By: gfesadmin on October 4, 2012
A few weeks ago I was on a 16-hour plane ride to South Africa. Sitting next to me was a 21-year-old college student, Aileen, who was spending three months in Namibia for a study abroad program. I generally try to avoid long, drawn out conversations with folks on a plane that I don’t know. That…
By: gfesadmin on October 4, 2012
It was a dreary South Carolina day in the fall of 2001. I had just left my New Testament Theology course and was wrestling with trying to understand the content which was just delivered. In class that day our professor was trying to land the concept of the incarnation. Specifically, what it meant for Jesus…
By: gfesadmin on October 4, 2012
In Who Needs Theology by Grenz and Olson, I identified with a story Olson told about a student who was struggling with understanding the concepts of Theology in his classroom. The student asked if she could talk with Olson after class. She said “Why don’t you just tell us what the truth is about every…
By: gfesadmin on October 3, 2012
Grenz and Olson, in their book “Who Needs Theology?” introduce arguments for studying theology. They also present some of the arguments that have been used against theology, such as the “Killjoy Objection.” The authors present a scale from Folk Theology to Academic Theology and discuss the theologies in between these extremes; as well the intricacies…
By: gfesadmin on September 28, 2012
I was in an Executive Board Meeting the other day. The Chairman of the Board of a Retirement Community I supervisor was noticeably concerned that the CEO of the Retirement Community had not been more transparent about a serious deficient Medicare Federal survey their Skilled Nursing Facility had recently received. Apparently, the CEO was…
By: gfesadmin on September 28, 2012
In the second half of Elliot’s Contemporary Social Theory: An Introduction, I was drawn to the contemporary theories of Castell, Beck and Urry’s describing societies as ‘Network, Risk and Liquid’ Societies. Although these theories have received their fair share of criticism, particularly, for being exaggerated and confined to today’s ‘bourgeois’ in the Mega cities, they…
By: gfesadmin on September 28, 2012
Often I hear the phrase “It is what it is”. It is a way to respond to stressful personal and political situations. The phrase is one of acceptance for the way things are instead of becoming overly anxious about them. But it is so prevalent that it seems like an attitude of disengagement. Recently, I…
By: gfesadmin on September 28, 2012
Globalization impacts the majority of people. In other words, most of the world is being impacted by the rest of the world either directly or indirectly. This effect can be seen in biblical history, modern detestable social settings, and in major fast food giants. King David Prior to becoming king of Israel, David experienced the…
By: gfesadmin on September 27, 2012
My church has an own Facebook account for six month now. It was hard to convince the church board of the purpose and sense of this new media endeavor. My point was quite obvious, to me social media profiles are unavoidable in our high technological and interconnected world. We have to rather discuss the HOW…
By: gfesadmin on September 27, 2012
“Woman of Pakistani origin is Norwegian Culture Minister”, screamed one of India’s top dailies in its front page headlines on the 25th of September. Hadia Tajik”is the first Muslim and the youngest Minister ever in Norwegian political history”. The news article further closes with this very remarkable statement by the Prime Minister of Norway who…
By: gfesadmin on September 27, 2012
It was a beautiful morning in late May as we worked our way through the streets of Jerusalem. For most of our students there was not a care to be had. For myself and my co-leader we understood the gravity of what we were about to experience. All of sudden off in the distance we…
By: gfesadmin on September 27, 2012
In the second half of Anthony Elliott’s book, “Contemporary Social Theory: An Introduction,” I found myself intrigued by much of the writings of Jurgen Habermas and how his views with media, the bourgeois, theology and feminism. In his work entitled, “Reconciliation through the Public Use of Reason,” Habermas makes a powerful statement. He writes,…
By: gfesadmin on September 26, 2012
There is a joke that has been around for quite a while. A young man is helping in the kitchen, watching his new bride prepare a ham for Sunday dinner. As the wife cuts off an inch from each end, the husband asks why. She replies that it must make the ham more delicious. She…
By: gfesadmin on September 26, 2012
I found the section, “Baudrillard: postmodernity as simulated media culture” a fascinating read (even though I struggled to understand the interrelated intricacies of the fragmented views that make up the post-modernity social theories). In particular, I was very interested in his theory that viewing social interplay as “signs and spectacles” leaves simulation the only reality.…
By: gfesadmin on September 26, 2012
Abstinence before marriage has long been held as an ideal; from the tribal Middle East origins of the monotheistic traditions to contemporary Christianity. Even the “mother of God” was abstinent as well as a virgin when she delivered Jesus. As the Christian church evolved, some traditions like polygamy and arranged marriages were left behind; while…
By: gfesadmin on September 26, 2012
The world is getting smaller, or at least it seems to be, because of globalization (or maybe it’s because I’m sitting in South Africa with 24 people from the United States). Globalization is the intensifying of relationships around the world, be it economic, technological or others. We might answer the age-old question of, ‘What does…
By: gfesadmin on September 23, 2012
Even the mention of social agendas can frustrate the common man, especially when politics are involved. However, one leading issue of our day, the education of our children, is an elephant in the room that we cannot ignore. It is an issue with international impact, one that effects how future generations will find their place…
By: gfesadmin on September 22, 2012
I traveled to Phoenix this week for a series of meetings. I commented to a stranger in the security line that this is my favorite place to publicly undress. He laughed and agreed. I looked up and saw the sign that all liquids and gels had to be in three ounce containers and that…
By: gfesadmin on September 20, 2012
Experiencing our Indian traffic can be quite an adventure. An outsider would easily assume that the average Indian is well versed with an extreme sport. And to a westerner, particularly, it would be completely chaotic, reckless, and dangerous. At first glance, there seems to be no order or structure to the way the traffic flows.…
By: gfesadmin on September 20, 2012
Two things, one from the past and one from the present weigh heavily on me during this present reading and even as I write now. Having had very little exposure to the study of social theory in the past, the initial reading of ’ Contemporary Social Theories’ by Anthony Elliot was a little tough but…
