By: Stefania Tarasut on April 9, 2014
To Change The World By: James Davison Hunter I’m an introvert. I like to be alone. I like to do things alone, so most of the time I’m incredibly thankful that we live in a very individualistic society. It works really well with my personality and it allows me to remain comfortable. It’s easy for…
By: Sam Stephens on April 6, 2014
The last reading, for my current D.Min program: New Media,1740-1915 edited by Lisa Gittleman and Geoffrey Pingree brought back memories of my childhood days and my enchantment and captivation with the dozen or so stills that ran at a single time through the Bioscope. The Bioscope man came through the streets on weekends singing the…
By: rhbaker275 on April 5, 2014
I am intrigued and encouraged by the willingness of people to give. A Midwest City recently did a survey to determine how city resources might be best used for the benefit of the community.[1] The survey revealed a surprising underlying resource. The greatest resource was not in facilities and programs but rather the “community” itself.…
By: Mark Steele on April 5, 2014
Last week, my company had another update and debate about engaging in social media. We talked about engaging social media two years ago and decided we would ignore face book and yelp comments. We reasoned we did not know that much about social media and if we did begin to respond to comments, we would…
By: Mitch Arbelaez on April 5, 2014
I began reading To change the world by James Hunter back in 2010 shortly after it was published, but like most books I start and seldom finish, Hunter’s book experienced the same fate. My modus operandi is to see another title that catches my interest and I move on to other pastures. As I once…
By: Garrick Roegner on April 5, 2014
Zygmunt Bauman has posited that contemporary (or postmodern) society is characterized by “the growing conviction that change is the only permanence and uncertainty the only certainty (Liquid Modernity, loc 75).” We live in thus a liquid time, where structures and societal solids must be flexible, changeable, and ultimately liquid. Furthermore for Bauman this all is…
By: Telile Fikru Badecha on April 5, 2014
While reading Hunter James Davison book To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World, I found his third essay on the theology of faithful presence a great reminder to examine how I am doing in my relationship with God and others around me. Hunter begins with a…
By: Carol McLaughlin on April 5, 2014
It was impossible to read James Davison Hunter’s book, To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World without considering recent events both locally and nationally. Two weeks ago a sudden and unexpected mudslide wiped out a small community in Washington State, leaving devastation and death in its…
By: Liz Linssen on April 4, 2014
Hunter’s work, To Change the World, attempts to explain why so few Christians have had significant influence for the Kingdom of God upon society in late modern times. Coming from a different and more pragmatic view than that of Douthat, Hunter believes that the means to changing the current anaemic Christian climate in America is…
By: Sandy Bils on April 4, 2014
What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. No one remembers the former generations, and even those…
By: Michael Badriaki on April 4, 2014
“Can Bone Save The World?” Another way to ask the question might be; is Bono redemptive? I have my hunch, but I have another story to share about my introduction to Bono. Now, I had listened to the music of the band U2 here and there, but a number of years before I came to…
By: Julie Dodge on April 4, 2014
I’m going to be honest from the get go: I did not like this week’s book. James Davison Hunter’s “To Change the World”[i] left me unsatisfied. I know, how can it be? I read through various reviews of the book, thinking surely I must be missing something. The reviews were positive. One even referred…
By: Bill Dobrenen on April 4, 2014
I have been on a long spiritual journey; I am sure that many of us have been. This week’s reading and our last reading gripped my soul in substantial ways. Something must be happening in me. But answers to spiritual longings do not usually come in fancy packaging. In fact, the content that touched my…
By: Richard Rhoads on April 4, 2014
I love family traditions. Some of our traditions include, attending Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus, watching fireworks on the 4th of July and going to our family cabin each summer. However, one tradition stands out as our favorite is, “The Buck Demolition Derby”. Each year, around the 4th of July weekend, a local motor…
By: Richard Volzke on April 4, 2014
In Hunter’s book, To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World, explains how Christians try to use evangelism, politics, and social reform to change the world’s moral values. The author outlines how Christianity attempts to use these tactics and as a result, experiences both negative and positive…
By: John Woodward on April 3, 2014
I believe that the Church sincerely desires to make a positive impact on the world, to bring about a more Christ-like society where God is honored and people live under His Lordship and receive His blessings. But, for most of my life, it seemed as if the Church’s every effort to bring these positive change…
By: Sharenda Roam on April 3, 2014
How does media help change our shared and personal spaces and create ours and others’ identities? Pingree and Gitelman explores this idea in their book “New Media – 1740 to 1915.” They look at a variety of media including the zograscope, the physiognotrace, and the telegraph, as well as others. What I find interesting is…
By: Fred Fay on April 3, 2014
Last week I watched the animated movie Frozen. It is a Disney adaptation of The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Anderson. I have two girls, young adults, who just love it. I found myself being taken in also by the story and music. The theme of rejection, family pain and finding one’s identity in a…
By: Chris Ellis on April 3, 2014
When many people think of new forms of media they might think of Twitter, Skype or whatever is the latest and greatest in communication (Holograms are next maybe? ). But to only think of those forms that are new for OUR current time and place is to miss some valuable lessons learned from studying when…
By: Ashley Goad on April 3, 2014
Several years ago, I interviewed for a youth pastor position in northern Virginia. One of the questions was, “How would you describe your ministry to students?” While the committee expected to hear about creative programs, wild games and big mission trips, I instead told them my greatest love in youth ministry was practicing the ministry…
