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I’ve been doing a good amount of reading on culture this quarter for the class I’m teaching. I ran into this writing on carnivals by Mikhail Bakhtin. He wrote that in the medieval carnival, there was no separation between performers and spectators. In fact, performers were really not performers at all; instead, they lived in this carnivalesque space. Much more than a performance, the carnival was a life lived. Both ’spectator’ and ‘performer’ held their roles lightly in this newly shared space.

Bakhtin went on to explain that all the oppressive conditions of everyday life — and there were plenty in medieval Europe — were suspended during the carnival. Revelry replaced terror, laughter replaced gloominess, abundance replaced scarcity, freedom replaced all restrictions. All social inequalities, hierarchical structures, and rules of social distance were set aside as well. The carnival space combined “the sacred with the profane, the lofty with the low, the great with the insignificant, the wise with the stupid.”

When I read this, I immediately thought about a comment I heard from Karen Ward, how her community “plays in the kingdom”, i.e. practices heaven. In their church life together, they are more than simply performers — they participate in a life lived under a different logic, they indwell a different time and space, a future time, the ‘now and not yet’, the rule and reign of God.

I wondered, as followers of Jesus, how we might create these free zones, these spaces where the oppression of the world does not reign. I was thinking not only in our times of meeting together but separately as well, in our workplaces, neighborhoods, schools, parks. How do we create this alternative space where hierarchies are not observed, where everyone has a voice, where people experience liberation, where laughter is frequent, where the terror is lifted, even for just a few moments? What if our ‘witness’ is not a performance but the creation of an alternative space, a space that does not yield to the powers of this world but strives to point to the next?

Technorati Tags: Bakhtin, carnival, Fuller Theological Seminary, Karen_Ward, kingdom of God, Social Space

We had a great first day of class yesterday in Transforming Contemporary Culture. I’m really excited about the students — about half are new, the other half seasoned Fuller students. They were really engaged for the first day. I’ll post more as I learn more about them.

I introduced the history of our particular class, originally title ‘Mission in Contemporary Culture’. I traced it back to Lesslie Newbigin and the early 1980s Britain. It was at that time that Newbigin suggested that the West was a mission field and, several years later, Wilbert Shenk went to work with him in the early 1990s. Wilbert Shenk was hired by Fuller in 1995 to begin teaching ‘Mission in the West’ as well as Mission History.

What was so unusual about this move was that mission reflection was always done for/to the non-West, primarily using tools from anthropology. But what if culture was taken seriously, in the West, just as missionaries took it seriously in the non-West. What if we trained ordinary Christians with cultural tools, so they could facilitate indigenous expressions of church in the West?

The move to understand culture is consistent with the founder of our school, Donald McGavran. He stated again and again that a person should not have to change cultures to find God. The incarnation came to us, in ways people could understand, i.e. Jesus spoke and dressed within the everyday life and culture of first-century palestine. If we want to be like Jesus, we need to do the same in the cultures of the West.

So, Wilbert Shenk started MP520, Mission in Contemporary Culture, and instead of studying tribals, we studied modernity, postmodernity, christendom, postchristendom, politics, economics, health, sport, consumerism,  and the list goes on.  We studied what a missional witness might look at within these  aspects of culture, as ones who live inside these rubrics. How do we point to the kingdom as insiders, as residents who are never quite at home in this world?

Taking this class in 1998 turned me upside down. I had never heard of the idea of a mission in the West. I became Shenk’s TA in the late 90s and started a PhD with him at that time. During 2004, we brainstormed where to take the class once he retired. Now I’m teaching it for the second year and I am so passionate about the material. I believe it provides essential tools for the huge transition (fifty years or so) the Western church is making from Christendom to Missional. I’m lovin it!

Technorati Tags: Fuller Theological Seminary, mission, culture

Well, the fall quarter started today, and my first class of the quarter is tomorrow. I’ve been scrambling to get it all together and ready to go. With the help of my friend and Ph.D student, Wess Daniels, I have a new blog for my classes at Fuller. I’ll keep posting at thebolgblog all those things not necessarily directed at my students. Thebolgblog will still serve as my primary blog area, although, admittedly, I’ve been particularly challenged to keep it going.

Technorati Tags: C. Wess Daniels, Fuller Theological Seminary

Well, the kids are now back in school, thus officially ending ’summer’ for me. It was a great summer on which I hope to do some more reflecting…the Newbigin consultation & Blah tours on the EC front, andplay in England and Big Bear, CA with good friends and family. The home front included lots of play with the kids and coordinating our kitchen remodel.

Of course, the best part of the Newbigin consultation and blah were making some new relationships and developing others further. I learn so much from these people.

Coming up for me this fall? I’m writing a 21st century ‘take’ on Donald McGavran’s contribution. I’m doing this because I need to get my head around this guy, as I’m teaching through his material in Church Growth in October. I’m developing a class on ecclesiology with Doug Pagitt to be taught at Fuller next spring. I’m writing an article with J. Shawn Landres on the similarities between “Emergent Synagogues” and Emerging Churches. Finally I’m teaching a class on Transforming Contemporary Cultures. I taught this class last year, but I’m changing the material to emphasize the role of media. Over the summer, I’ve been influenced by British Cultural Studies, so this class will reflect that change. Finally, I’m supposed to be writing book 2  — tentatively on Jesus and culture, but, er, um, having a bit of trouble getting to it…Publish or perish is more of a guideline than a rule, right?

This post signifies my jumping back into a regular posting schedule — at least weekly, if not more. As I’m reflecting on the summer or jumping into these new projects, I’ll share some of my reflections. Cheers!

Technorati Tags: everyday life