Week 6, Wednesday

I think what I found helpful today in our discussion of modernity was the idea that with modernity the world was broken up into spheres. Specifically, how this created a fracture between the church's relationship with art. It would seem that modernity was a product of post enlightenment thought and a response to the individual's rationality. I think this is helpful as we try to understand where and why the fractures occur between the church and art.

Week 6, Monday

The anthropological model was an interesting model to break-down today. What I enjoy about the class is having the opportunity to apply some of the theories to actual mission situations. In reflecting about these exercises I think that it might be an interesting exercise or perhaps helpful to have a singular case study for us to tackle in groups. This way we can focus our study and get different perspective from different groups on one situation. It's just a thought but it might be helpful in narrowing the scope and exploring some of the commonalities and differences in our approach. In particular, I was trying to think about how those of us can use these models and theories as a practical way of understanding, supporting, and partnering with those participating in world missions and churches in foreign lands.

Week 5, Barker, Chapter 10

In Chapter 10, Barker links cultural studies with feminism along lines of power, representation, popular culture, subjectivity, identities, and consumption. Barker also attempts to underline the parallels with how we see women represented in popular culture and how women are represented in our society. I think that Barker makes some excellent points as he draws on Meehan's study and outlines the most common stereotypes of women in popular culture. I also found it intriguing that there is considerable scientific evidence showing women are more verbal, co-operative and organized then men and that our brains are organized in different ways. It would seem that developing an appreciation for these differences might help us to gain new insight into members of the opposite sex and thereby become more productive and understanding as a group of people.

Week 5, Barker, Chapter 9

I appreciated what Barker wrote about racism as he makes the claim that we have to understand why societies have an incapacity to live with difference. I see this is as fundamental in developing an approach to understanding racism. In regards to rap music and the new ghetto aesthetic, I think that what we've seen is artists responding to the major areas of struggle and conflict within their culture. I don't think gangsta films and gangsta rap serve as some sort of broad stroke representation of the entire community. Rather, these art forms provide a commentary on some of the major issues that plague the black community. Representation is key and Barker goes to great effort to highlight positive black representation with the Cosby Show and Oprah. I think what's interesting is that with this upcoming presidential election we have the opportunity for the first time to see what America's response is to the idea of a black candidate and perhaps gauge just how alive racism is in this country.

Week 5, Bevans, Chapter 5

The idea of the anthropological model would flow from creating a contextual theology that does not rely on creating a predetermined message. Rather, one that works with the human presence of the culture to compliment the Gospel. As Bevans writes of the anthropological model, "Culture shapes the way Christianity is articulated" (Bevans, p. 57). I think it is also important to point out the major danger of this model which is that it falls prey to cultural romanticism. But overall, it would seem that the anthropological model is an important model of contextual theology in that it embraces the human nature of the culture.

Week 5, Cobb, Chapter 5

I thought the idea of what we learn from "God fiction" both in film and literature was quite interesting. The parallel that I found particularly relevant was using the social and historical context of the time in which the Book of Job was written.

Cobb writes, "Job was probably written late in the biblical period of ancient Israel, when Judaism had suffered the humiliation of exile at the hands of pagan nations, and at a time when its theological beliefs were in flux. The experience of exile had required a revamping of much of the Jewish understanding of God. We too live in a time of change in which we have lost many of our inherited theological certainties" (Cobb, p. 157 ).

I never really thought about the connections between the context of Job and the way we can come to understand various presentations of God in "God fiction". I think that as we move into a period that becomes more religiously diverse and pluralistic it's important to look to film and literature and culture to try and get a read of where we're at as a culture and what the ideas and questions are that the church needs to address.

Response to Aaron's blog Wednesday, Week 5

The commentary on Marx's knowledge or lack of knowledge of Christianity from class discussion also stuck out to me. I think that the Castro quote wasn't meant to mean that Marx never knew of the Sermon on the Mount. Castro uses the past tense saying Marx "would have" subscribed to the Sermon on the Mount because Marx was dead...not because Marx never knew of it. I appreciate your comments on how Marx was against religion as he saw it as an excuse to not work for justice in the here and now. I think that his hope was probably tied up in the government being the hope of the world. But I also wonder as a Catholic converting to Lutheran, where the Lutheran church dropped the ball? I haven't studied this very much but your comments seem to imply that the Lutheran church wasn't active in working for justice and I'm wondering how that was ties into the stance of the Lutheran church. Is this because church members thought the Kingdom wasn't here and now?