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 …
Continue reading Reflections on Sci-fi Aliens and the Incarnation (Part Two)
"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 …
Continue reading Reflections on Sci-fi Aliens and the Incarnation (Part One)
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 …
Continue reading What Would a “Decolonization” of Missions Anthropology Look Like?
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. …
Continue reading How Should a Missionary Feel About His/Her Own Culture?
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 …
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 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 …
Continue reading Cultural Anthropology before It Was a Science
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
Finally updated my old book, Ministry in Diversity. Made numerous small updates, as well as including a new chapter. Decided to retire the old title and go with a name that is more accurate... "Cultural Anthropology and Christian Missions: Ministering to a Multicultural World." https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9SDMY9S?ref_=ast_author_dp
A couple quick reads hit me within an hour of each other. #1. The Altar of Confession in Vatican City had to have a penitential rite to resacralize it after a man jumped up on it naked as a political move to support Ukraine in the war. #2. I was taken care of some business …
Continue reading Are there Cursed Days and Infected Objects?