Week 10 – Wednesday
March 17, 2008
I left our last class feeling somewhat discouraged. While I do feel that we had some excellent discussions on a variety of cultural and theological issues, I still feel rather ill-equipped for applying this knowledge in my ministry setting. Perhaps completing the final paper will aid in this effort.
Week 10 – Monday
March 11, 2008
The video we’ve watched in class has been very enlightening, and the discussion on the production/text/consumption/every day life has been helpful. It seems, however, that much of our discussion has been cyclical reflection and theory. I hope that we continue the topic we addressed towards the end of the discussion: understanding how to respond to and apply what we’ve learned.
Week 9 – Wednesday
March 6, 2008
It’s interesting to look at the dynamic between the “mook” and the “midrif.” The former tells boys: “break the rules, do whatever pleases you, people will like you if you entertain them.” While the latter, says to girls: “you will be irrelevant unless you are physically attractive.” The former seems to stress nonconformity, while the latter re-emphasizes stereotypes that have existed for ages.
Week 9 – Monday
March 3, 2008
The discussion on “carnival” today is intimately tied with our reading from Cobb last week. Consider this remark:
In rock concerts we enter liminal time and space, we enter a ritual of anti-structure that has some capacity to cleanse our interior consciousness and enable us to imagine new was of being. The great mix of sounds, images, emotions….that swirl around one at a musical festival can be disorienting in a productive, rejuvenating way.
Like the medieval carnival, the contemporary rock concert represents the temporary triumph of an alternative way of being. And the experience very much seems to meet Tillich’s definition of revelation:
…one has been turned inside out, seen for what one is, then returned to normal consciousness aware that reality is somehow different than one had imagined it to be.
Week 8 – Wednesday
February 28, 2008
Interesting discussion today on deconstruction. There seem to be some helpful insights here with regard to criticism of current praxis. I appreciated that the presentation emphasized the response – brining things more inline with the biblical model. I think its essential to avoid the always present temptation to tear things down without suggesting how to build them back up.
Week 7 – Wednesday
February 20, 2008
Today’s discussion was particularly helpful for me because it very closely relates to some of my own ministry activities. I appreciated that we distinguished between church planting within the praxis model and the development of church outreach. It seems that the latter is a significant challenge for us today because the Western church has been so powerfully shaped by the modern individualistic mentality.
Week 7 – Monday
February 18, 2008
It seemed like most of what we covered today was introduced in our reading during the first or second week of class. I’m not sure that I understand why we are covering it now. The concepts are interesting, but I haven’t yet figured out how these topics will play out within the broader purposes of the class.
Week 6 -Wednesday
February 14, 2008
Ritzer’s analysis regarding the future scenarios for “McDonald’s” raised an interesting question. One wonders if reflection on the past would reveal any one of these scenarios with regard to modernity. That is, did we see modernity eventually take over all off society, or were there elements that remained unchanged? Can a society continue to function if all elements eventually take on a new framework?
Week 6 -Monday
February 11, 2008
I was not in class today because I attended the InterSem conference (http://web.mac.com/afstein/Intersem_/Welcome.html). Interestingly, this inter-faith conference raised some similar questions regarding how culture and faith interact. That is, the dialouge led me to reflect upon the inter-relationship between Christian/Jewish/Catholic “culture” and each of their respective faith systems.
Week 5 – Wednesday
February 6, 2008
The first part of class today offered some useful insights on how social justice issues relate to the message and work of Christ. The latter part of the class provided additional material on Marxism. Though I understand its value, I struggled to maintain interest in this last part. I look forward to moving on to further topics in the coming class.
