Tota Scriptura
Currently viewing the tag: "to change the world"
I’m going to review Essay III and the book as a whole in one post, but I will do a summary of each chapter first.
Chapter 1, “The Challenge of Faithfulness”: Hunter looks at two major facets of this challenge: difference and dissolution. In a pluralistic society, the existence of many different [...]
The title of the second essay is “Rethinking Power,” and Hunter now wraps it up with some “theological reflections.” Power, he writes, is intrinsic to our relationship with nature and other people. But power is not necessarily force (“hard” power); in fact, force means that power is weak rather than strong because [...]
In this short chapter, “Illusion, Irony, and Tragedy,” Hunter argues that the Christian Left and Right’s strategies are based on the illusion that political engagement is the best way to solve problems, when the problems actually have no political solution. No political solution exists, he argues, for the decreasing cultural power of [...]
The neo-Anabaptists get their turn now. Neo-Anabaptists, like the original Anabaptists, oppose any church and state cooperation and believe that the church is always capitulating to the demands of worldly society, including the market economy. They seek to form a Christian community that is a radical Christian alternative to society. They root [...]
The Christian Left comes under Hunter’s scrutiny in this chapter. Progressivism in general finds its anchor in the French revolutionary demand for “liberty, equality, and fraternity,” with the primary concern being for justice, which progressives tend to think of as economic equality. There is also “a tension between the communitarian wing and [...]
Describing and analyzing the approach of the Christian Right is the task of this chapter. Certain commitments lie at the heart of Christian conservatives’ engagement with American culture:
America belongs to religious people by virtue of its Christian history. Some see this history as explicitly Christian, others as a general sense of the recognition of [...]
Hunter here looks at the assumptions that lie under contemporary American political life, arguing that the major trend is toward the politicization of more and more of life: increasingly, every question is a political question. As cultures lose their consensus, he writes, laws must multiply in order to force cooperation, and the [...]
Essay 2, Chp. 1 “The Problem of Power”
Hunter sees the Creation Mandate as a source of both glory and shame. Since we reflect God’s image, we are enabled to reflect His image through acts of love and innovative labor for the sake of neighbor. At the same time, because of our [...]
Chapter 7, “For and Against the Mandate of Creation”
Hunter returns to the mandate of creation and reminds the reader that ALL are called to fulfill this mandate. I love how Hunter points to the centrality and sufficiency of the Gospel as the means whereby such renewal comes. He states (93), “it [...]
This chapter is a conclusion of the argument up to this point. Hunter warns against elitism and says that all of God’s people must be involved in this world-changing vocation. We all stand equal before God. But too often, “the populism that is inherent to authentic Christian witness is often transformed into an oppressive egalitarianism [...]
James Davison Hunter’s “To Change the World”, Chp. 6 “The Cultural Economy of American Christianity”
Hunter notes that Christians tend to be middle class folks and don’t present a bunch of monetary clout, while at the same time noting that faith-based philanthropy has been impressive. Hunter observes (81), “…its economic influence is [...]
Hunter’s title for this chapter is “The Cultural Economy of American Christianity.” He tries to answer the question of how Christianity relates to the networks and institutions of cultural power that he has been discussing. This is a pretty interesting question, where you get a lot of different perspectives from different people. [...]
Hunter examines the “cultural economy of American Christianity.” He traces the obliteration of the WASP establishment in the 60′s to the current position of evangelicalism at the margins of our elite institutions. I would note here that George W. Bush was ostensibly an evangelical and he had a pretty significant position at [...]
In Chapter 5, Hunter takes the reader through a sweeping overview of history , and church history in particular. He notes the incredible growth of Christianity from an “obscure sect to a threat significant enough to warrant persecution and philosophical refutation, and finally to the official religion of the Roman Empire” (49). [...]
Hunter now turns to history to show how his explanations of cultural change can explain important changes: the Christianization of Rome, the Christianization of the European barbarians, the Carolingian Renaissance of the 8th and 9th centuries, the Reformation, religious revivals like the Great Awakening, the abolition movement in Britain, the Enlightenment, the [...]
Chapter 5 is called “Evidence in History” and in it Hunter traces how his take on transforming culture has played out in the growth of the Church in Rome, its expansion through the Middle Ages, and the Reformation. I really have very little to say about this chapter. It is a solid [...]
Hunter offers 11 propositions on culture—seven about culture and four about cultural change. I will use my friend Scott Kistler’s summary of these 11 propositions:
Culture is a system of truth claims and moral obligations: These are often unconscious rather than “exist[ing] as a set of propositions” (33). Culture [...]
I really liked this chapter. It presents “an alternative view of culture and cultural change in eleven propositions.” Scott already posted them, and since I am short on time tonight, I will copy and paste Scott’s list in an abbreviated form. The 11 propositions are:
Culture is a system [...]
Having addressed what he views as flawed views of culture, Hunter now presents his views. As he recognizes, culture is an incredibly complex concept and reality, and so he gives seven general “propositions” about culture and four about cultural change. I’ll list his exact wording for each proposition and briefly summarize each:
[...]
Hunter describes why the usual view of culture, described in Chapter 2, is an ineffective foundation of efforts to change culture. The paradox of that animates this chapter is that America is largely religious (with only 12-14 percent of people being “secular” [page 19] — I wish that he had been clearer [...]
Hunter’s third chapter is called “The Failure of the Common View.” He begins by affirming that evangelism, public policy making and pursuing justice are not bad things, indeed, they are central to being Christian. His contention is that while these things are good, they do not change the world in the way [...]
“To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, & Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World” by James Davison Hunter
Chapter 3: “The Failure of the Common View”
Hunter opens the 3rd chapter by clarifying his abrupt criticism of Spiritual, Political, and Social reform at the end of chapter 2. Hunter actually [...]
In his second chapter, Hunter takes on the entire edifice of contemporary Christian thinking viz a vie culture. To start at the end, I will quote his summary at the end of the chapter: If you have the courage and hold to the right values and if you think Christianly with an [...]
Hunter continues in this chapter to set up his foil, the erring view of culture and cultural change that he sees as so prevalent. Hunter contends that most people work with the idea that culture is basically the aggregate of beliefs and values that individuals hold. A common method of cultural change [...]
“To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, & Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World” by James Davison Hunter
Chapter 2: “Culture: The Common View”
Hunter begins this chapter by stating his intent, “…one must begin with an understanding of what is to be changed” (p. 6). Hunter proceeds with offering [...]
Rick Hogaboam, Scott Kistler and I will be reading To Change the World by James Davison Hunter and posting our thoughts about it as we go along. Hopefully we will interact with each other too. I come at Hunter’s book as a [...]
There’s been a lot of buzz about James Davison Hunter’s new book, To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World. Hunter is a professor in the sociology department at University of Virginia. He seems to be a respected Christian thinker [...]
“To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, & Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World” by James Davison Hunter
Chapter 1: “Christian Faith and the Task of World-Changing”
Well, the review on this highly acclaimed book commences. Let’s see what Prof. Hunter offers us regarding the possibility of the Church making [...]
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