I am teaching Cultural Anthropology in our seminary and so I thought I would explain a couple of aspects of the subject through the use of a Filipino Breakfast. This morning right before class I had a very classic Filipino breakfast. Although there are many different variations of what constitutes a Filipino breakfast, this certainly …
Continue reading Cultural Exploration of a Filipino Breakfast
Taking a course on "Teaching in Orality Cultures" (led by Tom Steffen) has been great so far and I do recommend it for anyone who is seeking to embrace storying or more generally seeking to communicate effectively with people who can't read, don't read, or choose to learn through other means than the written word. …
I am a foreigner working in the Philippines. My answer to the above question is generally "no." However, there was a time that I would wholeheartedly say "NO." With some reflection, I have had to be a bit more nuanced in my response. #1. Talking with a couple of my students, they felt that in …
Continue reading Does Being Foreign Make You a Better Religious Minister?
The beginning Bible storyer may be tempted to take one of the existing popular model sets of Bible Storying lessons, translate the story lessons verbatim, and begin using them. While this may serve to produce some quick, though limited results, it must be realized that each story lesson model must be crafted for addressing worldview …
In the Spring of 1877, Protestant Missionaries joined together to meet in Shanghai to discuss a Christian missions view of opium in China. There were two wars often referred to as the Opium Wars. The first Opium War was 1839-1942 and the second 1856-1860. In both cases, much of conflict was driven by trade between …
In part 1 (Post 1) I expressed my concerns about the lack of a solid theology of Heaven in Christian circles. There is a robust theology of Hell--- even if many of the teachings are drawn from traditional images of Hell rather than what the Bible actually teaches. In part 2 I listed a few …
Continue reading Searching for a Robust Theology of Heaven– Part 3
In Part 1, I talked about the fact that heaven as it is imagined in folk Christianity often sounds rather awful. In fact, it often sounds pretty bad for a short period of time, to say nothing of countless eons. But let's consider some of those dubious pictures of heaven. #1. Cartoon Heaven. This one …
Continue reading Searching for a Robust Theology of Heaven– Part 2
Okay, I may as well say it. Heaven doesn't sound like such a great place to be. I suppose I need to clarify this a bit. Heaven as it is popularly imagined in Folk Christianity sounds pretty awful. This would be more forgivable if the Folk Christian views had a strong challenge in more rigorous …
Continue reading Searching for a Robust Theology of Heaven– Part 1
One of the most famous stories in the Bible is the battle to the death between David and Goliath. The story has crossed over the cultural bridge to the point that one can reference it without actually talking about it. In this way, it is much like "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" or the "Ugly …
Continue reading Why Did David Have Five Stones Going Into Battle With Goliath?
I saw an interesting quote regarding evangelism that I can really resonate with: The other irony in my writing this book is that I do not possess the gift of evangelism. I have led very few people to Christ. I remember all too well the weekly evangelism assignments in Bible School when we were required …