theo|digital

So another part of my quest to start corralling my research is really still rather exploratory. I haven’t done any study in the doctrine of scripture, and I have a feeling that there are some related concepts to theology and communication that I need to understand. Unfortunately my attempt to do a directed study in this area hasn’t yet worked out, so out of necessity, I’m looking into thing on my own.

One suggestion to me from Scot McKnight was Telford Work. I haven’t yet read his book on the area, but I just finished reading a paper he recently gave entitled, “Are We Reading The Same Bible?” (fulltext: pdf) which not only was insightful, but caused me to laugh aloud.

Work makes the point that not all evangelicals speak about scripture the same way. And he has Christian bookstore prices to prove it.

Since at least Irenaeus and Athanasius the Bible has been an ultimate narrator locating us and all things in its story of creation, judgment, and redemption. Many evangelicals have drawn deeply from this ancient vision… [Families who see themselves within the Bible’s cosmic family tree can inscribe their whole family genealogy in the Keystone Family, Faith and Values Heritage Edition Bible (Fireside), available from Christian Book Distributors for $35.99.]

A similar but distinct type sees the Bible as a treasury of truth that teaches facts about God and the world… [Zondervan’s NIV Study Bible($31.99) supplies pages and pages of maps, charts, footnotes, artistic renderings, and cross-references that highlight and contextualize its archaeological, philosophical, and ethical material.]

Many find their own story in Scripture, making the Bible a mirror of personal life experience. Augustine was one pioneer in reading the Bible to gain self-understanding… [The Extreme Teen Bible (Nelson, $17.99) features forty profiles of young Bible characters and 250 study notes for life guidance; the Women of Color Study Bible (Augsburg, $28.99) offers a different range of figures to identify with.]

He’s got nine in all. Genius.

Seeking to study the intersection of theology with communications and culture has been a deeper sea than I imagined. I’m starting to realize that only two years of formal study can barely scratch the surface, and the overwhelming nature (plus my insatiable curiosity), means that I sometimes find myself out of intellectual oxygen and gasping for shore. It’s been helpful to understand that part of the dilemma is the number of academic approaches that can be taken. It’s this interdisciplinary synthesis that I’m sure is so attractive to me, but also makes me feel like I need to be an expert in all of these areas: which of course is impossible?

I know that I’ve pushed myself toward Communication Studies—and possibly more specifically media studies—as an approach, but this is interdisciplinary as well. Phew.

So approaching my thesis… argh! I’m so wrapped up in grasping an approach, that a specific topic still feels miles away.

From a missiological article:

Comprehensive contextualization is interdisciplinary in its approach to culture. While contextualization is anchored in the Bible, it brings to bear a number of disciplines, each of which has a distinct contribution to make. For example, history enables us to see how faithful Christian communities (and perhaps unfaithful ones as well) have dealt with similar or parallel issues that we face today. Theology helps us to think in biblical ways about a variety of issues being faced. Anthropology offers insights into societies and cultural values, symbols and artifacts that need to be brought into focus through the lens of Scripture. Sociology enables insight into social networks and associations and helps us understand church structures and polity. Linguistics gives insight into the word forms and language issues that are so crucial to communication of the faith. Communication studies offer tools for analysis of persuasion and methods of communication. Psychology helps us understand human dynamics — especially such things as motivations and decision-making — as they are played out in faith settings. Economics helps us understand exchange processes that are essential to the survival of institutionalized faith structures, and politics helps us understand political and legal processes both in and out of the church.
~ Scott Moreau

Sigh. Oh good, I’m not crazy when my brain flips between these things as quickly as changing lanes.

And the most helpful:

Culture is one of the two or three most complicated words in the English language. ~ Raymond Williams

Well, I’ve used this blog for years on a variety of ministry and personal topics, including this past year the experience of heading to fulltime work in theological studies for a couple years.

This year marks an entire year of classwork finished, and I’m beginning to need to focus.  The main goal for the next 5-6 months:  choose a specific thesis proposal.

The general topic for my course of study is the “intersection of theology, communications, and culture.”  This means I’ve been focusing on communication studies approaches for looking at theology, but even this is difficult to navigate.

A communications approach could focus on how we communicate theology (e.g. evangelism or “preaching”) and therefore be classified in “ministry” or “missiology.”  Missiology has possibly done some of the best integrative work in communications and culture globally, some of the insights which are finally coming back to hit our local North American context.

OR it could instead look at the process of doing theology (theological reflection) itself.  Noting the cultural context and invisible context which creates fish-in-water assumptions during the process.  I’m particularly curious about the difference the generational distinction of current writing pastors and theologians compared to those that will have grown up in an information age (which I’m sorta on the bleeding age of… 30 years old).  How will the process and assumptions change?  This possibly gets into theological prolegomena (epistomology, etc), which I’ve not had tons of training in.  On the other hand, I can speak with a little bit of cultural knowledge from an online society.

OR I could look at a particular doctrine and the communications dimension within that doctrine, which probably less examines the process.  Ex:  what are the communicative elements of incarnation or sacraments or ecclesiology?

OR… I could look at a theology of communication, a la Vanhoozer’s text as a communicative act that demands a moral responsibility.

Anyway, I hope to upgrade this space to help me process my thoughts in the area, and invite my current friends, partners, but also new friends from the blog world to interact with me as I move through this year of research.

Being at the evangelical-moderate/left North Park, it took me a little bit to realize that more conservative evangelical scholars in the past have been rather suspicious of some standard contextual theologies (e.g. feminist theology). I think NPTS has a rather balanced view that says that these is much to learn from the contextuals, without falling into a pitfalls that would make them un-critiqueable from scriptures. But past that, I found this thought from a missiologist at Wheaton interesting.

Among Christian contextualizers it is this dimension—especially the contextualization of theology—that is most typically discussed and debated. We see this dimension expressed in liberation theology, African identity theology, feminist theology, black theology, Minjung theology, Dalit theology, ethno-theologies, and so on. In evangelical circles, Calvinistic, Arminian, Wesleyan, dispensationalist and Pentecostal theologies are also examples. Though often not recognized as contextualized theologies, that is precisely what they are.

~ Scott Moreau, professor and chair of intercultural studies at Wheaton College. From “Contexualization That Is Comprehensive” in Missiology: An International Review, Vol. XXXIV, no. 3, July

On Labor Day weekend, I took a ride on my Like-New bike (a gift from my Dad earlier this year) from the North Park campus out to the Lake and Foster Beach. I had been a little intimidated about hopping on a bike in the city: lots of people do it, but the traffic can be sorta intense. But a route I found avoids almost all busy streets… most of the trip was brick houses and shade trees. Sweet.

Check out my route, both there and back:

View Larger Map

Happy Fall Semester 2008! Here’s what I’ll be reading.