{"id":17478,"date":"2018-05-09T18:17:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-10T01:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=17478"},"modified":"2018-05-09T18:17:00","modified_gmt":"2018-05-10T01:17:00","slug":"the-cutting-edge-of-cultural-intelligence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-cutting-edge-of-cultural-intelligence\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cutting Edge of Cultural Intelligence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Though David Livermore suggests that in the increasingly global existence we lead, in this \u2018flat earth\u2019 that no longer permits genuine isolationism leaders will require Cultural Intelligence. He defines this innovative form of measuring intelligence as; \u201cThe capability to function effectively across national, ethnic, and organizational cultures.<\/em>\u201d[1]<\/a>There is some truth in the argument that the world has changed drastically since the \u201cemergence of \u2018place choice\u2019, which generally corresponds to the timing of the US Declaration of Independence 250 years ago<\/em>.\u201d[2]<\/a>The interaction of people across cultures which has only been exacerbated by the coming of the technological age.<\/p>\n

It seems to me though that this might not be as new as Livermore would suggest. We have multiple Biblical examples of cross-cultural awareness and a seemingly counterintuitive approach to understanding and acceptance of others. Throughout the Old Testament, even though the Hebrew people understood themselves to possess some form of \u2018Special Election\u2019 as God\u2019s chosen people, they occasionally perceived the bigger picture and demonstrated a broader understanding of God\u2019s love and mercy for all people. Psalm 22:27-28 states;<\/p>\n

All the ends of the earth
\nwill remember and turn to the\u00a0Lord,
\nand all the families of the nations
\nwill bow down before him,
\nfor dominion belongs to the\u00a0Lord
\nand he rules over the nations<\/em>.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

An entire book of the Old Testament isdedicated to sharing God\u2019s redemptive love with people the Hebrews hated. The book of Jonah tells the story of a man chosen by God to speak to the city of Ninevah calling them to repentance. Jonah runs because he is concerned that God will actually redeem those nasty people.<\/p>\n

The New Testament too is rife with examples of the understanding that God\u2019s love was broad. The book of John is written throughout with consistent explanations of Jewish terms that may be \"\"unfamiliar to non-Hebrew readers. This demonstrates a willingness to \u2018flatten out\u2019 the Gospel in order to make it accessible to others with a different heritage. We also have strong examples of cross-cultural communication such as that found in Acts 8:26-40 where Philip shares the Gospel with the Ethiopian Eunuch. That interaction crosses both ethnic barriers and potentially ones having to do with sexual identity too. (But let\u2019s leave that alone for now.) Even the Apostle Paul, a former Pharisee and maintainer of religious purity, blasts open the door to full inclusion when he states on several occasions similar sentiments as that found in Colossians 3:11; \u201cHere there is no Gentile or Jew,\u00a0circumcised or uncircumcised,\u00a0barbarian, Scythian, slave or free,\u00a0but Christ is all,\u00a0and is in all<\/em>.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

It seems to me that the Hebrew people, and to an even greater extent the Christians prior to the age of Christendom, were leading the way with a powerful form of cultural intelligence. They perceived in some way that cultural fluidity and communication across cultures was God\u2019s idea from the beginning and they were not to stand in the way of God\u2019s broad demonstration of love. When and\"\" where did the Church lose its dynamic edge in this regard? Why did it become a place that forced The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., to declare “It is appalling that the most segregated hour of Christian America is eleven o’clock on Sunday morning<\/em>\u201d?[5]<\/a>The church lost its Cultural Intelligence when it became more concerned with maintaining its power and influence than it did about communicating the full breadth of the love of God demonstrated in Jesus.<\/p>\n

Though the Christian Church is still the most diverse religion in the world it has maintained a form of ethnic isolationism as there is minimal diversity present within the various communities. David Livermore\u2019s text is necessary today because the Church lost its way and failed to maintain the intercultural savvy it had early on and was occasionally present in communities and individuals after that. The insights found in this text should be liberally applied throughout the Church as it seeks to demonstrate the Cultural Intelligence that was way ahead of its time and propelled the Gospel to the uttermost reaches of the planet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a>Livermore, David A.\u00a0Leading with Cultural Intelligence: The Real Secret to Success Ed. 2<\/em>. Amacom, 2015. P. 4.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>Roulac, Stephen. \u201cLeading with Cultural Intelligence: The New Secret to Success.\u201d\u00a0A Book Review by Stephen Roulac<\/em>, Viking, www.nyjournalofbooks.com\/book-review\/leading-cultural-intelligence-new-secret-success<\/a>. P. 2<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a>The Holy Bible, New International Version: Containing the Old Testament and the New Testament<\/em>. International Bible Society, 1997.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a>The Holy Bible, New International Version: Containing the Old Testament and the New Testament<\/em>. International Bible Society, 1997.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a>\u201cMartin Luther King, Jr. Quotes About Church.\u201d\u00a0A-Z Quotes<\/em>, www.azquotes.com\/author\/8044-Martin_Luther_King_Jr\/tag\/church.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Though David Livermore suggests that in the increasingly global existence we lead, in this \u2018flat earth\u2019 that no longer permits genuine isolationism leaders will require Cultural Intelligence. He defines this innovative form of measuring intelligence as; \u201cThe capability to function effectively across national, ethnic, and organizational cultures.\u201d[1]There is some truth in the argument that the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"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":[219,1229,977],"class_list":["post-17478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-diversity","tag-intercultural","tag-livermore","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17478","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\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17478"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17481,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17478\/revisions\/17481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}