{"id":4518,"date":"2017-06-26T10:23:34","date_gmt":"2017-06-26T18:23:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/?p=4518"},"modified":"2017-06-26T10:23:34","modified_gmt":"2017-06-26T18:23:34","slug":"to-change-the-world-week-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2017\/06\/26\/to-change-the-world-week-one","title":{"rendered":"To Change The World, Week One"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blog read\u00aders: Chi Alpha @ Stan\u00adford is engag\u00ading in our annu\u00adal sum\u00admer read\u00ading project. As we read through the book, I\u2019ll post my thoughts here (which will large\u00adly con\u00adsist of excerpts I found insight\u00adful).<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first week of our sum\u00admer read\u00ading project. Yay! Our book this sum\u00admer is To Change The World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Pos\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty of Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty in the Late Mod\u00adern World <\/a>by James Davi\u00adson Hunter, a Chris\u00adt\u00adian who is a soci\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgist at UVA. This is a thought\u00adful book about Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty, pol\u00adi\u00adtics, and cul\u00adture. The read\u00ading sched\u00adule is online at https:\/\/xastanford.org\/sum\u00admer-read\u00ading<\/a><\/p>\n

SUMMARY OF THIS WEEK\u2019S READING<\/h2>\n

In chap\u00adters one and two Hunter is set\u00adting the stage for his argu\u00adment. A quick sum\u00adma\u00adry: as Chris\u00adtians we want to change the world and we have an intu\u00aditive notion that the best (or only) way to change the world is one life at a time. Hunter will go on to argue that this is a huge mis\u00adtake.<\/p>\n

Here are some pas\u00adsages that stood out to me:<\/p>\n

CHAPTER ONE: CHRISTIAN FAITH AND THE TASK OF WORLD-CHANGING<\/h2>\n

\u201cIn the Chris\u00adt\u00adian view, then, human beings are, by divine intent and their very nature, world-mak\u00aders. For Chris\u00adt\u00adian believ\u00aders, an oblig\u00ada\u00adtion accom\u00adpa\u00adnies God\u2019s gift of life.\u2026 Peo\u00adple ful\u00adfill their indi\u00advid\u00adual and col\u00adlec\u00adtive des\u00adtiny in the art, music, lit\u00ader\u00ada\u00adture, com\u00admerce, law, and schol\u00adar\u00adship they cul\u00adti\u00advate, the rela\u00adtion\u00adships they build, and in the insti\u00adtu\u00adtions they develop\u2014the fam\u00adi\u00adlies, church\u00ades, asso\u00adci\u00ada\u00adtions, and com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adties they live in and sus\u00adtain\u2014 as they reflect the good of God and his designs for flour\u00adish\u00ading.\u201d (pages 3\u20134)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI con\u00adtend that the dom\u00adi\u00adnant ways of think\u00ading about cul\u00adture and cul\u00adtur\u00adal change are flawed, for they are based on both spe\u00adcious social sci\u00adence and prob\u00adlem\u00adat\u00adic the\u00adol\u00ado\u00adgy. In brief, the mod\u00adel on which var\u00adi\u00adous strate\u00adgies are based not only does not work, but it can\u00adnot work.\u201d (page 5)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

CHAPTER TWO: CULTURE \u2014 THE COMMON VIEW<\/h2>\n

\u201cTo under\u00adstand how to change the world, one must begin with an under\u00adstand\u00ading of what is to be changed. In short, every\u00adthing hinges on how we under\u00adstand the nature of cul\u00adture. What is meant by cul\u00adture, and what it is com\u00adposed of, are of crit\u00adi\u00adcal impor\u00adtance, as we shall see.\u201d (page 6)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cIt is this implic\u00adit view of cul\u00adture that moti\u00advates cer\u00adtain com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adties of Chris\u00adtians, espe\u00adcial\u00adly Evan\u00adgel\u00adi\u00adcals, to focus on evan\u00adge\u00adlism as their pri\u00adma\u00adry means of chang\u00ading the world. Evan\u00adge\u00adlism is not only a means of sav\u00ading souls but of trans\u00adform\u00ading indi\u00advid\u00adu\u00adals and, in a round\u00adabout way, the cul\u00adture.\u2026 As the log\u00adic goes: if people\u2019s hearts and minds are con\u00advert\u00aded, they will have the right val\u00adues, they will make the right choic\u00ades, and the cul\u00adture will change in turn.\u201d (pages 9\u201310)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, the mes\u00adsage is clear: \u2026 if you have the courage and hold to the right val\u00adues and if you think Chris\u00adtian\u00adly with an ade\u00adquate Chris\u00adt\u00adian world\u00adview, you too can change the world. This account is almost whol\u00adly mis\u00adtak\u00aden.\u201d (pages 16\u201317)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And on that note, this week\u2019s read\u00adings come to a close. Eager to see how he cri\u00adtiques this wide\u00adspread view of cul\u00adture.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Blog read\u00aders: Chi Alpha @ Stan\u00adford is engag\u00ading in our annu\u00adal sum\u00admer read\u00ading project. As we read through the book, I\u2019ll post my thoughts here (which will large\u00adly con\u00adsist of excerpts I found insight\u00adful). It\u2019s the first week of our sum\u00admer read\u00ading project. Yay! Our book this sum\u00admer is To Change The World: The Irony, \u2026 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading \u201cTo Change The World, Week One\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8],"tags":[209,210],"class_list":["post-4518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-resources-reviews","tag-summer-reading-project-2017","tag-to-change-the-world"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-1aS","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4518"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4525,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4518\/revisions\/4525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}