22/10/2017 11:30 am - 22/10/2017 1:00 pm
"Called to live in the world, but not to be of the world, Christians must maintain a balancing act that becomes more precarious the further our culture departs from its Judeo-Christian roots." - DA Carson, Christ and Culture Revisited.
As Christians, how do we engage in the culture around us? What did Jesus have to say about the culture of his day? This class will look at how the Biblical authors engage with their culture, drawing lessons and applications for the modern world. We will also be applying these biblical principles in case studies.
Week 1: Creation, Fall, Redemption
Week 1 will lay out the Bible's theological pattern which interprets the world for us. This will help us understand why things like relationships, art, material goods, companies, politics, and new ideas that we encounter in this world can hold so much promise, and sometimes even deliver, yet more often fail.
Week 2: Going Deeper
This week we will begin to apply the Bible's redemptive grid to difficult ethical areas. Can Christians drink, participate in yoga, or get tattoos? What about food sacrificed to idols? How should we view entertainment: books, movies, TV, music etc? How do various academic disciplines like cosmology, psychology, and economics relate to Christianity?
Week 3: Case study: Identity and Social Media
Social media is a way we present ourselves to others, and can form a part of our identity. We will explore how to navigate the pitfalls of social media: pride and self-promotion, anger and conflict. We will end by discussing how to honour God in our use of social media.
Week 4: Case study: Face-Saving Practices
Why and how do Asian cultures practice face-saving? What are some of the consequences of face-saving practices? We will examine what (if anything?!) the Bible says about this, and what we can learn from the example and teachings of Jesus.
Instructor: Alistair Chiu