i am frustrated by the tired old argument of "what's the point in me doing anything if the thing we want to change is built into our societal structure??" i understand the overwhelmingness that people feel in trying to tackle global issues, but if every person that says "what's the point?" actually DID something, then things would change.
I agree but I dont think individual change is the entirety of the answer. Structural/institutional problems warrent Structural/institutional responses. If the structures are wrong, we change them. Thats what we see the acts church doing. Thats what we see Jesus doing when he talks about the worshipers worshiping in spirit and truth instead of only at the temple. There is a place for right living in wrong structures (paul's epistles and language about patriarchy and slavery) but there is also a place for an organic structural change.
actually i need to apologize, i didn't even read what you wrote...
and i was trying to build my smart aleck comment off the last sentence in your paragraph.
buut. after actually reading things. yeah i understand what you're saying. and callings are something i don't read in the bible, the way the church talks about them.
ok. social science is built on studying what you are talking about...organic structural change...radical change...society's development from communal to privatized social structures(durkheim, marx, weber, focault, blah, blah). all of them are athiests and most are hostile towards the idea of the masses of people being duped by symbols and unseen gods. to them, religion only reflects what society is. if society is communal, so is religion and vice versa. that is why when missionaries go over to an african village and experience that type of religion they love it and then come back to the u.s. and tell us how much we suck at being christians. u.s. christians have quiet alone times because they spend so much of their time quietly alone. i predict that worship will increasingly become more privatized, technologically advanced (bible on cd's) and focused on secular authors who write books and become experts on one facet of christianity (how to be a good christian date). they'll adapt and survive the evolution of u.s. christianity. it's not
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Jeff, I agree that Christians/Christianity adapt to the cultural environment they find themselves in. This however is in no way an argument justifying behaviors that perpetuate bad practice. Never in the bible do I see an argument for uncritical adaptation to environment. Paul however does give us many options for ways to creatively build meaning into social institutions. You need to look at Christianity with an eye for praxis, habitus, how are we reinforcing status quo, how are we perpetuating falleness with how we practice our faith. Ultimately American Christianity will look more private and individualistic because these are dominant artifacts of our society. Should we however accept them uncritically and then elevate them to the level of Dogma? Certainly not. We have a long tradition in our religion of speaking truth to power and that is what I mean to do.
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and i was trying to build my smart aleck comment off the last sentence in your paragraph.
buut. after actually reading things. yeah i understand what you're saying.
and callings are something i don't read in the bible, the way the church talks about them.
and other things. lots of stuff
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