Reading: Cobb [Salvation]

Although their titles are probably too literal for Cobb's liking, there were two works of art in popular culture that I was surprised were not mentioned when breaking down popular cultures variety of conceptions of salvation.

The first is the film Saved. The plot follows Mary, a devout senior at a Christian high school, who after accidentally getting pregnant, starts to see her peers and her faith in a whole new way. This dark comedy/coming-of-age story premiered at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival and was produced by R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe. Saved refreshingly argues that Jesus would have embraced the cast-outs and the misfits, and might have leaned toward situational ethics instead of rigid morality.

The second piece is the song "Save Me" by Aimie Mann, featured in the epic film Magnolia. The movie is an interlocking series of episodes that take place during a single 24-hour period, using the interconnected tales of its nine protagonists (acted by John C. Reilly, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, Philip Baker Hall and Philip Seymour Hoffman and others including Tom Cruise) to form a frenzied slice of our life and times. Each character is searching for happiness, having trouble making human connections, and, more specifically, trying to come to terms with what's come before. In the end, all of these threads converge, in one way or another, upon an event there is no way for the audience to anticipate. Mann's song highlights the aforementioned divine ending sequence with each character attempting to come to grasp with their past and hope of future salvation.

Reading: Bevans [Transcendental]

Bevans summarizes that the transcendental model of contextual theology points to a new way of doing theology. The model highlights the active, never-ending aspect of Anselm's definition of theology as faith seeking understanding.

The main critique of the theory is that if subjective authenticity is how one approaches the authentic theology the transcendental model promotes, then how can true objectivity move out of theory into true action.

Although the argument is logical in its construction, the critique doesn't hold much weight when you consider that overall every theory is just that, a theory, until put in action. As a wise Jedi once said: "No! Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try!"

Reflection: Week 8 [Wednesday]

The theme of justice has been on my mind for most of the quarter. Each new contextual theological theory reminds me of social injustice within the world we live. Christian faith and the gay community are seemingly incompatible concepts, with the religious right fomenting bigotry and spreading fear, using the Bible and the pulpit as weapons to marginalize gays and lesbians. In For the Bible Tells Me So, filmmaker Daniel Karslake examines this faith-based issue both though the personal stories of five Christian families, all of whom struggled to reconcile their faith with loving their gay children, and the observations of well-respected religious figures about how biblical scripture is interpreted and misinterpreted.


Justice within the context of today lecture on deconstruction, the principle of hospitality moves to the forefront. Is the church welcoming the uninvited? Most people believe what many other gay people believe — that conservative Christians are hating, bigoted people. But in reality, they have very simply been misled by their own leaders — their ministers and their priests. When push came to shove, you need to open up the Bible to read it for yourself, then transformation can occur and you can realize that what it all comes down to is love. Gay, Lesbian and Transgender individuals are people too, created as beautiful loving creatures.

Reflection: Week 8 [Monday]

Looking at the popular cultural artistic images can create both instant denotative meaning as well as underlying connotative meaning of a mythic quality.

The photographic images that we viewed today observing cultural myths reminded me of the TED presentation by artist Alison Jackson. We watched the clip in Barry Taylor's Theology, Pop Culture, and the Emerging Church class and it was a surprising look at her provocative explorations of celebrity culture and did not disappoint. She creates obscured photos and films of celebrity look-alikes in surprising, shocking or strange situations, portraying them, as she has described it, "depicting our suspicions."


Personally, I think the popular celebrity culture magazines like US Weekly should be reserved for time spent on the loo. But my wife thinks differently, and thus our family is not just readers, but subscribers.

Response: Chris' Blog [Week 7]

Oh, it's on, Chris! Now you've gone and started a conversation. Oh, wait, that's probably the goal of this whole internets exercise. Okay, then touche, Bolger. Touche.

Of course, I agree that the Great Commission without a solid foundation in faith is not an ideal situation. The Great Commission should be paired with the Great Commandment in ever step of ones spiritual journey. The great commandment is loving God with everything that belongs to us-the heart, soul, and mind. Furthermore, the great commandment of loving God with your heart, soul, and mind therefore reduces to the great commission term, "go". The obedience of the command "go" depends on the love you have for God; just as Jesus said written, "If ye love me, keep my commandments." (John 14:15).

Along the same lines, we must be sure to prepare ourselves for mission in prayer. Whatever mission we are called to or find ourselves in, from working hard at our job to flying to Africa to help kids, prayer can aid our efforts. Like a spiritual tag team, the Holy Spirit is ready to tag in into the match. And now, like me, you'll picture the Spirit as Mr. T to my Hulk Hogan.

Reading: Cobb [Sin]

Focusing on the Gothic that is evident throughout literature, movies, journalism, fashion and music, Cobb draws on key elements of the previous chapters human nature. Our culture's media landscape also reveals societies obsession with sin and moral transgression. We love to see someone fail as much as we enjoy seeing them succeed. Watching a video of someone getting hit in the nuts is always funny. Well, unless the video is you. I'm sure Adam & Eve would have thought twice about eating those apples if they knew there was a possibility of a hidden camera [e.g. God's omnipresence].

Reading: Bevans [Synthetic]

The synthetic model of contextual theology basically is a hybrid of the translation model of translating faith into cultural contexts and an engagement of culture based on the traditions of a faith dialogue. It was interesting to learn about the Filipino Christian movement and how it looks to a number of possible translations of traditional theology in dialogue with contemporary western scholarship and dynamic human experience.

Reflection: Week 7 [Wednesday]

The praxis model is essential when discussing a church plant or outreach structure. If we take seriously the Great Commission that Jesus threw down like a gauntlet to his followers, the praxis model's belief of action towards social change falls directly in line with change within a community a church plant or outreach structure is moving towards. I said it better last week. But you get the gist.

Reading: Barker [Politics]

Tony Bennett's call for cultural studies to engage more productively in cultural policy formation and implementation is spot on when looking at practical ways a seminarian can apply her/his knowledge learning in cultural studies to an applicable theology in the real world. It continues the discussion of the praxis model of contextual theology that we have read in Bevans.

Jim Wallis visit to Fuller a few weeks ago again comes into the conversation [mentioned in the same blog post linked above]. His current platform discusses how the silent majority of religious Americans who don't feel represented by the religious right's agenda can first take comfort in their sheer numbers and then take action in their communities to fight poverty, clean up the environment and eradicate disease. Moving from theory into practice. I like where this discussion and textbooks are finally leading to. Some action instead of heady theory.

Reading: Barker [Youth]

When I think of the youth scene, two things come to mind immediately. First, the social networking websites like Facebook and MySpace that the youth culture is drawn to for community both inside and outside their current personal relationship structures. Why are youth attracted to online communities in the massive numbers they are? Is there a emotional, relational or spiritual void that these sites feed towards youth that the church can/should tab into? The second phenomenon in youth culture today is text messaging. Texting has immersed itself into the youth culture so much that schools have been forced to bad cell phone use on school grounds.

The study of resistance within cultural studies brings to mind the 'punk' movement, as Barker mentions within Chapter 13. But there is a resistance within the punk counterculture called the straight edge punks that stand up against punk ideals. A resistance against a resistance, if you will.

And I will. Straight edge punks resist against many of the cultural ideals within the hardcore punk subculture whose adherents abstain from alcohol, smoking, and other recreational drug use. The letter "X" is the most prevalent symbol of straight edge. Commonly it is worn as a marking, symbol or tattoo on the back of one or both hands, though it can be displayed on other body parts as well. Although a definitive subculture apart from the punk scene, the punk scene shares music as the dominant media source for tenets of the straightedge subculture.

Reflection: Week 7 [Monday]

As we continue to discuss culture, I am reminded how dependent today's culture is on technology; and as it changes, so does our culture. It is fascinating to think that only 10-15 years ago, cell phones were as big as a textbook and computers were pretty much only in large tower desktop form.

Our culture has grown dependent on technology, to the point where a fictional scenario like the script to Die Hard 4: Live Free or Die Hard of a group of terrorists plotting to systematically shutting down the United States computer infrastructure is a legitimate fear and real possibility.

This past weekend, my dependence on technology came full circle. After finishing shooting footage for a short documentary film, I proceeded to download the footage to my Apple laptop… an hour later, my computer died. Turns out the hard drive had crashed, was dead and gone and the data not recoverable. Admittedly, the experience is a large pain in the ars. And ironically, the situation could have been avoided if I would have used the technology available at my home to diligently back up my data onto my external hard drive. Irony. You cruel beast, you.

Reading: Cobb [Nature]

Cobb investigates human nature as well as the nature of human expression, not only describing the human as a "pleasure seeking bricoleur" but confronting the tension between our fascination and "sheer delight in the simulacra that now compose the world" which can temporarily satisfy, with our awareness that acquisitions are, in the end, not enough.

Our desire for spiritual transcendence outside the realm of institutional religion becomes, in fact, the motivation behind our various simulations and creative inventions. We need first-hand experience. We want a reality that goes below the surface, beyond simulacra. And yet in order to touch the invisible we attempt to manufacture tangible facsimiles. Skin and clothes seem inseparable.


WHAT'S IN THE BOX!?! I love how Cobb brings up the films of Nolan and Minghella and how they reflect human nature, but a curiously absent was the counter argument and viewpoint of how human nature is inherently sinful after sin was introduced into the world after the Garden. The "pleasure seeking bricoleur" is of an inherently sinful human nature is perfectly emulated in David Fincher's Se7en. As I continued to read, I kept waiting for Cobb to bring up the flick as a negative point of view of human nature. But it never came.

Reading: Bevans [Praxis]

Bevans has moved from the translation model of contextual theology focusing on Christian identity within a particular culture to an anthropological model focusing on the cultural identity of Christians and their unique way of articulating faith. In Chapter 6, the praxis model is unveiled, focusing on the identity of Christians within a culture as that culture is understood in terms of social change. Movement from knowledge to action is the backbone of the model, founded on liberation theology, known as a practical way of thinking that directly effects everyday life.

What is most interesting about the praxis model to me is how it has inspired social change in subcultures challenging social injustices like racism and women's suffrage. Jim Wallis came and spoke at Fuller a few weeks back, reminding us that while the Church has been all over the map in conflicts since the beginning of history, faith has also provided the vanguard in the great ethical crusades of our nation's past... from abolition, to worker's rights, to civil rights, people of faith marched and preached, and agitated. Putting faith into action. The praxis model is clearly one of the most influential contextual theological methods of modern culture.

Reading: Barker [Space]

Space. Not the final frontier. But space and place within cities in particular is what Barker explores in Chapter 12. It cannot be denied the emergence of global cities have reorganized the world economy. And within the past few years, we have seen the world economy leave the falling US dollar in the dust.

Trends of postmodern urbanization are discussed in detail. Upon reflection, one can see that the urban landscape has changed into a corporate economy where employment has driven the suburban neighborhood and subsequent daily commute as a reality of city development and a continued reliance upon the capitalistic machine.

Reading: Barker [Media]

Barker claims in his 2003 volume of Cultural Studies that, "no other medium can match television for the volume of popular cultural texts it produces and the sheer size of its audiences." Perhaps Barker didn't own his own Apple computer and had a dial-up internet connection when he first published his text at the turn of the century, but a little less than a decade after Barker was typing his original manuscript on his Commodore 64, the internet that Al Gore invented is now the cultural medium of choice that drives popular culture.

From MySpace to Facebook, YouTube to IMDb, Google to Yahoo!, the World Wide Web is the medium the current information age and popular culture as a whole has turned to for the majority of their entertainment. I'm sure Barker's next edition will remove this chapter completely and replace it with musings about how the internet is now the most important cultural medium, but until then, there are three reasons that I will use to prove my point.

First, the recent Writer's Strike. The WGA holding out for a new contract demanding higher returns on DVD sales & gross sales were significant, but not as much as their demands for a percentage of internet viewing, distribution and advertising sales. People watch television shows online now more than ever, so much that to combat Tivo and DVR nearly every network [except, of course, a predictably slow CBS] has their shows and content available for viewing on the internet minutes after airing [an example of a video from SNL is embedded at the bottom of this post].

Admittedly, cable and satellite providers are more infused than ever into households across the globe... but online communities like MySpace and Facebook are where young people spend the majority of their social networking browsing for countless hours each day. YouTube can spark overnight pop culture sensations with uploaded videos ranging from both the extremely talented to the lowly pathetic. And "google" is now a word in the dictionary.

Finally, the world is now wireless. Technology is driving down the information superhighway faster than tech companies can produce new toys for consumer demand. More of my friends watch the seemingly quarterly Apple keynote address that Steve Jobs gives online than I know watched the SuperBowl. We are living in a digital world. I just hope the Master Control Program from TRON never becomes a reality.

Reflection: Week 6 [Wednesday]

Zygmunt Bauman’s theory of homogeneity is spot on. You cannot deny that the structure and nationalist belief that order and rationalization in modern culture led up until the point in modernity where Communism and the Holocaust could be held as a common belief to the powers that be. These examples are products of the modern mindset and is a brilliant argument by Zygmunt Bauman [pictured here] that the Holocaust, contrary to being history's best example of barbaric regression into amorality, was in fact confluent with modern principles and deployed many tenets of modern rationalism of which, in other spheres, Western society is unequivocally proud.

Response: Todd's Blog [Week 6]

Last week, I discussed my second disagreement in response to a classmates blog. This week, I'll bust out my third and final critique of a fellow Fuller seminarian to complete the required amount in the syllabus and get back to happiness and fellowship of responding freely without requirement or restriction.

Todd Blackham's reflection on Monday's class session focused on the group work. He believes that the corporate learning process isn't helpful because it doesn't give us time to critique the contextual models in a group setting. I disagree with this reaction on a few levels.

First, the group work is a different learning process that may or may not be a better way of learning for one person over another. Changing up the teaching medium is a proven tactic to absorb information in teaching. In addition, by personalizing each contextual model, in this case the anthropological method, the group members have a better understanding of each model and thus a stronger base to critique the same models. Finally, Todd mentioned that the group work "provides a great experience," but furthermore, by learning to apply the cultural and theological theories into a real world setting, we are applying the knowledge in a practical exercise. And for most, learning in doing. Otherwise, most of the time you can feel like you are alone on an island.

Reflection: Week 6 [Monday]

How do you bridge the witness, worship, and formation of Christianity to a subculture using the anthropological method of contextual theology? Our small group today focused on the naturalist subculture, while other groups discussed the coffee-shop subculture and a highly irreverent and equally awesome Touchdown Jesus Notre Dame subculture.

Breaking it down further... as a witness, you can join the naturalist conversation where they are and ask questions to connect to the movement, questions like: What do they see in nature? Where does pollution come from? Why isn’t “being green” a priority to the majority? And lastly, you can bridge the shared beliefs of the naturalists and share stories of spiritual encounters while in nature, preserve the environment, and be actively involved in nature.

Worship can be connected through meditation, hiking, and enjoying nature together.

Finally, an anthropological method of formation focusing on the creation story [Genesis], debunk myths: Finding a common bond between Christianity and Environmentalism, transformation of “New Earth” [Revelation 21:1], and bring Jesus into the conversation: Symbol of care of other people, animals and the Earth.

Reading: Cobb [Images]

Images of God is always a compelling subject that has been given new life in todays postmodern and media saturated age. Cobb nails many memorable images of God, including great examples like Zorba the Greek, Augustine's Confessions [a great site of the Adventures of Confessions of Saint Augustine Bear is linked here if you have to time to get deep with Augustine's thoughts in hairy cartoon bear form], Fight Club, and Tori Amos.


My favorite image Cobb cites is Wim Wenders phenomenal film Wings of Desire. I think Cobb's analysis of God in the film as an unseen or heard God is incorrect. Rather, I believe God is seen in the film through God's creation in both humanity and angels. God has set creation on Earth in motion, and just like us on film, is watching for the drama to unfold.

Reading: Bevans [Anthropological]

Bevans busts out his spin on the anthropological model of contextual theology in Chapter 5 of his MP520 opus. Even before I learned about the details and theories like the anthropological model in my studies here at Fuller, I had an understanding that I was a unique creation of God's with my own path on Earth. Maybe I didn't understand that the method involved terms like "human nature" or "human culture." And I certainly didn't [and probably still don't] know what it meant to be "fully human." That being said, one could look at the war, hate, and ugliness on the Earth and claim the goodness of humanity is damned. Of course, on the flip side, another could argue there is goodness in love, faith, hope, and progress made each day. Is your glass half full or half empty?

Response: Chris' Blog [Week 5]

We are supposed to disagree with at least 3 posts according to the syllabus for MP520. A difficult task since we are all reading the same material and listening to the same class lectures. That, coupled with the fact that most students blogs just summarize each reading or lecture and raise a few questions without giving any opinions of there own... people are sticking close to the vest. Hey, I'm not sayin' people aren't being truthful, but I'd just like to see a provocateur bust one lose here or there. I'm just sayin'...


Last week I disagreed with what Aaron said, so one disagreement is down. Here goes #2. We'll see who #2 works for... Chris posted last week about how Barker believes we are defined by our culture and he feels that strategic essentialism can be valuable "for the improvement of the human condition" (Barker 2003, 244). Chris lamented that "progress in this direction seems unlikely if we are to take Barker seriously in that no one truly knows the essential nature of the human. Who is to define what improvement is?"

I think we can define what improvement to the human condition is by looking at the social injustice around the world and calculating whether or not it is increasing of decreasing. Currently, injustice in the form of war, famine, disease, and oppression happen daily. Iraq, Afghanistan, Darfur, AIDS, and civil wars clearly show that the human condition isn't perfect. But if one looks back on only the 20th Century, one would see enormous strides in the civil rights movement, womens suffrage, and the fall of communism... all which would point towards the improvement of the human condition. As I have already mentioned, there are still atrocities that occur every day worldwide. That being said, if we are to be defined by our culture, from a historical perspective, we have made progress.

Reflection: Week 5 [Wednesday]

Christ was a great revolutionary… Karl Marx would have subscribed to the Sermon on the Mount. – Fidel Castro

The details of the sermon Jesus gave were to uphold the rights of the “little people” and poor, so I can see where Castro would pair revolution and the Sermon on the Mount together. Although it is more of a social justice speech than a socialistic one, with references to the poor, meek, merciful, and peacemakers throughout the Beatitudes.


Karl Marx believed that religion is the "opiate of the masses" and was against faith towards a higher power. Jesus said he came not to overthrow the law, but to fulfill it. The definition of a revolution does fit Jesus and his words, faith, and actions on Earth, so the first part of Castro's quote is correct. Although it was not as a political revolutionary, but as an agent of change in the cosmic struggle.

Reading: Barker [Sex]

Sex. Now we're talking. Ah, but it's the feminism kind and not the "naughty" kind... you dirty dog, you. I've already wrote a bit about gender inclusive language in response to Harmony's post a couple of weeks back, but the subject bears repeating.

If within cultural studies, sex and gender are held to be social constructions intrinsically implicated in matters of representation, then it is possible the same gender exclusive language within many Christian church denominations have formed their beliefs from matters of culture rather than of of nature.

My beef with churches that exclude women from positions of leadership based on gender comes down to the simple concept of 'calling'. How can one person judge the call of a woman into ministry as not as authentic as the call of a man? Due to Scripture? But then one could also argue that that specific Scripture was meant for a specific context of who it was written for.

Basically, bottom line is that I admit I am a finite being that has limited capacity to judge another and their call into ministry. In other words, I got your back, women. You go, girl...s!

Reading: Barker [Race]

It is interesting when looking at the history of race and ethnicity how the different simple definitions of terms can range so broadly. Moving from Darwinism's concept of race referring to the alleged biological and physical characteristics, to the argument that ethnicity, race and nationality are contingent cultural categories rather than universal biological 'facts'.


Regardless of where and how it is formed, speaking as an American, a culture of racism is very much still active in today's American culture. With Barack Obama running for the Democratic nomination in the 2008 Presidential Election, America will be tested at the polls.

As Syon Bhanot so eloquently wrote over a year ago about Obama's campaign, "It is easy to think that we live in a society without race, where hands the colors of the rainbow join to sing, dance, and play. But this is not the case. America still has a dirty little secret – an enduring culture of racism that looms large in every aspect of national policy, from mandatory minimums in drug cases to a foreign policy that devalues the life of people based on their melanin count. And the only way we are going to move past this is by breaking the silence and talking about race openly and honestly, something that is often suggested but rarely done. As Martin Luther King, who would have been 78 years old last week, said many years ago, 'Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.'"

Reflection: Week 5 [Monday]

Moving deeper into application of the translation model... How does one take the “truth” of the gospel and translate it to a culture that is foreign from ones own? It could be argued that the truth of the Bible is love, a concept that could be communicated to another culture through word or picture stories with various possibilities. And if you believe the key concept of the Bible is the life of Jesus, the same strategy of word or picture stories is an avenue that could move throughout typical language and cultural barriers different than your own.


It was very interesting to have Randy Mah in our group and hear his experiences trying to bridge the gap between the Chinese culture his parents and grandparents experience, himself being a third-generation Chinese-American. The strategy of breaking down the roots of certain Chinese characters and how they can help translate the message of Genesis and the Gospel was fascinating. Randy's story of using the symbol for "come" to share Jesus dying on the cross with his mother was especially moving. It was a blessing being a part of it today. That, and our powerpoint rocked.

Response: Aaron's Blog [Week 4]

Although it is true that it is grossly unrealistic to expect people to be transformed into the character of Christ at the rate of one hour a week. I have to disagree with Aaron's overall assessment and point out that the majority of churches, including mega-churches aren't shaping their Sunday services to engage today's postmodern culture well enough to create experiences where the church goer can commune, experience, and meet with God.

Personally, I have created Sunday services that were full of visual, auditory, and experiential elements that require the attendee to engage their faith. With well thought out live painting, expressive original music, and prayer stations an [extra]ordinary Sunday service can move from the routine to a personal and powerful faith experience. Yes, discipleship, small groups and missions are powerful tools in their own right. But a well thought out Sunday service can move from a ritualistic, mundane, and traditional nature into an [extra]traditional transformational tool.

Reading: Cobb [Tools]

Cobb continues to hone in on Tillich's cultural theory by focusing on his concept of "ultimate concern." The most interesting and easily used, from a practical perspective, is the language of religious symbols. Cobb explains that, according to Tillich, it is our divinely given capacity for ultimate concern that craves symbols.

In a contemporary cultural setting, the symbol of the cross, a priest's robe, and even the Bible are seen as symbols of the Christian faith from both inside and outside our culture, for better or worse. Better when the symbols epitomize good, faith and truth. Worse when they symbolize the greed, capitalism and democracy-spreading of a twisted American "Conservative Christian" ideal.