While the David and Goliath story structure may provide a family of stories that resonate with different cultures with different message, there are others. Joseph Campbell noted the Heroes Journey in "The Hero With a Thousand Faces" (1968) as one. Another is the one shown below: A quick read and one may be tempted to …
Continue reading Mythic and Parabolic Stories in Culture, Part III
If one takes the definitions for “mythic” and “parabolic” from the previous post, then, Myth: A story that has power within a certain culture because it resonates with the culture's deep-seated values. Parable: A story that has power within a certain culture because it is dissonant and challenges the culture's deep-seated values. First, clearly, using …
Continue reading Mythic and Parabolic Stories in Culture, Part II
As many know, within the religious context the term “myth” does not necessarily mean fiction (as in “not true”). However, I have noticed that even within religious circles there is a tendency to link the term myth with fiction. Take, for example, the story of David and Goliath. I believe that the story of David …
Continue reading Mythic and Parabolic Stories in Culture, Part I
"J. B. Phillips, the Anglican rector who gave us such a special translation of the New Testament, disagreed sharply with the line from a familiar hymn: "O to be nothing, nothing..." Dr. Phillips said he searched the New Testament in vain to find an endorsement for that point of view. If ever a book taught …
Selective parts from David Augsberger's book on Cross-culture Counseling. <div style="width:425px" id="__ss_10666002"> <strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/bmunson3/counseling-in-cross-cultural-environment" title="Counseling in cross cultural environment" target="_blank">Counseling in cross cultural environment</a></strong> <div style="padding:5px 0 12px"> View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" target="_blank">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/bmunson3" target="_blank">Bob Munson</a> </div> </div>
One of the more poignant stories to me in the Bible is where children were being brought to Jesus and the disciples were trying to fend them and their parents off. Jesus steps in and not welcomes them but notes that all of us, in some sense, must come to Him as a little child. …
Continue reading As a Little Child? Serving God Way out of the “Comfort Zone”
My wife is a Disaster Response Crisis Intervention Counselor, and she went with a team from our group, Bukal Life Care & Counseling Center (www.bukallifecare.org) down to Cagayan de Oro and Iligan City in Northern Mindanao, Philippines to provide defusing/debriefing (and training for others) in the tragedy of the flooding from Typhoon Sendong a couple …
I will be teaching a class in seminary called "Theology and Culture" in a little over a week. I look forward to the opportunity. Most of the classes I teach are topics of classic evangelical missiology. These topics are generally so focused on the practice of missions, the theological foundation is sometimes rather murky. But …
<div style="width:425px" id="__ss_10599589"> <strong style="display:block;margin:12px 0 4px"><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/bmunson3/the-eight-components-of-christian-community-development" title="The Eight Components of Christian Community Development" target="_blank">The Eight Components of Christian Community Development</a></strong> <div style="padding:5px 0 12px"> View more <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/" target="_blank">presentations</a> from <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/bmunson3" target="_blank">Bob Munson</a> </div> </div> Related articles Ethnographic Research #2 (missionmusings.wordpress.com) Ethnographic Research #1 (missionmusings.wordpress.com)