By: gfesadmin on March 14, 2013
Is it possible to change the world? Are we called to do that? What kind of change do we desire? These are great questions that emerge for Christians who want to engage in ministry. My favorite book so far the year is the book To Change the World by James Davidson Hunter. He addresses the…
By: gfesadmin on March 14, 2013
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By: gfesadmin on March 14, 2013
I first read James Hunter’s To Change the World in 2010. In my excitement, I read through the book quickly (but thoroughly of course) hoping for some concrete steps on how to change the world. I got to the end of the book and was underwhelmed. Where was this world change? What were the actions…
By: gfesadmin on March 11, 2013
The Rebel Sell proved to be a fascinating read this past week. It seems that this capitalist society will consume anything thrown on its plate and create a demand – supply cycle to satiate itself. As I pondered over the idea of “Rebel Sell” andits implications for India, particularly the rural part of the country,…
By: gfesadmin on March 9, 2013
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:”Table Normal”; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:””; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:”Calibri”,”sans-serif”; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} One of my favorite movies in High School was Brother Son, Sister Moon about the life of St. Francis…
By: gfesadmin on March 7, 2013
“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.(Rom 12:12 NIV). This verse has constantly been on my mind during the past few days. Was Christianity…
By: gfesadmin on March 7, 2013
Action movie afficianados and those who follow the likes of Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino have most likely seen the movie HEAT. I have seen it more times than I can count. I guess that declassifies me as a Puritanical prude! Pacino is a detective who focuses on taking down a high tech crime team led by DeNiro.…
By: gfesadmin on March 7, 2013
Rebel Sell opens with a salvo against the consumerist system and its twin brother, the anti-consumerist counter-culture. The authors argue there really is no difference between the two. Thus one can buy all the anti-capitalist t-shirts one desires. The quintessential example of this is a 2003 Adbusters (a magazine dedicated to anti-consumerism) advertisement offering its own…
By: gfesadmin on March 7, 2013
In the book The Rebel Sell, Joseph Heath and Robert Putnam say the counterculture is driven by a desire to rebel against the present culture. In the 60s there was a cultural conflict between the counterculture and the established culture. But Heath and Putnam state that their values were the same. Both were entrenched in…
By: gfesadmin on March 7, 2013
On a late afternoon in the fall of 2004, my wife looked at me and said, “I think it’s time for a movie night!” Nothing else needed to be said, I was off. Just a few minutes later I found myself checking out a new thriller at the local Blockbuster Video store. It’s name, “The…
By: gfesadmin on March 6, 2013
According to Andrew Heath and Joseph Potter, the authors of the book, Rebel Sell: Why the Culture Can’t be Jammed, theories such as the one found in the book No Logo, by Naomi Klein, are false and unproductive. The theory, they explain, is actually a critique of mass society, not capitalism. This popular theory, found…
By: gfesadmin on March 2, 2013
One of my first full time jobs out of Theological Seminary was church planting and evangelism in a large church in Southern California. Although I had never planted a church before or led evangelism, I was naive enough to take the job. I read every book or article I could find on evangelism and church…
By: gfesadmin on March 1, 2013
David Bebbington’s book, Evangelicalism In Modern Britain is truly an outstanding compilation of both history and theology providing the reader quite a methodical understanding of the subject. With great clarity Bebbington delineates the four distinct primary characteristics that underscore evangelicalism as it started in the 1730s. Conversionism: That lives need to be transformed through a…
By: gfesadmin on February 28, 2013
D.W. Bebbington, in his book Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730’s to the 1980s explains that the four marks of Evangelical Religion are: “1. Conversionism – the idea that lives need to be changed, 2. Activism – the expression of the gospel in effort, 3. Biblicism – a particular regard for the…
By: gfesadmin on February 28, 2013
I recently heard Diana Butler-Bass talk at a conference on spirituality called Spiritual Climate Change. Diana convincing expressed what many of us either knew or suspected about the U.S. spiritual environment. We have dramatically shifted in adherence to church. What is shifted is the amount of people who claim no religious affiliation, which is about…
By: gfesadmin on February 28, 2013
Evangelicalism in Modern Britain by D.W. Bebbington was an interesting read for me because it gave me a broader perspective as to the origins of evangelicalism and it shed some light on the evangelical movement in America. Bebbington pointed out, early in his book, that he notes four characteristics that branded evangelicalism. They were conversion…
By: gfesadmin on February 28, 2013
What does it really mean to be an Evangelical? Am I an Evangelical? If I am, do I want to be associated with other Evangelicals? This is an ongoing conversation I’ve had with myself over the past 10 years, and this week’s reading helped further my thought. In Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, D.W. Bebbington argues…
By: gfesadmin on February 28, 2013
…time and chance happeneth to them all. Ecclesiastes 9:11 Throughout the past two hundred plus years of world history, much has changed. Horse drawn wagons have given way to automobiles. Hand written letters have given way to instantaneous text messaging. Stories of far away lands have given way to sitting on your couch and connecting…
By: gfesadmin on February 25, 2013
Imagine a conversation I have with a non-christian friend from Germany, talking about my dissertation and my studies at george-fox EVANGELICAL seminary, Portand, USA… If I was asked by him about the EVANGELICAL in the name of the university I study at; if I was asked to define this „EVANGELICAL, what would I say? What…
By: gfesadmin on February 24, 2013
With the advent and advancement of communication technology, the globe is networked and informed of every happening in real time. The terror of 9/11, the Asian tsunami, the war in Iraq, famines in Africa or the recent incident of violence in Delhi that claimed the life of a young girl, are streamed into our living…
