Attending the conference, I thought I would share a few takeaways from it. The way the conference is set up, everyone joins in the initial plenary address (being the meaning of plenary after all). After that, the rest of the day is several breakout sessions, 5 at a time. Because of that, one can only …
Category: cultural anthropology
That’s Me Rethinking Galatians 2:11-14
So... I have written before my thoughts on the above passage. This is where Paul describes an event at the Church in Antioch. Peter was visiting the church, and then some brethren from Jerusalem visited. While previously Peter would dine with the Gentiles, when those from Jerusalem joined, he separated himself from the Gentiles. Paul …
Mano Po
A few days ago, I was asked by one of my students here at Philippine Baptist Theological Seminary what my view regarding "Mano Po" is. Now among the many things I am not an expert in is the Filipino cultural practice of "Mano po." However, since he, a Filipino pastor, was asking me, a foreigner …
Inculturation, Enculturation, Acculturation, and More
I have never really used the term "Inculturation" before. I was editing a doctoral paper of a friend of mine and saw he was using that term and was getting ready to correct him. He was, however, using the term correctly and I wasn't. Therefore, I am going to put this post here for my …
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Defining Precise Limits on God’s Grace?
I teach Cultural Anthropology, Inter-religious Dialogue, and Contemporary Issues in Missions. Note that none of these are standard theology courses. So you would be right to think that I am not the most meticulous and studied Christian theologian out there. That being said, those three courses keep bringing up certain questions... and these questions are …
Looking at the Ins and Outs of Worldview
I am reading an article by Michael T. Cooper, “Necessity of Worldview Understanding for Sustainable Peace: A Case Study of United States Relations with Native Americans in the 18-19th [Sacred Tribes Journal Volume 4 Number 2 (2009):113-131]. It had a nice discussion on worldview as well as a Venn Diagram. (I am always a sucker …
Reflections on Blades, Headhunting, and Cultural Symbols (Part Two)
If you haven't read Part One yet, please feel free to CLICK HERE. Upon reflection, the use of "headhunting" blades as symbols of cultural pride makes sense. As the tribes began to interact more with the world--- they had several choices. They could try to maintain cultural separation--- a hard road to follow. They could …
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Reflections on Blades, Headhunting, and Cultural Symbols (Part One)
Last week I visited the Bugkalot tribe. Understand, that this is the Philippines where some would say that tribes don’t really exist. They exist as a people group, and as a language group, and as a cultural group, but they don’t necessarily have tribal chiefs or a governmental structure as some would define a tribe. …
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“Heresy-Rationalist” Apologetics. Quote from Philip Johnson
Philip Johnson speaks of a couple of forms of Christian Apologetics. One of them he describes as the "Heresy-Rationalist" Model. I will just use "HRM" for it. This model focuses on the accepted dogma from a logical (rationalist) perspective. While Johnson sees value in this model, he also sees its limitations. Here are a couple. …
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Maybe Ethnic Religions Do Make Sense…
When studying religions, one simple classification is between "Universal Religions" and "Ethnic Religions." There are religious perspectives that don't clearly fit into either, but these two are useful categories. Universal religions are a system to identifies with all people. As such, there is an evangelistic component normally. Ethnic religions, on the other hand, identify with …