| Perspectives |
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What Story Do We Live In?
FREDERICK
J. GAISER
(see full text of essay under “Editorial”) |
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“None of us can simply choose to withdraw
altogether from the culture and the worldview in which we live (‘Let’s
see, I don’t think I’ll be affected by my cultural environment this
afternoon’)—nor should we rigorously seek to do so. At a minimum, we
need to understand it in order properly to read the audience for the
Christian story we would like to tell. But, more than that, we need to
hear its sometimes legitimate reflection of or prophetic challenge to the
‘real’ world of the evening news. Those of us with a robust doctrine
of creation will even have to wonder what God might be doing out there in
the cacophonous culture of the media and the megamall.”
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Freedom, Blessing, and Safety:
Icons of American Christianity
BOHDAN
HROBON |
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Good things—even freedom, blessing, and safety—can stand in the way of our being the people God has called us to be. These concepts, icons of American Christians, deserve reconsideration in the light of the gospel.
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| Articles |
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Mickey Mouse as Icon:Taking Popular Culture Seriously
BRUCE
DAVID FORBES |
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Popular culture is worthy of study for people active in ministry because it both shapes us and reflects us. It is everywhere, like the air we breathe. It tells us “who we are, and what we are, and why.” One icon of popular culture, Mickey Mouse, mirrors our utopian dreams and symbolizes our transformation of everything into commodities.
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Theology of the Cross and
Popular Culture
ERNEST
L. SIMMONS |
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In popular culture, religion is generally marked by supernatural special effects and a dualistic worldview. A theology of the cross challenges such simplistic portrayals, offering a more viable and hopeful theological response to human suffering and the ambiguity of life.
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Pilgrimage to the Mall of America
JON
PAHL |
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The Mall of America contains a “Chapel of Love” for weddings but no “Chapel of Death” for funerals. Might this fact represent both its attractive promise and its ultimate failure?
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“By the dawn’s early
light”: The Flag, the Interrogative, and the Whence and Whither of Normative Patriotism
GARY M. SIMPSON |
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Francis Scott Key, Abraham Lincoln, Emma Lazarus, and Martin Luther King Jr. define a normative American patriotism that embraces self-interrogation; equality, hope, and repentance; worldwide welcome; and justice and solidarity. In the aftermath of 9/11 can such patriotism now proceed to civic internationalism or will it resort to the internationalism of empire?
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We’re Number What?
Winning as a Cultural Icon
MARY LOUISE BRINGLE
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Our cultural emphasis on winning at all costs, while producing many striking results, exacts a heavy toll on individuals and society. It also places Christians into conflict with Jesus’ admonition that “whoever wants to be first must be a servant.”
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Celebrity Worship as Weak Religion
DEENA WEINSTEIN and MICHAEL WEINSTEIN
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Celebrity worship is a substitute for traditional faith in a culture that denies both the truth and the demands of traditional faith. It satisfies spiritual needs with a weak religion that allows us to worship the best, the worst, and the most banal of ourselves.
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Toward Narrowing the Gulf
between Sport and Religion
SHIRL
JAMES HOFFMAN |
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Sports, as experienced in modern culture and all too often embraced by the church, is void of spiritual nutrition. Yet, sports first emerged in human culture as cultic rituals. Might the church help transform sports fields into places where we imitate the Logos by rehearsing and enacting spiritual truths?
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Christian Enthusiasm: Can the Olympic Flame Kindle the Fire of Christianity?
WOLFGANG VONDEY
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As the epitome of sport, the Olympic Games model a kind of “religious” enthusiasm that has massive and magic appeal. Closer examination, however, reveals overwhelming difference between the enthusiasm of the Olympiad and the enthusiasm of the Spirit—a difference that is essential to the Christian gospel.
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| Resources
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Texts in Context:
Denying Self, Bearing a Cross, and Following Jesus:
Unpacking the Imperatives of Mark 8:34
MATTHEW L. SKINNER
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As we journey soon into the new beginnings of post-Labor Day autumn, what will it mean to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Jesus? More, certainly, than giving up a few things; more than suffering as part of the human condition; more than moving forward on new paths—peering into autumn’s transitions, we belong to another.
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Face to Face: The Church’s Role in the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict: |
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Call for Justice
PETER A. SETHRE
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Preach the Word
HANS H. WIERSMA
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| Reviews
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Matthew and Empire: Initial Explorations, by Warren Carter
MARY HINKLE
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Revelation and the End of All
Things, by Craig R. Koester
BRUCE DAVID FORBES
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Feminist Theologies for a Postmodern Church: Diversity, Community, and
Scripture, by Loraine MacKenzie Shepherd
ALICE MAUNG-MERCURIO
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Redemptive Change: Atonement and the Christian Cure of the
Soul, by R. R. Reno
CAROL L. SCHNABL SCHWEITZER
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The Next Christendom: The Coming of Global
Christianity, by Philip Jenkins
GRACIA GRINDAL
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Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialog, by William A. Dyrness
SARAH HENRICH
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Preaching John, by Robert Kysar
PAUL S. BERGE
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Listening Ministry: Rethinking Pastoral
Leadership, by Susan K. Hedahl
RICHARD M. WALLACE
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