{"id":503,"date":"2013-12-05T04:13:18","date_gmt":"2013-12-05T04:13:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/beta.dminlgp.com\/?p=503"},"modified":"2014-08-13T21:03:14","modified_gmt":"2014-08-13T21:03:14","slug":"american-evangelicalism-and-nuclear-energy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/american-evangelicalism-and-nuclear-energy\/","title":{"rendered":"American Evangelicalism and Nuclear Energy"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was a young boy, my dad loved taking me fishing.\u00a0 In fact, I loved the time with him as well.\u00a0 Often we would travel approximately 20 miles and launch our boat on the Susquehanna River.\u00a0 One of our favorite fishing holes was located about two miles from the launch, it was known as Three Mile Island.\u00a0 Yep, you heard me right!\u00a0 Three Mile Island<\/strong>, the nuclear power plant.\u00a0 The one that on March 28th, 1979, had a partial nuclear meltdown.\u00a0 I remember my mom coming and getting my off the swing-set and pulling me inside the house.\u00a0 It was the worst accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant history.\u00a0 A partial meltdown occurred because a simple pilot-operated relief valve was stuck open.\u00a0 What was once a great place to fish, be with my dad and enjoy life, now became a very toxic place.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This past week while reading article submissions on “Respectful Conversation” <\/strong>A Project Hosted by Harold Heie I was reminded of my heritage growing up in American Evangelicalism.\u00a0 These writings along with my memories emerged a few key strengths as well as weaknesses immersed within the framework of this movement.\u00a0 While reading, I couldn\u2019t help but draw upon the parallels between nuclear energy and American Evangelicalism.\u00a0 Mainly in its potential for good as well as disaster.\u00a0 The following are a few key weaknesses and shifts which are occurring.<\/p>\n

Key Weaknesses<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lack of Contextualization & Diversity\u2026<\/strong>\u00a0 We live in a globalized world.\u00a0 Global realities find their way into our homes, workplaces and the everyday life.\u00a0 Some regions in the U.S. are known for their global trade, impact and diversity, such as New York and Los Angeles.\u00a0 Yet, much of the U.S. is made up of smaller communities locked into very specific heritages and cultures.\u00a0 Living in New York City, your neighborhood street may contain people from 10 varying ethnicity and all you need to do is walk out your door to understand a broader global perspective.\u00a0 While another living in Iowa, the center of the country, may need to drive 1000 miles or two days to find someone who is not immersed in the exact same culture.\u00a0 American Evangelicalism \u00a0thrives in the second of these two.\u00a0 Often in places where traditional norms are not being challenged and diversity is seen as something to avoid.<\/p>\n

American Pride\u2026\u00a0<\/strong> Alive and well in American culture is still an imbedded principle that what we do is better.\u00a0 Or, some would even say, right.\u00a0 Now, this idea is completely wrong and a false belief.\u00a0 However, this same mindset is parallel in American Evangelicalism.\u00a0 A subtle pride within this movement often approaches matters of theology and methodological practice as there is only one right way, and that way is theirs.\u00a0 Growing up, I watched hateful church meetings, multiple church splits and families divided over absolute non-sense stemming from a truncated formation in American Evangelicalism which often left its followers operating from an emotional adolescent or childlike state. \u00a0\u00a0While at the same time saying, \u201cWe\u2019re doing this for Jesus.\u201d\u00a0 I heard it said before, \u201cPride keeps us from truly seeing ourselves for who we are, who God is and loving our Neighbors as ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Key Shifts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Phase One\u2026<\/strong> Over the past nine years of teaching, I have seen three major shifts in the North East within American Evangelicalism.\u00a0 In the fall of 2005, students were jaded.\u00a0 Having watched the last 10 years of American Evangelicalism fight, follow poorly contextualized rules and marginalize disciple making and missional living, they were simply done.\u00a0 They loved Jesus, but hated the church.\u00a0 And they hated American Evangelicalism.<\/p>\n

Phase Two\u2026<\/strong> Shift number two brought about another type of student.\u00a0 In this movement, students weren\u2019t jaded but they also weren\u2019t connected.\u00a0 This group was known for their ability to love others well and live missionally minded.\u00a0 This group unlike the last group didn\u2019t hate American Evangelicalism, they simply didn\u2019t care about it.\u00a0 The movement was largely seen as marginalized and non effective, so why bother, just go do your thing.\u00a0 During this season, I could have taught Jesus came from Mars, handpicked his disciples from Venus and was eventually crucified on Earth, and no one would have had a problem with it.\u00a0 As long as I said, “Go live missionally.”<\/strong><\/p>\n

Phase Three\u2026<\/strong> Shift number three is my current season. This season is reflected by an adamant return to the tradition stances and views of the American Evangelical movement.\u00a0 Not subtle in any way, a reactionary form of American Evangelicalism is trying to regain their place of prominence.\u00a0 Two key characteristics of this modern movement are the same weakness I\u2019ve seen from the past.\u00a0 A lack of contextualization and diversity within the overall understanding of theology and methodological issues, as well as, a very overt pride lacking compassion towards fellow brothers and sisters in the faith.<\/p>\n

What I am coming to understand about our Global world is that shifts are beginning to happen faster and faster.\u00a0 The lifespan of any movement has a shorter half life in this global fast paced society.\u00a0 Hyper American Evangelicalism will give way to another trend.\u00a0 My question for each of us is, \u201cHow will we plant the seeds for the next shift, guiding our little portion of the kingdom towards a healthier balance of Mark 12?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

33 years later, my dad and I went fishing by Three Mile Island last year.\u00a0 It\u2019s all safe and clean again,\u00a0 but we certainly don\u2019t forget what happened on that crazy day in March of 1979.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was a young boy, my dad loved taking me fishing.\u00a0 In fact, I loved the time with him as well.\u00a0 Often we would travel approximately 20 miles and launch our boat on the Susquehanna River.\u00a0 One of our favorite fishing holes was located about two miles from the launch, it was known as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"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":[2,214],"class_list":["post-503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-respectfulconversations","cohort-lgp3"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503","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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=503"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1838,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/503\/revisions\/1838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}