{"id":24673,"date":"2019-10-30T21:07:09","date_gmt":"2019-10-31T04:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=24673"},"modified":"2019-10-31T11:31:50","modified_gmt":"2019-10-31T18:31:50","slug":"blue-light-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/blue-light-special\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Light Special"},"content":{"rendered":"

My mind is torn and spinning in many directions when it comes to this blog. I would like to say that Sim and Van Loon in their book Introducing Critical Theory a Graphic Guide<\/em> brought great clarity and inspiration to me and my understanding of Critical Theory. That isn\u2019t the case. \u00a0But I did find it informative enough to assist me in piecing together what may be the key influences surrounding the area I live and challenges I see to the church, as well as, those in my Christian walk. So much so, that I reread the book and tried to find a deeper understanding in the illustrations. Sadly, I found them to be more of an annoyance than a help. I honestly hesitate to go where this book led my mind. Not because it was a bad place but because I want to avoid being a broken record and drum beater. But since this is part of critical thought I will proceed.<\/p>\n

After the second gander at this book and a reacquainted with my personal library on post modernism I had to admit my concern over the many contradictions I see with current critical theory and the Bible. Much of critical theory focuses on the need to refute any form of authority. Postmodernism does not like absolutes and grand narratives. Especially since, \u201cgrand narratives claim to be a source of solutions to our socio-political problems.\u201d \u201cWe are now encouraged to adopt a sceptical attitude toward them, with the objective of undermining their power and authority.\u201d[1]<\/a> \u00a0When out entire gospel message is based on the grand narrative called the bible with an overarching message of God\u2019s desire for the restoration and redemption of humanity it is easy to be concerned with the purpose of a postmodern desire to eliminate all grand narratives. There is an effort to undermine the power and authority of the Bible. Jurgen Habermas askes a valid question concerning value judgements; \u201cif all truth is relative, then does that statement itself become relative in turn?\u201d[2]<\/a> Paganism becomes the method of bypassing and getting around the problems surrounding value judgements. \u201cPaganism demands that we make each judgement on a \u201ccase by case\u201d basis with no overarching system of rule to guide or in any way constrain our deliberations.\u201d[3]<\/a> \u00a0I wonder what would happen if Christianity as a whole threw out the concept of the 10 commandments as one of the judges of our moral guidelines? \u00a0Of course, if one sees them as a restriction of human freedom and a decree from an overzealous heavy-handed God, they may seem a bit restrictive. But what if they were viewed through the eyes of a people who were abused, held captive and set free? \u201cAnd God spoke these words saying, \u201cI am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.\u201d (Exodus 20:1-2) This was the introduction before the listing of the commandments. Remember up to this point in scripture God never gave humanity a set of rules, he just focused on the relationship. God reminded Israel that they were in relationship \u201cI am the Lord your God\u201d not just a God, but a personal God. Their God! A God who chose a people. He reminded them that he brought them out of slavery and set them free. He didn\u2019t make the commandments to restrict or enslave Israel he made them to assure their freedom.<\/p>\n

Critical Theory is a fact of life. It is here to stay. I openly acknowledge some of these mind sets with in my own thought process. With this in mind many questions arise. As believers should we dive in and adopt this cultural mindset? How do we stay culturally relevant without embracing the culture and staying true to the grand narrative of scripture? What does it look like in a post Christian postmodern world for a church to be counterculture? What parts of Christianity if any, need to change to reach a culture steeped in an anti-authoritarian relative mindset? Are we ready when this post Christian culture turns anti-Christian? \u00a0How relevant will the church be in the lives of people in an anti-Christian culture in America? What options do we have? \u00a0These are but a few of the questions that crossed my mind as I dug back into my books on postmodernism. As an adjunct professor who has been asked to design an Introductory class for a Theology and Culture course focused on undergraduate students these are but a few of the challenges I am trying to navigate. Are our bible colleges and seminaries doing a good job educating and preparing our future Christian leaders to navigate the muck and mire of Critical Theory? Do we fully see how many of these theories have influenced the church? In many of Paul\u2019s writings he takes great care to explain to believers how to think. In Romans he challenges us not to be conformed to this world but to be transformed by allowing God to change the way we think. In 1 Corinthians he asks us to remember that love is the greatest gift. Galatians he tells us we need to remember that Christ set us free and not to submit ourselves back into slavery. We are to walk by the Spirit, so we do not follow the flesh. In Ephesians he asks us to think of all we have been given in Christ and we are challenged walk it out in our everyday lives within our families and jobs. In Philippians he reminds us to think on whatever is pure, true, excellent and things worthy of praise. Critical Theory can be a good measuring stick showing us just where the culture is heading. Are we seeing what it is really telling us? Welcome Kmart shoppers we have a blue light special on Isle 1!<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Sim, Stuart and Van Loon, Borin, 2012, Introducing Critical Thought: A Graphic Guide<\/em>, London, Icon Books Ltd, 101<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> (Sim and Van Borin, 102)<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> (Sim and Van Borin, 104)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My mind is torn and spinning in many directions when it comes to this blog. I would like to say that Sim and Van Loon in their book Introducing Critical Theory a Graphic Guide brought great clarity and inspiration to me and my understanding of Critical Theory. That isn\u2019t the case. \u00a0But I did find […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":135,"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":[1673,1602,1689],"class_list":["post-24673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-critical-theory","tag-dminlgp10","tag-sim-and-van-loon","cohort-lgp10"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24673","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\/135"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24673"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24673\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24682,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24673\/revisions\/24682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}