{"id":15383,"date":"2017-11-16T19:31:15","date_gmt":"2017-11-17T03:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=15383"},"modified":"2017-11-16T19:31:28","modified_gmt":"2017-11-17T03:31:28","slug":"how-are-churches-to-react-to-a-changing-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/how-are-churches-to-react-to-a-changing-society\/","title":{"rendered":"How are Churches to react to a changing society"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I picked up Elliott’s\u00a0Contemporary Social Theory<\/em> I needed and introduction.\u00a0 I was not sure I understood what it meant, after the first chapter, I still am not one hundred percent sure but I think I have a work towards it.\u00a0 “What is Society”\u00a0[1]<\/a>, this was a question I thought I had the answer for.\u00a0 Turns out I needed to have my mind stretched on this.\u00a0 In the discussion of Natalie and what society did she belong to, the one she was born in, the one she grew up in, the one she lived in, the one she worked in, or the society in which her boyfriend lived in, the argument could be made that these separate societies made up her whole but they were completely different.\u00a0 What is the nature of society, and in my work, how does this nature affect how Christians can be a part of society and how do we reach out to those who we have been called to by God.<\/p>\n

I am choosing to focus on Elliott’s discussion of Contemporary Critical Theory and Jurgen Habermas.\u00a0 Habermas’ theory centered on a “marxist inspired philosophy to help the oppressed overcome their domination”[2]<\/a> at the hands of oppressors. The problem I see with this theory is basically what Habermas said would happen has actually happened but in a way far more destructive than he thought.\u00a0 “‘Newspapers’, writes Habermas, ‘changed from mere institutions for the publication of news into bearers and leaders of public opinion — weapons of party politics'”\u00a0[3]<\/a>\u00a0, we have seen this happen to an extent that now, if you watch, or read, any news and it does not match to your philosophy, you scream “fake news” and dismiss it off hand.\u00a0 Habermas’ theory seems to depend on people doing the right thing, and governments doing the right thing.\u00a0 The biggest problem with this is, they don’t.\u00a0 Over history, whether it is in ancient times, or modern times, what I see is governments working to keep themselves in business.\u00a0 I truly believe this is where the church can intercede.\u00a0 The church is supposed to be a place of justice and mercy.\u00a0 I do agree with Habermas on the degradation of debate and the quality of political debate.\u00a0[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

The really unfortunate situation is the church, at least in Southern Baptist life, is feeding into this angry rhetoric.\u00a0 I feel this is one of the issues that is holding the church back.\u00a0 It has almost come to the point of bing politically identified with one group if you are an evangelical.\u00a0 You can find people who swim against that current but for the most part it is an identification.\u00a0 Not to be left out, there are other denominations where the opposite is true.\u00a0 I think this identity drawn from a governmental institution is a danger to Christianity as commanded by Christ in the New Testament.\u00a0 We are to be known by our love and yet most people can tell you what a Christian hates easier than what they love.\u00a0 There is a self absorption within the western church that seems to trivialize the world around it. The capitalism driven church, along with our society is far more concerned with self gratification.\u00a0 In his article on the Frankfurt Schools theories on capitalism, Stuart Jefferies asks if capitalism has died but no one was critical enough to notice it.\u00a0[5]<\/a>\u00a0 The point of the Occupy movement and its affect on social norms within a culture of capitalism was to bring about a change in monetary distribution, the 99% vs the elite.\u00a0 \u00a0Habermas posits that the world will be better without capitalism but the problem is the other option we have is socialism and if you watch true socialism within most countries it has an oppression unique to itself.\u00a0 Habermas is a dreamer, his idea is that there is a solidarity that is achievable.\u00a0 I have not seen this to be the case.\u00a0 I think this is where the church can make an impact.\u00a0 If we are more concerned with reaching the word for Christ, and less concerned with how big our building is, or what programs we are running, then we will be more effective.<\/p>\n

Habermas has a vision of a global community without borders.\u00a0 This idealism does not always work.\u00a0 Take the EU for example. The British exit from the EU has caused much concern, when a major economy decides to remove itself from the union, the question becomes, where does the money come from to make up the difference.\u00a0 Of course, that was one of the driving factors of Brexit given, the propensity for the poorer countries to take advantage.\u00a0 I think it is short sighted, no empire lasts forever, but there was enough angst within the U.K. for it to be voted on and passed.\u00a0 This was a self centered vote.\u00a0 A “Christian” nation decided its own interests out weighed the needs of the poorer.\u00a0 The church has done the same thing.\u00a0 So the question is, how do you change this tide.\u00a0 How do we as Christians realize it is up to us to reach out, it is up to us to move in a direction where we can listen to others, not judge them if they are different and make an impact in their life for God.\u00a0 If changes need to happen in lives, it is not up to us to force it. It is up to God and them. Our job is to love regardless.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Elliott, Anthony. Contemporary Social Theory: An Introduction. <\/em>2nd ed.\u00a0(London\u202f; New York: Routledge, 2014). 3.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 The Editors of Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica. “Critical theory.” Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica. November 10, 2015. Accessed November 16, 2017. https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/critical-theory.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> \u00a0Elliott, Anthony.\u00a0Contemporary Social Theory: An Introduction<\/em>. 2nd ed. (London; New York: Routledge, 2014). 182.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> \u00a0 Ibid. 183.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a>\u00a0 Jeffries, Stuart. “Why a forgotten 1930s critique of capitalism is back in fashion.” The Guardian. September 09, 2016. Accessed November 16, 2017. https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/books\/2016\/sep\/09\/marxist-critique-capitalism-frankfurt-school-cultural-apocalypse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I picked up Elliott’s\u00a0Contemporary Social Theory I needed and introduction.\u00a0 I was not sure I understood what it meant, after the first chapter, I still am not one hundred percent sure but I think I have a work towards it.\u00a0 “What is Society”\u00a0[1], this was a question I thought I had the answer for.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":102,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/102"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15383"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15426,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15383\/revisions\/15426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}