The following might be considered a "midrash aggadah." While these can vary, they are often stories built on a Biblical narrative. Sometimes they essentially serve as a running commentary. Other times, they can be quite speculative, leading hopefully to interesting discussions. <Note: I originally had called this story "Solomon's 2nd Dream" until I realized that …
Month: July 2018
Learning a New Term: “Symbolic Interactionism”
I have recently begun reading the book Participant Observation by James Spradley. I suppose I should have read it years ago... but better late than never. In Chapter One he references Herbert Blumer (1969) and his work Symbolic Interactionism. Three premises of this theory are (in my own wording) People act towards objects (nouns of …
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Religiopolitical Power
Sometimes things are funny in hindsight. Just about two years ago now, the campaign for the US presidential election was in full swing. Some people lobbied me to vote for one candidate or another. I have no problem with that. While I have never tried to convince someone to vote the way I do in …
What Would You Do If Jesus Returned… in 200 Years?
Many have asked the question, "What would you do if Jesus returned tomorrow." I generally don't worry about that question. I look to the Parable of the Faithful Servant for wisdom. The faithful servant does not focus on when his master will return... but rather to be faithful each day... doing what one should be …
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Inclusive Uniqueness
In my research for the student textbook on Inter-Religious Dialogue I am writing, I came upon a nice article that included a disagreement between two leaders in the field of IRD in the 1970s--- John Hick and Max Warren. (“Evangelicalism without Hyphens: Max Warren, the Tradition and Theology of Mission” by Tim Yates. Anvil: Journal …
Embracing Mystery
Above is a graph on XKCD. It is described as A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language. You can visit this specific comic at https://xkcd.com/1991/ The graph is meant to be humourous but also reasonable. It looks at areas of study based on two spectra--- How big is the things studied, and what is …
A Lot Like Lot
This post makes the, controversial (?), suggestion that Lot lacked cultural flexibility, and that this led to his downfall. If curious, please read on. I was teaching a little seminar on Missionary Anthropology in Hong Kong a couple of days ago. I was talking about levels of acculturation--- the fact that we often go through …
Fade or Flourish in 1st Millenium Urban Churches
One of the mysteries in Christianity is why some churches thrive and others fade. Some see the fate of churches as a direct result of their faith. A church of bad or inadequate faith will fade away, while a church of solid faith will endure and prosper. In other words: Faith Determines Fate (But is …
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