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.

Barker Ch 11

Television is a reflection of a constructed reality.  Many fail to grasp this by mistaking A reality for THE reality.  When news is seen as the sum total of all experience, it can be extremely misleading.  However, the consumer is not a puppet on this journey, he too willingly contributes to the process.   The last 40 years has seen the Television, not the book, become the central avenue through which new information travels.

Cobb Chapter 6

How often do we live in pursuit of the simulacra.  In pursuit of that which is not real.  I had a chance to speak to some youth at John Muir High School today.  I couldn’t help but think how often teenagers are easily seduced into chasing images and ideals that actually have no reality or truth as their foundation, and thinking that the accumulation of these things constitutes who they are.  My heart breaks for the young people who are caught in this cycle.  However, most adults are trapped in this vain pursuit as well.

Wednesday 2/13 Class reflection

The rise of individuality is not a bad thing.  It is the rise of individuality at the expense of a community that is damaging to society as a whole.  What makes an individual is a community from which they receive nurture and identity.  Modernity has brought a rugged individualism that ironically is creating individuals who are all the same.  The more isolated and separated we become from one another, the more like one another we become.  We dress alike, we think alike, feel alike.  We all respond to change the way Dr.Phil prescribes.  In a sense we are drowning in ourselves.