Week 10- Final Outline of Paper

The final outline of my paper is viewable at: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfxckhzr_5g2m67mdj

Week 10- Classmate Response to Jason Heppner's blog

Jason I think you concluded on the right note.  I have to confess that I got really depressed and confused by all the lingo in the Barker book.  How can a person be sure of anything if culture and language constructs our own little personal realities, often shutting out the realities of others?  At the end of the day, we have to love.  Jesus is the one who can, who should, and who desires to shape our reality.  Jesus is all about love. As for what this love looks like? Well I think scripture helps in figuring this out, but I also think we need to not forget the Holy Spirit of God... God's Spirit is with us, surely the Spirit will have something to say to us as to how to love in the midst of all our jumbled and ambiguous cultures. 

Week 10- Wednesday Reflection

I am going to miss this class. I did get a bit tired of the circuit of culture, as I was hoping that we would talk a bit more about other aspects of cultural studies. However, overall this was an excellent course. I think that we all need more teaching on how to live out faith in a postmodern world. The postmodern has come whether anyone likes it or not, and we must love Jesus and love those around us in the midst of the culture that we analyzed throughout this course.

Week 10- Monday Class Reflection

The analysis of popular culture is extremely important. One aspect that was mentioned today, bricolage, is a vital concept to understanding much of what happens today. A movie is not self-contained, it refers back to former movies, the archetypes of the genre, and even ancient or classical literature and drama. We truly live in a day of hypereality.

Week 9- Second Draft of Outline for Final Paper

You can view the second draft of the outline for my paper at this url: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfxckhzr_4gd7sqgc6

Week 9- Cobb Chapter 9 (Life Everlasting)

Cobb's chapter concerning the life everlasting notes that popular culture producers are moving beyond the traditional American hesitation to discuss matters of death.  Currently, the popular culture is full of depictions of heaven, hell, and/or purgatory; but more importantly of the concept of the wandering spirit who seeks to finish the business left undone during life.  I think Cobb does a good job of revealing the great value in much of the cultures' hopes for a new direction in society that will lead to a better eschatological end. 

Week 9- Bevans Chapter 9 (Conclusion)

Stephen Bevans has written his volume out of a conviction that all theology is contextual and out of a conviction that the contemporary theological scene is one that must advocate for pluralism (Bevans 1994: 112).  Bevans thus offers several models, or tools, by which to engage in contextual theology, but he does not expect that any one should be applied universally.  I think the praxis model's emphasis on reflective action will prove to be especially effective for the purposes of my final paper. 

Week 9- Response to Annie McLaren's Blog

Annie I think you have highlighted one of the great tragedies of our time.  I think the "sexual revolution" has led our society to a greater openness concerning sexuality, but not a greater understanding of it.  This is most evident with girls who feel that perhaps flaunting their bodies as a tool of manipulation or a way to engage in the freedom of expression is a liberating experience.  In fact, these girls are submitting themselves as slaves to cultural expectations and bind their identities to fleeting material objects (certain clothes, makeup, etc...).  When will our culture look for true beauty, such as that in the face of a wise wrinkled elderly woman?

Week 9- Wednesday Class Reflection

Class was both fascinating and disgusting today. I felt like one of the most insightful comments of the class time came from the classmate who was aghast at the fact that WE are the audience. The marketers and manipulators of "cool" are not preying upon anyone that we can call the "other"; they prey upon me- and I like it. May God grant me the grace to stand strong against such a formidable enemy.

Week 9- Monday Class Reflection

The class ended on a particularly intriguing note. The concept of the carnival to describe the imagining of a different set of power structures is a useful analogy. Much of what my church and my missions organization needs is a bit of creativity and lighthearted brainstorming about what could be if we would only let our old power relationships go by the wayside.

Week 8- First Draft Outline of Paper

I will e-mail this outline to you Wess. You can also view it at the following URL:
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dfxckhzr_0f5sxrphg

Week 8- Bevans Chapter 8 (Transcentdental Model)

The transcendental model is slightly more ambiguous than the previous models and contains a great deal of overlap with other ways of doing contextual theology. Bevans proposes that the transcendental model is more concerned with the process of doing theology than with the product or results of that theology. That is, the transcendental theologian is both highly aware of their own position as theologizing subject and that which one has been converted to and with (traditional Christian theology, liturgy, specific Christian thinkers). The self's wrestling with the new thoughts produces an authentically contextualized theology.

Week 8- Cobb Chapter 8 (Salvation)

The Cobb discussion of the salvation theme in popular culture covers a wide range of cultural arenas. One theme explored that was uncharted territory in my mind, is the mystical ascent that is portrayed in some Van Morrison songs and Moby's music. The tragedy of the seeking of salvation in popular culture is that the "Savior" is often so shallow (a girl, youthful carelessness, the unencumbered self).

Week 8- Classmate Post on Harmony's blog for Week 8 Wednesday Class reflection

Somewhat of a Disagreement:
"People need to go out into their communities and bring people in and just be social with them. Churches need to have the intent of understanding and simply being kind and loving—without the intent of getting something in return."
I don't really disagree with you that much Harmony, but I do think the above statement can be critiqued and moderated. For instance, Professor Bolger has made a good case during class that our intention as Christ followers is not merely to "bring people in", but is in many ways to enter into their reality and in this way bring our community to the "people". There needs to be real discussion about how helpful it is to the people we "reach" and to ourselves to extract individuals from their world to bring them into ours.
EXTENDED THOUGHTS:
Also, I don't know that the mandate to simply be "kind and loving" sufficiently describes Christ's commands to us. It seems that much of what we are called to do is to avoid the temptation of simply being "nice" and to act as prophets who challenge the status quo and call for repentance. Of course, our crying out for repentance needs to happen after we have repented ourselves and while we are pursuing relationship with the community around us; but at some point we have to become "not so nice" and wake people up to their own self-destructive behavior.