By: Kim Sanford on October 9, 2023
“If we do not agree on a minimal common culture, we cannot cooperate on shared tasks and will not regard the same institutions as legitimate; indeed, we will not even be able to communicate with one another absent a common language with mutually understood meanings.” [1] In his book Identity: The Demand for Dignity and…
By: Tim Clark on October 9, 2023
In 1989 the American political scientist Francis Fukuyama famously announced the soon-coming conclusion of history in his essay titled “The End of History?”, and this idea picked-up steam with his 1992 book “The End of History and the Last Man.” By the ‘end of history’, Fukuyama meant that due to the increasing ubiquity of liberal…
By: Kally Elliott on October 9, 2023
Murray Bowen’s Family System Theory tells us that when a change is made in one part of a system a compensatory change in another part of the system will follow. [1] The Family System Theory can be applied to non-family groups such as businesses, organizations, communities and large societies.[2] This week we read, Francis Fukuyama’s…
By: Jenny Dooley on October 9, 2023
Since returning to the United States in 2014, I have been confused by the political and social climate. The reverse culture shock of returning home where everyone is clamoring to be heard, no one is listening, and sides must be taken has been difficult to navigate. After decades of embracing collectivistic cultures in which the…
By: Esther Edwards on October 9, 2023
Our little German community, nestled in the rural countryside of the Garden State of New Jersey, was a haven of community and faith. The German culture was alive and well as we enjoyed German food (meat and potatoes were a staple!), weekly German church gatherings, conversations of adults regarding “the good old days” in Germany,…
By: Jennifer Vernam on October 9, 2023
I am surprised at how cathartic the topics of the last two weeks have been for me. As we read Bebbington and Clark’s thoughts on Evangelicalism and its impacts on society as well as Fukuyama’s analysis of our move towards a more identity-obsessed culture, I am finding myself better able to articulate what had been…
By: Mathieu Yuill on October 9, 2023
Recently, the pastor at our church, along with a pastor from another church began discussing amalgamating the two churches. I actually learned of this while we were on our Oxford advance and as I have learned more, I made the decision to view this through the lens of both David Bebbigton’s, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain,…
By: Dinka Utomo on October 9, 2023
In my encounters and conversations with Evangelical pastors in Indonesia, one significant thing that I’ve come to admire is their unwavering dedication to spreading the Gospel message. Through these encounters, I can feel the fervent spirit within them, driven by their deep love for God and unwavering obedience to His word. This devotion is particularly…
By: Jana Dluehosh on October 6, 2023
While perusing David Bebbington’s Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, I went not much further than his first chapter called, “Preaching the Gospel; The Nature of Evangelical Religion”. In my experience, this makes so much sense to start by addressing the essence and birth of a movement. What I’ve come to ponder is that the nature of…
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on October 6, 2023
I must admit that I felt a little intimidated by the thought of reading Dr. Jason Swan Clark’s Dissertation. It felt weird to read his work and write about it, not sure why but it was not a task that I was anxious to complete. Perhaps it’s his over 6-foot stature or maybe the English…
By: Adam Harris on October 5, 2023
David Bebbington’s, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, is an honest analysis of Evangelicalism’s evolution in Britain’s recent history. Although this stream of Christianity did morph, develop, and adapt to the culture over time he argues that it maintained four specific characteristics and emphasis throughout its journey (conversions, activism, biblicism, and Jesus’ work on the cross). However,…
By: Todd E Henley on October 5, 2023
As a child I had the privilege of not growing up in a religious home. In fact we never went to church, not even on Easter of during the Christmas season. There were no religious paintings on our walls and God, the bible, church, or religious words were never mentioned in our home. God miraculously…
By: Russell Chun on October 5, 2023
Highlights Part 1: Bebbington Part 2: Clark Chapter 2, a bridge between Bebbington and Weber Part 3: Summary and a world note Part 1: Bebbington David W. Bebbington’s Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730s to The 1980s[1], Is more than a walk-through history. During a peer group meeting, Jenny Dooley shared…
By: Cathy Glei on October 4, 2023
In a recent conversation with a volunteer in one of my buildings, the word evangelical was tossed into the conversation. The person was commenting on a former leader of the United States using uncensored language and many expletives to describe the leader and her overall disgust at the person’s leadership style. We shared similar disappointments. …
By: Pam Lau on October 3, 2023
In Luke’s Gospel, a story is told that marks a turning point in the account of Jesus’ ministry. Up to this point, Jesus has dealt exclusively with the Jews. In chapter 7, when Jesus returns to Capernaum, he begins to include the Gentiles. You may recall the story of a Roman officer (also called a…
By: Tim Clark on October 2, 2023
While in Oxford we heard Dr. Martyn Percy give a lecture that included calling into question the use of the word discipleship. This word, he pointed out, is not in the Bible, and furthermore, he stated the definition of a disciple was not, as many in today’s church believe, synonymous with a follower, but that…
By: Jenny Dooley on October 2, 2023
In Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A history from the 1730s to the 1980s D.W. Bebbington examined the four qualities of Evangelicalism: conversionism, activism, biblicism, and crucicentrism.[1] The book placed my experience of coming to faith in perspective and illuminated my understanding of the Christian and theological world into which I was born. Raised in the…
By: John Fehlen on October 2, 2023
I distinctly remember when Ted Haggard had his very public “fall” from the evangelical heights, especially having served as president of the National Association of Evangelicals(NAE) from 2003 until November 2006. Haggard resigned from that role as well as his senior pastorate after making headlines for engaging in sex with a male prostitute and buying…
By: Jennifer Vernam on October 2, 2023
In Oxford, I heard the phrase “a fish doesn’t know it’s in water” referenced at least twice, and it came to mind again as I was reading our assignment for this week. Attributed to Chinese philosophy, this idea of a creature being unaware of their surroundings and somewhat oblivious to its idiosyncrasies strikes a chord…
By: Kally Elliott on October 2, 2023
In reading Jason Clark’s Evangelicalism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogeneses in the Relationship, I was immediately taken back to September 11, 2001 when after the shock of the terrorist attacks I found myself sitting in a seminary class taught by Dr. Walter Brueggemann. While he frequently ranted about the woes of a…
