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Christianity Today, October (Web-only), 2007 |

Reading the World

Cultural exegesis is a necessary skill in Christian life, says the editor of Everyday Theology.

Interview by Susan Wunderink | posted 10/16/2007 08:43AM

Everyday Theology is a collection of essays that present a Christian way of analyzing culture. Ranging from "The Gospel According to Safeway" (see excerpt) to "Between City and Steeple: Looking at Megachurch ...

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Zuo	Posted: October 18, 2007 10:28 PM


This is waste of precious time that christians cannot afford because the days are evil: Harry Potter, Halloween, evolution, abortion, etc. It is not about disengagement but rather separation from the culture. This is evangelistic junk food to be avoided.

Floyd Heideman

Posted: October 17, 2007 10:46 AM

I have been a christian all of my 75 years and have attended church and ss all of those years. There is nothing new in this discussion from what I have experienced over all those years. We have always taught scripture in light of the culture we are addressing. I have heard missionaries over the years and they all have been faithfully doing this all along. The Gospel enlightens any culture and transforms the hearers who respond positively to the invitation to join the Lord's family.

Richard

Posted: October 16, 2007 10:52 PM


The question is who's culture. I have worship with Christians on three continents and met Christians who I could not communicate because we spoke different languages. What I have seen is the Gospel should transcends the culture and not be conform to it. To me teaching cultural literacy is just another distraction that gets in the way of a pastor duty to preach the Gospel.

Jason Oliver Evans

Posted: October 16, 2007 11:38 AM

The Word of God, Jesus Christ is eternal, but the Scriptures were written within the Ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman civilizations. I agree we need to understand today's culture in light of the Word, but we must not act like we don't impose our Western modernist presuppositions upon the Text of Scripture. Vanhoozer et al have studied the Scriptures and the culture. That's why he and others encourage believers to understand the culture we live in. Paul understood Athens and Jerusalem. He understood Scripture and Christ. We need to be biblically literate and understand our cultural backdrop. That's how we can and must reach out to the world with the Gospel.

Mertz

Posted: October 16, 2007 11:26 AM


Seeing as how the church has failed miserably to teach the Word, what makes us think we can do a good job of teaching culture? The Word should be THE grid through which we understand our culture and ourselves. What better way to understand our culture than to understand how God views it. First things first.

Robert

Posted: October 16, 2007 11:11 AM

1st-Readers of CT should understand that what Vanhoozer is espousing in any other context would be called "semiotics" and the sort associated not with Peirce of Percy (the good kind), but rather Saussure. et al. 2nd-If you are going to engage is a cultural critique, you can't be as immersed in contemporary culture as is American Evangelicalism. 3rd-American Evangelicalism has become a sub-culture in and of it self, from which believers need to escape before being capable of actually interacting with out "post modern" and "post Christian" culture. 4rd-Ironically, the church does have a program called No Christian Left behind, its called the Rapture, which unfortunately is not a biblically based belief. 5th-and most important, i find it amusing (if not sad) that we, the most biblically illiterate generation of believers since the invention of the printing press, are being encouraged to become culturally literate, and by a divinity school professor at that. But, yes better than Colson.

Dianne

Posted: October 16, 2007 10:54 AM


Interesting, especially in juxtaposition to Colson's diatribe from yesterday! Thank you.

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