While the David and Goliath story structure may provide a family of stories that resonate with different cultures with different message, there are others. Joseph Campbell noted the Heroes Journey in "The Hero With a Thousand Faces" (1968) as one. Another is the one shown below: A quick read and one may be tempted to …
Continue reading Mythic and Parabolic Stories in Culture, Part III
If one takes the definitions for “mythic” and “parabolic” from the previous post, then, Myth: A story that has power within a certain culture because it resonates with the culture's deep-seated values. Parable: A story that has power within a certain culture because it is dissonant and challenges the culture's deep-seated values. First, clearly, using …
Continue reading Mythic and Parabolic Stories in Culture, Part II
Consider two different imaginary retail companies for a moment. The first company is Baguio Lighting Solutions (BLS). The other is Dagupan Lighting and Glass (DLG). Both companies want to sell lights of one form or another. But they have different methods to do so. BLS is in a big building without windows. Sales people walk …
<Another work in progress. The topic of contextualization is fraught with challenges. I doubt I will ever get to a point of confidence on how best to contextualize either the Gospel message or theology. I speak of this more in my book, "Theo-Storying: Reflections on God, Narrative, and Culture"> Stephen Bevans in "Models of Contextual …
We rely on the parables of Jesus... and in many ways, rightly so. As God's Word, and the words of our Savior and example, the 50 some parables of Christ should provide a foundation from which much of our Christian thought and practice is built off of . But that does not mean that the …
One of the problems of not getting a real liberal arts education (most of my education is in Mechanical Engineering and military leadership), is limitations in communication and the arts. One of these is in the role of parables. When I was young going to church, parables were defined as "earthly stories with a heavenly …
"The Gospel Blimp" by Joseph Bayly is a great short story (or perhaps novella). It is a parable in the sense that it attacks commonly held "truth". The story revolves around an evangelical church in Middle America that wants to "reach their community for Christ". This was motivated by the neighbor of one church member …
Continue reading The Gospel Blimp, and Holy Tee-shirt Cannons