Week 7 response to Emmet

Youth are constantly in flux.  It is perhaps the most harrowing and promising time in an individual’s existence.  Yet what it means to be “young” is constantly changing.  Chap Clark has done many studies regarding adolescense, and found that what it means to be 12 years old today is radically different from what it meant to be 12 in 1940.  There is today a frustration with childhood and youth that can be seen in the way that celebrities crash their ferraris and BMW’s.  Often we impose adulthood upon our youth.  When youth reach adulthood, in the sense of age, many times they now find themselves in a position to develop and live the childhood that was previously denied them in many ways.

Barker Chapter 14

Cultural Politics, or the politics of culture is intriguing.  The “power to name the world” is an awe-inspiring concept yet it is somewhat of a paradox.  Who is in possession of this “power?”  Politics often arise out of that which is cultural and impose governmental regulations and restrictions on culture.  Often the two blend and a clear line of demarcation is no longer able to be discerned.  At other times cultural representation is so powerful that is taken for absolute truth and reality.

Barker Chapter 13

The social classification of age is often over looked in the discussion of culture and society.  This is quite ironic being that it is a real biological difference in human beings.  Race is largely a social construct, yet it often dominates these types of discussions.  Often the young are the ones who are discriminated against in this area of study.  An adoloscent by default cannot do certain things an adult can do.  Teenagers are in a quandary, expecting to possess the maturity and level of responsibility of an adult, yet without many of the freedoms.  However, there are myriad reasons for this which cannot be explored in one blog.

Bevans Chapter 7

The synthetic model of theology is quite different from anything we’ve studied so far.  It seems to be a model that one would think would fit perfectly into a post-modern society.  It’s emphasis on dialogue and process of relationship are extremely non-threathening and can flow through different social settings easily.  The drawback is indeed what it potentially can do to if not done properly.  This however goes for any model.  With the synthetic model there seems to be a high risk of anything being satisfactory as a witness to scripture.

Cobb Chapter 7

The question of what went wrong, or what IS wrong has been attempted to be answered by popular culture in many ways.  As Cobb pointed out, the Gothic is a reflection of a sense of loss and dissappointment with sin that has been passed through generations.  It is evident though, that in films and mini-series these wrongs are righted in half an hour plots that satisfy our thirst for justice and due punishment for offenders.  What has gone wrong is indeed a pressing question.

2/20 reflection

Today’s lecture was extremely interactive and I enjoyed it for the most part.  Thinking of how a church plant and an already existing church could implement the praxis model was quite challenging to say the least.  It seemed that as soon as one issue was resolved in terms of meeting the needs of a particular community, it gave rise to several others.

Monday Class reflection 2/18

The relationship between the signifier and the signified is so close, that we often never even question it or think about it.  It is only when these things become blurred that we realize their existence.  It is when green, or dog, cease to signify what we think they should, that we start to see the relationship.

Week 7 response to Todd’s Blog

It is indeed fascinating to see how humans contemplate their existence through popular culture.  What would we be without the booming yet seductive voice of popular culture telling us what and who we already are?  Self-definition is really not a definition of self.  As Barker point out, the news is a construction of reality.  Identity in our cultural context seems to be more and more a construction of popular images.  We piece these images together, they tell us who we are or who we ought to be, and we exist.  We do this before we go to God.  In fact, how many people (christians) most likely have a pop culture construction of who they are that they fit God into?

Bevans Ch 6

The Praxis Model provides some key contributions to contextual theology without a doubt.  “We best know God by acting in partnership with God.”  The truth in this statement is that the Kingdom of God is not a philosophy, but is something to which Christ IS calling us to be an active participant in.  It is a way of living and practice.  It is a way of seeing that demands a subsequent way of doing.  It is a revelation, that has as it’s expectation, active cooperation.  Oh that rhymed. lol

Barker Ch 12

Cities tell stories.  Thinking about Pasadena gives a clear example of this truth.  The 210 freeway marks the dividing line between South and Northwest Pasadena.  So much concerning a person’s social status is defined by “what side” of the 210 she or he lives on.  In the 1960’s the building of the freeway forced many people of color out of Pasadena all together, or into the Northwest corner.  For proof of this, simply walk or drive slowly down Los Robles and keep an eye on how the city changes from corner to corner as one goes from Northwest to South Pasadena.