By: Jennifer Williamson on January 18, 2018
“Imagined Communities represents one of the cornerstones of modernist thought in nationalism studies.”[1] Anderson proposed the idea that nations and nationalism are modern constructs whose establishment was rooted in the tandem development of print capitalism and the use of vernacular language, which enabled groups of people to create a shared identity. This shared identity—which exists…
By: Greg on January 18, 2018
I went for a walk today and began to look at the community that I live in. This country and its people are made up of hundreds of different that are bound together in a unified way. Benedict Anderson in his book, Imagined Communities, calls all nations imagined. “It is imagined because the members of…
By: Jake Dean-Hill on January 17, 2018
Benedict Anderson’s book, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, was very difficult for me to understand or comprehend. In fact, I think I might have spent more time looking for resources to help in this process than I did reading the book. Thanks to Trisha, this quote helped set the stage…
By: Jay Forseth on January 17, 2018
[1] Talk about visual ethnography! This picture tells a powerful narrative of Nelson Mandela shaking the hand of World Cup rugby champion and Springbok captain Francois Pienaar. How in the world did Madiba forsee this opportunity to unite his racially divided country? It was simply brilliant to capitalize on a newly forged South African NATIONALISM through…
By: Dan Kreiss on January 17, 2018
Race, faith, friends, housing development, city, state etc. represent what most of us consider to be community of one description or another. None of those require much imagination as everyone belongs to a multiplicity of these types of community. Yet, Benedict Anderson’s use of the term ‘Imagined Communities’ suggests something more. Deeper? Maybe. Confusing? Somewhat.…
By: Jim Sabella on January 17, 2018
“I don’t believe in God, but I miss him.” [1] The now famous quote by Julian Barns was considered “soppy” by his philosopher brother and has become a type of mantra for the secular age in which we live. No other person has approached secularism in such depth as did Charles Tayor in his…
By: Mary Walker on January 17, 2018
My dear brother, I finished a book this week that made me reminisce about our growing up years. The book is A Secular Age by Charles Taylor and it is long and wieldy, over 800 pages. I mostly skimmed this richly layered book but carefully and thoughtfully read the pages that address the historical…
By: Kyle Chalko on January 12, 2018
Bebbington in his book Evangelicalism in Modern Britain lays out a clear history of the rise, spread, and splintering of evangelicalism in Britain. While I have studied a decent amount of church history, most of my evangelical church history that I’ve studied has been more focused on the USA. How ethnocentric of me. Bebbington shows,…
By: Chip Stapleton on January 12, 2018
Usually, as I start planning out a blog post, my biggest hurtle is narrowing my focus enough so that my engagement with the topic is thorough, but not dissertation length. That struggle seemed to be multiplied exponentially this week as I found myself marking a paragraph almost every page of How (not) to be Secular:…
By: Trisha Welstad on January 11, 2018
Who really wants to be named as an Evangelical today? The term comes with so much baggage from centuries of history and is a challenge to define in mainstream culture, as it often tends to categorize a very specific demographic having little to do with the origins of the movement at all. The word ‘Evangelical’…
By: Greg on January 11, 2018
We were a couple of hours from deciding if there was possible way for us to stay in China. When we met on monday night, I was exhausted, worried and frustrated with government officers and the individuals who enjoy holding the answers and the power. Our family visas expired the next day (Tuesday) and that…
By: Kristin Hamilton on January 11, 2018
“There’s no undoing the shift in plausibility structures that characterize our age. There’s no undoing the secular; there’s just the task of learning how (not) to live – and perhaps even believe – in a secular age.” – James K.A. Smith (11) “The REAL problem with Millennials is that they have to live with the…
By: Jean Ollis on January 11, 2018
Bebbington’s renowned efforts to define Evangelicalism – including tenets of conversionism, activism, biblicism, and crucicentrism – (interestingly terms not even recognized by spellcheck) and pay homage to a “neglected” British sect are comprehensive and enlightening.[1] I would be remiss, however, if I didn’t admit that England’s very own John Wesley – and his creation of…
By: Mark Petersen on January 11, 2018
Evangelical and evolution are not two words normally found in a single, complementary phrase. Indeed, one typically finds them fiercely opposed. But a careful reading of D.W. Bebbington’s Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A history from the 1730s to the 1980s will encourage the consideration of how the evangelical movement has shape-shifted over the centuries. Understanding…
By: Jason Turbeville on January 11, 2018
I could be labeled a religious, conservative republican and an evangelical. Most people who read that would automatically assume the worst about me. It is one of the reasons I chose to come to George Fox University, I would have the opportunity to be stretched. I would not be in the same circles I have…
By: Mike on January 11, 2018
David Bebbington’s Evangelicalism in Modern Britain analyzes history, environment, and culture to show how Britain and English-speaking churches were changed by the evangelical movement. The lasting evangelical themes of this book are Bebbington’s tetralogy of the Bible, cross, conversion, and activism. I see connections between Bebbington’s “lived religion” and the Armor of God (AOG) lived…
By: Katy Drage Lines on January 11, 2018
I begin this post by recognizing it is actually the first of a two part series, reflecting on Charles Taylor’s A Secular Age. Well, really, this first part is more of a reflection on reflections of Taylor’s work, while I envision the second post to focus more on Taylor’s thesis itself. I hesitate to analyze…
By: Dave Watermulder on January 11, 2018
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, churches of every stripe were getting ready for the big day. The sanctuary was decorated, special services were added, pageants were rehearsed, the choir filled in nicely, and preachers sought to say something meaningful on a night that is called holy. And one of the questions that hung…
By: Lynda Gittens on January 11, 2018
James Smith, How (Not) to be Secular In the Introduction, Author Smith shares several points of views from other secular age authors. For example, Author Julian Barnes, of the book “Nothing to be Frighten of”, has a few quotes: “I don’t believe in God, but I miss him” (5) making reference to his missing…
By: Jim Sabella on January 11, 2018
I own a field guide on mushrooms, one on birds and one on rocks and minerals, but I don’t have one on living in the secular age. How (Not) to be Secular by James K. A. Smith is what its author calls “a field guide” on Taylor’s A Secular Age. [1] While A Secular Age asks…
