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“I only have the time to read or listen to a few extra things each month or two. One of the few things I can claim as my best treasure is the bi-monthly MARS HILL AUDIO Journal. The depth of each issue sharpens my ability to think more clearly with a Biblical mind, and helps me to understand the cultural air I and my congregation are breathing.”
—Pastor Michael Philliber, New Life Presbyterian Church, Midland, Texas
II. Dualism in literature, business, and sports
III. Discipleship in cultural context
IV. Discerning the spirit of the age
V. The duties of faithful shepherds
You can listen for free to the bonus tracks (more than 40 of them) of the CD version of the MARS HILL AUDIO Journal by clicking here. Topics include: the current debate on technology and ethics; the music of Mozart; why the Church should be more welcoming toward the elderly; the life and imagination of C. S. Lewis; and, how colleges and universities can help students grow into adulthood.
Click here to read some of the letters that Ken Myers has sent to MARS HILL AUDIO listeners. Topics include the nature of Christian hope and the link between the humanity of Jesus and our own.
In literature, Christians generally ignore the substance and form of contemporary fiction. But when books like The Da Vinci Code or the Harry Potter novels come along—books with explicitly religious content—Christians take notice. Other books which advance all sorts of bad ideas about many other issues concerning which Christians have an interest are ignored.
In business, we have seen in the past century the rise of several influential theories about the nature of work and of management. Some of these have been, from the standpoint of a Christian worldview, very troubling. We have also seen a number of changes in the shape of capitalism that would have bothered Augustine, or Aquinas, or Calvin, or Wesley. But for the most part, as long as Christian businessmen have the freedom to have Bible studies and witness to their colleagues, it’s business as usual.
And finally, the world of sports: many thoughtful secular critics over the past few decades have lamented the loss of play and of sportsmanship as professional sports have become more commercialized, more commodified, more driven by the demands of television. There have been a few thoughtful Christian academic works on these matters, but the only critical response from Christians at a general level toward changes in the world of sports was the outcry in 2008 when the NFL said it was going to prohibit churches from having SuperBowl parties that involved displaying the game on large video screens.
There is an obvious pattern here. Let’s call it “dualism.” One compartment of life is called “religion,” which is principally concerned with personal and family matters, and Jesus is Lord over that compartment. And then we have all the other spheres of life, including economics, science, education, politics, technology, art: human life in space and time beyond the narrow slice of experience we call religion. Jesus doesn’t really seem to care about these matters, as long as general principles of morality are observed.
The Lord of Heaven and Earth has been reduced to the Lord of private life. Jesus cares about our souls, but not about all of the settings within which my mind and my body are actively engaged.
Configuring Church and culture,
part III: Discipleship in cultural context
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MARS HILL AUDIO
Ken Myers on Configuring Church and Culture
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© 2008 MARS HILL AUDIO