Media Memory Quiz:

• You’re in good hands with…– ALLSTATE

• Reach out and touch someone– AT&T

• You have a friend in the diamond business– ShaneCo

• I love what you do for me– Toyota

• Drivers Wanted– Volkswagon

• The Ultimate Driving Machine– BMW

• Fly the friendly skies– United Airlines

• Is it in you?– Gatorade

• It’s everywhere you want to be– Visa

• Zoom Zoom…– Mazda

• Finger-lickin’ good– KFC

• Just do it– Nike

• Your one stop shopping center– Fred Meyer

• It keeps going and going and going– Enegizer

• Have it Your Way– Burger King

• The loudest taste on earth– Doritos

• Life taste good.– Coca-cola

What is…CULTURE?• The customary beliefs, social norms, and material traits

of a social group.

• “culture as the embodiment of…values which permeate our institutions, sustain the accepted wisdom of the day and underwrite our notions of what really counts, of what talks” (Kavanaugh, sj, p3).

• What talks in our culture? – Money talks – Power talks

• Funny things people do in other countries: Colombia/Jamaica

Layers of Culture• UNIVERSAL CULTURE of a society

– Language, citizenship, religion

• SUBCULTURE within the universal culture– Group w/in the larger culture that identify with a

more precise set of traditions, words, dress

• IDENTITY of an individual– How an individual manifests his/her self as a

discrete separate entity from (sub)culture.– This is our uniqueness expressed.– Our relationship with culture expressed.

all CULTURES includes

• Language (slogans, idioms, body language)

• Music (salsa, vallenato)

• Media (newspaper, Facebook, magazines)

• Religious, political, educational institutions (public/private)

• Technology

• Symbolic embodiments (Statue of Liberty, Liberty Bell, cityscapes, traffic)

• and so much more…

Clash of Cultures: Christian vs Secular

• Review of article by Kavanaugh, sj– The Christian Gospel and the Cultural Gospel

• Both of these cultures have BELIEFS and VALUES

• Both have GOSPELS – Gospel is about a message of belief and values

Christian Gospel

A) literally = “Good News” referring to the New Testament – (Matthew, Mark, Luke & John)

B) Also means the message, values & teachings of Jesus Christ

What does the term “Cultural Gospel” mean?

The

MESSAGES,

VALUES, and TEACHINGS

of one’s culture.

The central questions for this unit are:

• Are there times when the beliefs, messages, and values (the gospel) of our culture contradict those of the Christian Gospel?

• If these do contradict, what should a Christian response be?

The assumption of this unit is that there ARE times when

these contradict

Three Christian responses:isolation, assimilation,

enculturation

ISOLATE

• The belief here is that the culture is perverted & corrupt.

• Therefore one must AVOID the culture for fear of being led astray from God.

• It is a “withdrawal” approach which can lead to CULTS in its extreme.

ASSIMILATE

• To blend in or be absorbed into the dominant culture

• Here one’s religious (or ethnic) identity can become weakened or totally lost by allegiance to the social norms.

Assimilate cont’d

• This assimilation can happen for several reasons:

1. you naively think that the culture is “value-neutral” (it is something you live in but doesn’t influence you).

2. you believe that society is wholesome; therefore as long as you are a good citizen, you are following God.

ENCULTURATE

• A “discerning” approach that recognizes God at work in ALL cultures so God’s Spirit can be found even in societies which aren’t overtly Christian.

• BUT it also recognizes that all cultures have their unhealthy, negative, & sinful influences.

Enculturate cont’d

• Culture is created by humanity• BUT it is so powerful it can also shape humanity.• So one living an enculturated approach will

constantly EVALUATE & CHOOSE which messages are GRACED and which are DISGRACED

• One seeks to influence & shape culture for the common good

• Contact with society continuum:

isolation --- enculturation --- assimilation

What are we called to by God?

• Scripture gives us a clear message of how a Christian is to BE in the World.

• Three NT passages:– James 1:27– 1 John 2:15-17– John 3: 16-17– substitute the word CULTURE for WORLD.

James 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows * in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained by the

world (culture).

1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or the things of the world. * If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.For all that is in the world, sensual lust, *

enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life, is not from the Father but is from the

world (culture). Yet the world and its enticement are passing away. But whoever

does the will of God remains forever.

John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world (culture) that he gave * his only Son, so that everyone who

believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world (culture) to condemn * the

world (culture), but that the world (culture) might be saved through

him.

Matt 5:14-16 You are the light of the world (culture). A city set on a mountain

cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel

basket; it is set on a lamp stand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that

they may see your good deeds and

glorify your heavenly Father.

John 17:14-18 I gave them your word, and the world (culture) hated them, because they do not

belong to the world (culture) any more than I belong to the world (culture).

* I do not ask that you take them out of the world (culture) but that you keep them from the evil one.They do not belong to the world (culture) any more

than I belong to the world (culture).Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world (culture), so I sent

them into the world (culture).

Scripture says:

We are called to be IN the world but not OF the world…in

the culture but not of the culture.

What are we called to by God?