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 …
Category: cultural anthropology
Struggling with that Whole Decolonizing of Anthropology Thing
In a previous post I said I was going to read up more on "decolonization" as it pertains to anthropology, as it is considered a pretty important trend right now. I did some reading... but I kept bumping up against two issues. Issue #1. I kept reading takes on decolonizing anthropology related to racism that …
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Reflections on Sci-fi Aliens and the Incarnation (Part Two)
If you missed Part One. you can CLICK HERE. I have been slow in getting to the Incarnation of Christ, but I will delay it a bit longer. Consider a change of perspective. If you were a being visiting an alien world full of... well... aliens, how would you want to present yourself. You have …
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Reflections on Sci-fi Aliens and the Incarnation (Part One)
"Ready for Harvest," a Christian Youtube channel did a community poll regarding the following statement, ""It was necessary for Jesus to become man because without becoming man He could not overcome sin in the flesh and thereby gain victory over Satan." I am not sure if this is a direct quote from somewhere--- on a …
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What Would a “Decolonization” of Missions Anthropology Look Like?
I was talking to a couple of colleagues at seminary recently who were speaking of how a major university near us in Baguio City, Philippines, is really focusing on "Decolonization" as it pertains to Anthropology, among many other things. My immediate response was to be pretty skeptical. I think this is largely because of my …
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How Should a Missionary Feel About His/Her Own Culture?
A friend of mine put this thought on his FB page: "A nation dies when its people are taught to hate their own history, heritage and culture." My first thing was to react pretty negatively to this. After all, I was raised in a setting of American Exceptionalism, with a bit of xenophobia mixed in. …
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When Is an Idol Really an Icon?
Being raised in a conservative evangelical baptist tradition, the issue of idols has been pretty simple for me. Images or statuary that one shows a worshipful attitude before is an idol. And idols are absolutely forbidden in the Bible. The logic for people in my faith tradition for being "iconoclasts" (destroyer of icons... or items that …
A Research Article on Power of Myth
Years ago in Ethnography class, we our class did a research on the importance and role of Horror media and Filipino supernatural with youth in Baguio City. The supernatural referred here is not necessarilly the same way that Americans think of it. Much of the Filipino supernatural is the green section in the figure below--- …
Cultural Anthropology before It Was a Science
Cultural Anthropology developed into a social science in the 19th century. But there were most definitely those who studied other cultures before this. However, such study was rarely systematized. Here is a section of my book on "Cultural Anthropology and Christian Missions." This following is from Chapter 3 Ancient Travelogues Cultural Anthropology is a modern …
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Cultural Exploration of a Filipino Breakfast
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 …
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