- Jesus Christ lived a sinless life
- God is the all-powerful and all-knowing Creator of the universe and he still rules it today
- salvation is a gift from God and cannot be earned
- Satan is real
- a Christian has a responsibility to share his or her faith in Christ with other people
- the Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches
- unchanging moral truth exists
- the moral truth is defined by the Bible
Questions:
- To what degree do you feel these eight elements are taught in ministry settings, events, or books?
- Discuss the validity and feasibility of using these eight elements as the basis for a curriculum plan.
- In what ways could these elements be embedded into all aspects of ministry?
unChristian finally arrived in my mailbox two nights ago. I've been thumbing through it. Looks good.
ReplyDeleteAs far as evangelicals are concerned, I think a lot of ministries talk about points 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8. The Roman Catholic community and the fundamentalists probably do the best job of hitting all 8 points. Mainline Protestants, on the other hand, probably only get a few. This of course is my perception of the matter.
What I find most interesting is that I find myself balking at some of these points. A good example is #4. I see the person of Satan emerging during the Babylonian captivity as an influence of the dualistic nature of the Babylonians influencing Jewish theology. Evil, demon-like characters develop throughout the last few centuries of BCE until the time of Jesus. The early Christians often equate Satan with Rome and Caesar. Is Satan a character of Mesopotamian culture or just a personification of systemic evils in our world as our modern understanding might see it?
I see issues with creating a curriculum plan around these 8 elements. First, I do not see the Bible emphasizing these themes nor the trajectory of Christian tradition. Yes, you can find these ideas in scripture, but they do not seem to be the thrust of it.
I think this is one of the problems I always have with the Barna Group. unChristian seems to have a lot of great research in it, yet it is always presented with their conservative, evangelical interpretation of it, all of it mixed together on the page. It seems to me that these 8 elements show some detailed understanding of a particular brand of Christian faith. Those who are able to articulate these elements probably have a very different understanding of self and world than the rest of society. It might be possible to put together 8 elements from liberal protestants that would also result in a radically different life. As Kinnaman goes on to explain, it is really about a different way of thinking. But the Barna team probably did not search for 8 or so such themes from a liberal or moderate standpoint.
If I had to create my own list of 8 based around the 8 listed here I would write:
1) The Divine became human in the person of Jesus Christ (this is much more signficant to me than the enlightenment obsession with moral perfection which has to do with immutability and Greek philosophy than themes that the bible emphasizes).
2)God is a caring and ever-present Creator who is highly involved in the day-to-day workings of creation.
3) Salvation is the all important theme of all of scriptures-- is the pursuit of God and something that is worked towards but not worked for
4) Sin, falleness, and evil-- personal, natural, and systemic, are a part of our world. This is why salvation is so important.
5) Christians are people who have signed up for the task of helping people move from a narrative and way of life of the fallen world to the life-given ways of Jesus Christ.
6) The Bible is a conglomerate of authoratative voices for life and world-- it contains multiple perspectives sometimes in agreement often in disagreement and dialog.
7) Truth produces life. Morality proceeds from truth.(But nothing is unchanging-- changelessness is an obsession of the greek philosophers)
8) Moral truth is explored in the bible--sometimes definitively while often a cacophony of voices show very sides of a particular issue (example: murder is forbidden in one story, while another storyteller has God commanding Abraham to kill his son)
Perhaps that was worth something, perhaps not.
After having time to think about this all day, I have another perspective. These 8 points can be very important and represent a large section of churches. I do think a curriculum could be developed around these 8 elements. I like that point 1 starts with Jesus and then moves to the idea of God. This is good theology (even if unintentional). This brings up the idea of salvation (which I think should almost always proceed any discussion of evil). Then it moves onto Satan and the presence of evil in the world. This logically moves to the need for Christians to share their faith. The idea of a Christian sharing faith brings up the obvious problem of truth and where to find that truth.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, I wonder if such an approach lacks real sticking points for teenagers. All of it is fairly abstract and distant from reality in many ways.
Thus, I come back to my response from earlier. I think any curriculum must emphasize the way and approach of the cross as the way of bringing forgiveness, salvation, and peace into the world and that the cross is the way of love. I also think our curriculums need to spend more time on baptismal identity and transformation, as well as the communion and forgiveness offered and recieved at the Eucharist table and how these need to be at the center of our worship together. Out of a baptismal identity and a constant connection to the community around the table, we find our vocation in the world. Such an approach is much more in keeping with the early church and the church throughout history. As well, it is a much more narrative-based approach compared to the propositional-approach emphasized by Kinnaman in the paragraphs on page 75. These can be very ritual and rite of passage oriented thus creating a physical and concrete reality for teens to connect with. Especially with things such as Eucharist are both elevated as well as made common-- the table is a place where we are saying we accept everyone around the table and must leave our offenses at the door, while also seeing the table as something that we need to remember around our common tables of food each day-- who are we inviting to the table and who's tables are we willing to eat at?
I digress...
I think you have a good point that these points really don't provide much in the way of a curriculum plan. Honestly, I didn't give the questions much thought; like I said, I was just trying to give something that would stimulate conversation. Upon really reading through the list, though, I think it'd be difficult to teach on these topics. They are really more perspectives communicated indirectly rather than teaching points to focus on.
ReplyDeleteWith that, I like the approach of thinking more theologically in youth ministry teaching and curriculum. I have always been bothered by the lack of solid theological training in curriculum. It's the same kind of stuff I complain about with sermons - five steps on how to be a better Christian. Instead, I'd like to see curriculum that teaches theology, the history of the Bible, of the church, and of Christianity in ways that are interesting to youth.
From there, I think that youth ministries could develop a set of theological beliefs in their own words, but beliefs that match the theological principles found in the Bible (and presumably similar to the list developed by Kinnaman and Lyons). I think this is a major concern in youth ministry because the theological foundation coupled with critical thinking skills are the tools students need to make informed, intelligent decisions when faced with life beyond high school.