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| It’s the Culture, Stupid! {free lecture} by Ken Myers |
Mainstream America, in its cultural assumptions, in its understanding of reality, is more like what the Bible calls the World than it is like what the Bible calls the Kingdom of God. And it’s fascinating to watch for the last almost-thirty years as Christians of various denominational backgrounds…have been upset about various aspects of American culture, have nonetheless imitated much of the culture in order to fit in, in order to be what I call “More Winsome Than Jesus.”
I get the impression that too many Christians send their children to Christian schools because of sex and drugs…not because of disorientation of the soul.
[T]ruth is unity and…theological truths of the kind we read in the Nicene Creed are as consequential for our lives as the Law of Gravity.
2 Comments
Hi there! I’m looking forward to listening to the lecture (and what a treasure trove of free lectures!), but I want to both object to and concur with the quote above.
I object, because I know that I sent my children to Christian schools because I wanted them to be in an environment where God is not mocked but glorified, where His Word is spoken, and where prayer is modeled and believed in. (Homeschooling at this time was simply not on my radar.)
I concur, because many of the parents who sent their children to the schools were doing exactly what the quote says, or even, avoiding an integrated environment for their children.
However, rather than blame the parents, isn’t it the school teachers, administrators, board, and in the case of a Catholic school, the parish, who set the vision for whether the institution will look like the world, primarily, or exhibit God’s Kingdom, primarily?
In my personal experience I saw this done quite well, in the middle-school(!)of the Catholic school, and very, very poorly in the Lutheran school – which is why we are homeschooling!
Hopefully, I haven’t spoken completely out of turn by commenting without having seen the video. If I have, I will come back and apologize profusely!
Love your thoughtfully chosen links!
I agree with you that there are schools out there, as well as parents out there, who have a firm theology of Christian education. But Myers speaks in generalizations, and I would agree with him on that level. Obviously, I homeschool, but I see the same thing. Very few homeschoolers that I have met in person homeschool because they have a vision for paideia, but rather because they either have serious academic goals {not bad in and of themselves, but need to be submitted to something greater} or are afraid of something in the public schools.
Considering what you said, I think you would actually enjoy the lecture very much! He is speaking to Christian school teachers and administrators and encouraging them to have that vision as well as educate the parents so that *they* have that vision.