Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Week 3, Barker Chapter 6

In this chapter I keyed into the idea that "Globalization is not constituted by a monolithic one-way flow from the west-to-the-rest" (Barker, p.173). Instead, we need to realize that our increased consumer culture and our newfound means of globalization has created an environment in which we consume all sorts of new products. I found it particularly interesting how this plays out with religion. Not only do our churches swim against the tide of catering services/programs to the church members. But we're quickly becoming less and less of a Christian nation. Islam and Hinduism, and other world religions are quickly becoming more and more popular. I think this important to realize and evaluate as we move forward in stepping out into the world. I think the task in a large part becomes understanding the other religions and realizing how Christianity differentiates itself in a positive way from these other religions.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

"But we're quickly becoming less and less of a Christian nation."

Totally and (i'd argue) this has serious implications for the church's mission.