Pick My Spring Seminary Classes For Me

UPDATE #2: Sadly, while I was able to get into MC535, all the other classes were full. Some of you are thinking, “That’s what he gets for waiting until the last minute!” but believe it or not, I’ve always waited until the last minute and never had any trouble before. (Sigh.) So, my second class is now “CN568: Theological and Pastoral Perspectives on the Contemporary Family,” which I’m still excited about because the professors – John and Olive Drane – are stellar.

UPDATE #1: The people have spoken! According to your votes I will be taking “MC535: The Emerging Church in the Twenty-First Century” and “TH550: World Religions in Christian Perspective” (see vote totals below). Thank you for voting, classes start tomorrow!
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I need to take two Fuller Seminary courses this Spring and I’m having a hard time choosing. So, I thought, why not let my friends pick for me? You can skip to the poll below to choose two classes for me, or take a minute to read the course descriptions:

MC535: THE EMERGING CHURCH IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
Identifies characteristics of churches in postmodern and post-Christian contexts. Examine and consider how these communities embody their faith and what value it has for the broader Church. Explore the dynamics of the sacred/secular split, forms of community, contextual forms of apologetics, hospitality, new forms of participation, creativity, leadership, and the spirituality of everyday life. Theologically, the class will explore how the reign of God might manifest in worship, in formation, and in witness in postmodern cultures.

• Upside: I already know a lot about this subject, it’s highly relevant to my mission, and it’s taught by a friend, JR Rozko.
• Downside: I already know a lot about the subject : )

TH550: WORLD RELIGIONS IN CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE
The purpose of this course is twofold. First it will provide an overview of the world’s major religions–Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, and Sikhism–focusing on their emergence and history, core beliefs and practices, religious texts and interpretations, as well as contemporary influence and expressions. Second, this course introduces various approaches on how Christianity relates to other religions and religious pluralisms, technically known as the “theology of religions.” We will critically discuss Catholic and Protestant proposals and responses and attempt an outline of Evangelical approach. Case studies will be conducted regarding Islam-, Hindu-, Buddhist-, and Sikh-Christian encounters.

• Upside: New material for me, plus living in SoCal, this should be highly relevant : )
• Downside: I don’t know what to expect from a Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen class.

OT502: THE HEBREW PROPHETS
The course studies the contents of the Former Prophets (Joshua to Kings) and the Latter Prophets (Isaiah to Malachi), their possible historical backgrounds, different approaches to their interpretation, and their significance for us today.

• Upside: I’m really into the OT lately, and it’s taught by Fuller legend John Goldingay, whose Writings course I very much enjoyed.
• Downside: I’ve had plenty of OT and NT classes in my life. At this stage of my education it’s nice to take more specialized courses, like…

TC530: THEOLOGY AND FILM
This course will consider a theology of culture by focusing on one particular aspect: theology and film. The course will (1) view, discuss and analyze a multicultural and global selection of films, (2) provide the student methodological and critical perspectives for engaging culture, both from the humanities and the social sciences, and (3) explore theological and biblical perspectives foundational to theology and film criticism.

• Upside: This fits the “Theology and Culture” focus of my degree perfectly, and I very much enjoyed the Theology and Contemporary Literature course taught by the same professor, Rob Johnston.
• Downside: I’ve already taken a film course (Engaging Independent Film), and this would probably be somewhat redundant, as that course drew heavily on Johnston’s work.

So, those are your (my) choices. Please pick two in the poll below before Sunday afternoon:

Technorati Tags: Culture, Emerging Church, Film, Fuller Seminary, John Goldingay, JR Rozko, Old Testament, Rob Johnston, School, Theology, Veli-Matti Kärkkäinen

Mark Driscoll Gets Lost in Translation

Mark Driscoll recently ranted about the movie Avatar, calling it the most “Satanic” movie he’s ever seen, and doesn’t understand how any Christian could watch it and not absolutely condemn it. Well…I’m a Christian and I liked the movie (I know it’s fashionable to hate on Avatar these days, but I was thoroughly entertained. No, it wasn’t fine cinema, but is that really what you expected from James Cameron?). It also contains some fascinating commentary on our culture and the deep spiritual longings of humanity, all of which are relevant to Christianity and not all of which are opposed to Christianity.

This reminded me of an old post I wrote last year (on an old blog) while I was at The Sundance Film Festival. So, first Mark’s 3-minute rant (if you care to watch it), then my old post below:

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Sundance/Windrider Day 3: Lost in Translation (January 22, 2009)

I’m three days into my time here at The Sundance Film Festival and it’s been amazing. I’ve seen 10 movies so far – 4 shorts and 6 features, plus Q&A sessions with directors and cast members after every film – and I’ve noticed a few surprising things about the culture of film on display here.

There are some amazing artists who are asking important questions about life, and telling incredibly compelling stories of suffering, loss, hardship, redemption, love, joy, and spirituality. Again and again, the common ground that exists between the filmmaker’s values and the values of the biblical narrative have taken me by surprise. There is very little ambiguity in the depictions I’ve seen of yearning for love and security, or the necessity of risking one’s life in order to find it, or the desperate need for justice in situations of appalling human suffering and depravity.

Through cinema, the world is shouting for the things of God. Sadly, as far as the church is concerned, they’re using the wrong language.

Most of these directors and producers are completely secular. I don’t necessarily mean they’re ireligious – many aren’t – but their worldview, and the vernacular utilized to convey their art is utterly unfamiliar to the Christian subculture. I think this makes for a distance between these two groups that is more perceived than actual.

Tonight after the screening of Sin Nombre (an intensely powerful and disturbing film about illegal immigration) an audience member from our group asked the director whether he’d intended to depict contrasting images of “conditional vs. unconditional love” in his portrayal of two specific relationships, one involving mercy, the other betrayal.

It was a good question. The story delved deeply into the complexities of acceptance, rejection, trust, loyalty, and faithfulness between the characters.

Still, the director balked. In a very polite way he basically said he didn’t know what to do with the phrase “unconditional love,” and preferred to think of those character dynamics in terms of “families in flux,” forming on the one hand, and dissolving on the other.

In other words, his answer was “yes.” He absolutely intended (among other things) to depict broken covenant loyalties on the one hand, and faithful covenant loyalties on the other.

The problem, I think, is language itself. “Unconditional love” is conservative evangelical church vernacular for the kind of love that is most valuable or virtuous (and only comes from God). It’s a staple teaching point in most evangelical youth groups. But in my experience secular people rarely ever use that phrase, even if they might be talking about the same spirit.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen or heard this sort of thing in the last few days, either in the films themselves or the Q&A sessions. God is profoundly at work through many of these films, but he’s usually disguised in a culture and a language that is entirely foreign (and often frightening) to prevailing Christianity.

If we want to be conversant with the culture we find ourselves in we’re going to have to go out of our way to learn the language by listening deeply, patiently, and charitably. Once we do, we may indeed find that these powerful cultural prophets only want the things of God, but not God himself. However, we may discover that, at least for some, they were never rejecting God, only what we said and what they heard.

Technorati Tags: art, Avatar, Christianity, Culture, Film, Mark Driscoll

Announcing the Micah Film Festival

As I mentioned last week, my resurrected posts about the Sundance Film Festival have been in anticipation of an exciting announcement. Because I believe art in general, and film in particular, are an unheeded prophetic voice in our culture I wanted to find some way to missionally engage with that vital expression.

Hence, for the past several weeks our little community of faith has been working diligently on a project we’re very excited about: The Micah Film Festival.

Continue reading…

Technorati Tags: art, Culture, Film, Micah Film Fest, missio dei, mission

The Re-emergence of Suffering as a Virtue, Part 3

Technorati Tags: art, Culture, Film, gifts, Gospel, missio dei, mission

The Re-emergence of Suffering as a Virtue, Part 2

The following is an older post from an older blog that came out of my trip last January to the Sundance Film Festival. I’m posting this series in anticipation of a new gathering our community is hosting later this summer around the medium of film (details coming soon).

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Technorati Tags: art, Culture, Film, gifts, Gospel, missio dei, mission

The Re-emergence of Suffering as a Virtue, Part 1

The following is an older post from an older blog that came out of my trip last January to the Sundance Film Festival. I’m posting this series in anticipation of a new gathering our community is hosting later this summer around the medium of film (details coming soon).

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If filmmakers are the prophetic poets of our culture, then our culture is tired of the shallow pursuit of happiness and hungry for steadier sustenance. The last time our country faced serious economic hardship we found our prophet in a three foot tall muppet named Yoda, who rasped in Buddhist fashion that the source of all evil was “suffering.” The nation – still reeling from Vietnam and the shattered idealism of the 60’s, followed by the Iranian hostage crisis and record unemployment – dove headlong into the waters of unchecked economic growth, personal prosperity, and individualized fulfillment through consumer gluttony.

What followed was a quarter-century of debauchery, in which everyone could be a .com millionaire, a real estate tycoon, or a reality show celebrity. Combined with a simultaneous explosion in pharmaceuticals, we embraced a new American dream: the elimination of suffering. It turns out we weren’t cured, merely inebriated.

Frankly, the hangover sucks.

Continue reading…

Technorati Tags: art, Culture, Film, gifts, Gospel, missio dei, mission

Losing God in Translation

Technorati Tags: art, Culture, Film, gifts, missio dei, mission

Mission as Unintentional Revelation

Technorati Tags: art, Culture, Film, gifts, missio dei, mission

Missio Dei at the Sundance Film Festival

Technorati Tags: art, Film, missio dei, mission, Sundance