David Hesselgrave, in his book "Communicating Christ Cross-culturally," has an interesting figure in Chapter 9 called "The Contextualization Continuum." Here is a version of it. I find the figure interesting in some ways, and even useful. However, there are some aspects of it I disagree with. 1. One part of the figure I disagreed with …
Tag: dialogue
Seven Things Evangelicals Say to Atheists and Why They Shouldn’t Say Them
This is a redirect to a great post by Bruce Gerenscer. He was an Evangelical Pastor for decades, but left the church and faith in God some time back. He now writes from an Atheistic/Humanistic perspective that has been informed by his Evangelical Christian background. The article can be found by clicking here. SEVEN THINGS …
Continue reading Seven Things Evangelicals Say to Atheists and Why They Shouldn’t Say Them
Among Them and Overwhelmed
Quote from PGJ Meiring's article, "Max Warren and His Seven Rules for a Dialogue Between Christians and Non-Christians. "Actually, the article was originally written in Afrikaaner ("Max Warren en sy sewe reëls vir ’n dialoog tussen Christene en nie-Christene” DEEL 47 # 3 & 4 SEPTEMBER & DECEMBER 2006, P. 588-599.) The fourth rule/principle is …
What is the “Backfire Effect”?
A Quote from the post, "The Backfire Effect." To read the full article, please Click HERE. The last time you got into, or sat on the sidelines of, an argument online with someone who thought they knew all there was to know about health care reform, gun control, gay marriage, climate change, sex education, the …
Thinking of Fire and Obsolescence
Back in the 1800s were two small companies that made buggy whips… Smith Brothers and Jones Brothers. The vision statement of Smith Brothers was “We seek to make the best buggy whips in the world.” Jones Brothers had a vision statement “We provide navigational control solutions for the world.” The first vision statement makes a …
7 Rules of Dialoguing
How does one do interfaith dialoguing? From the John Hick camp comes the idea that both must relativize their own beliefs. That is difficult to do in practice, and hardly seems appropriate for many--- suggesting a sort of virtue in weak convictions. A better, in my mind, view comes from an article (written in Afrikaans, …
Problem With Debating
At the bottom of this article is a link on Online Debating. It points out that it is better to seek clarification (understanding) than persuasion. I like to think about 4 major types of conversation: The article points out that debate (or I listed as "apologetics/argument") has problems. Positively, it is likely to be better …
Welcoming Dissent
In any group there is a strong pressure to conform... coming to agreement in group dogma, group norms, group traditions, group taboos. Even in groups that focus on being open-minded, strong dogma, norms, and taboos build up enforcing what is acceptable open-mindedness and what is unacceptable. It is curious how close-minded "open-minded" groups commonly are. …
Not Being Heard…
Quote by Robert Coles in "The Call of Stories: Teaching and the Moral Imagination, (page 22-24) regarding people (medical patients in this case) telling their own personal life stories. "Dr. Ludwig urged us to let the story itself be our discovery. He went so far as to joke with me: "Let's see, this is chapter …