October 11, 2006
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A Relevant Gospel? Part1.3
Where is the line between cultural relevance and
becoming like culture? And what is a culturally relevant gospel?
As
Christians I do believe we need to communicate the gospel in word, action and
deed in culturally relevant ways, but I do not believe that means we align
ourselves with culture necessarily. Jesus didn't become Greek because it was
the cultural thing to do, and it was most definitely was the culturally
relevant thing to do. Instead he spent most of his time loving, teaching,
mingling, healing and communicating G-d's redemptive plan to both Jews and
Gentiles, leading them into a kingdom of good news that was at hand. He
didn't reverse his circumcision, endorse the gymnasium or stadiums, nor become
highly involved in the theatre. Sure he was familiar with the theater and
stadium culture, but his ministry wasn't focused around them. I think that
American culture is often in direct opposition to the Shalom of G-d, the full
complete life that G-d wants us to experience both personally and communally.
By aligning ourselves with culture we can often hinder the life giving peace
that G-d intended because our culture as well as all cultures throughout time point
to status, accomplishment, productivity, sex, power, money and self as things
worthy of pursuit. All are directly in conflict with the heart of G-d, YHWH. <<Deuteronomy
6:4-6>>
Comments (3)
John Esposito is a good source of information. He was actually summoned by Clinton to come to the White House to discuss issues in the Middle East. Unfortunately, the Bush administration has not requested his help...Hmmm...Anyway, I am not very familiar with the study of Islam yet, but when I come across some other great sources, I will let you know. Peace.
i do not know to what question this person is responding, but i am very familiar with Islamic studies - dear brother Esposito, although considered a top scholar in his field, must be read with a decently critical mind and certainly a good knowledge base of Islam. Esposito makes some claims that are hard for me (and others smarter than me) to swallow. for this reason, i would recommend any texts by Phil Parshall. i would love to discuss this further with you. also, the dummies guide to the middle east conflict is a wonderful resource.
I posted on her blog, and we should talk about this sometime. Jillian thanks for your quick response.
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