]

Theology and Culture: Scott Reads the Books For Me

The interaction of theology and culture is near and dear to my heart. It’s one of the reasons why I have set out on this book project.  Scott, a friend over at theopraxis.net has been posting quite a bit on theology and culture. I have to confess that I am insanely jealous that he [...]

Context, Media, and the Message

Check out this spoof trailer of Sleepless in Seattle: link.
While such creations are rather humorous and amazing in their display of creativity and ingenuity, they also illustrate an important aspect of media in today’s culture. You can essentially take a picture, sound clip, or video clip and make any image/statement mean whatever you want. It’s [...]

Media and Christianity

Tony Jones has a great post related to a new book The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture: How Media Shapes Faith, the Gospel, and Church, by Shane Hipps.
This is a project worth reviewing and possibly buying. Here is the introduction from his site:
There is a hidden force at work in our culture shaping our
life of [...]

Missionary Engagement With Culture

Christianity Today has an interesting article relating to the approach of missionaries when sharing the Gospel in another culture and its implications for us in our own context today.
Excerpt:Assuming they survive the initial contact (which no
one takes for granted anymore) the missionaries spend a great deal of
effort to learn the tribal language and culture. They [...]

We are embedded in culture. Now what?

I introduced my thoughts on culture by making my case that we are in fact embedded in culture and are severely limited when we try to break free of these limitations. Below are some thoughts on what we can do in the face of context complexities.
A recent interview with Miroslav Volf is worth a [...]

Starbucks Linguistics

As our culture changes over time, so inevitably does our language. A major point of debate in the field of linguistics is how we determine the meaning of words. Do certain words inherently have meaning, or do we assign them in some way? And if we determine the meaning of words, can we use them [...]

Getting Involved in the Conversation

Beginning the Conversation is a collaborative project for the church and by the church. I am currently sending out copies of the manuscript (both hard copies and e-mails) to people ranging from the lay level, to the pastoral, to the academic. Contributors are from all over the USA and I am adding contributors from around [...]

What is “Beginning the Conversation”?

This blog will complement the book that I will be publishing in the near future of the same title as the blog. It is my attempt to provide the church with a tool that will enable it to practice theological reflection in the postmodern context. This is a task for the whole church, therefore my [...]

Welcome to the Conversation

It is my hope that this blog will spark conversations about Christianity and culture within the church and how we can specifically reflect on God, our relationship with him, and his mission for the church.
This is a safe zone to begin dialogues about the response of the church to the postmodern context and how [...]