cohousing with christ...
the stranger probably epitomizes a fairly large segment of seattle's young-hip-and-liberal culture, a crowd that is inclined towards the arts, freedom of expression, and certainly plenty of 'free love' as well. for anyone who reads the stranger regularly, it's no secret that they have an editorial bent against religion, particularly the conservative christian type. for the most part, this has never really bothered me, probably because i often find myself agreeing with their satirical perspective on the ridiculous things that are carried out 'in the name of jesus.'but that's why i was disappointed to see this latest feature's lack of content as it mockingly critiques the bartimaeus cohousing community, an idea that at the very least has some real substance to it, for better or worse. you may or may not agree with the principles behind cohousing for the purpose of intentional community, but regardless, the cultural critique of suburban sprawl, social isolation, and rugged individualism is deserving of some genuine consideration. but instead of addressing the real issues at hand, the stranger just dances around the idea, taking some cheap shots at 'christian ideals' and misrepresenting the standards of the community. it's a shame that such careless editorial reporting can be pawned off as 'writing' these days, especially in a market as well-educated as seattle's. what ever happened to journalistic integrity?
in the end, it's a reminder to me that it's easy to mock people and ideas that we don't understand, or to set up rows of straw men and then knock them down triumphantly as we sidestep the real argument. but to truly engage in a substantive conversation about life, faith, belief, politics, social policies, and whatever else needs to be talked about- that is much more difficult than just dismissing those we disagree with as uninformed or bigoted. can we have a real dialogue for a change?
david, i finally got to read your thesis this past weekend. it was really an eye-opening piece of writing. learned a lot about darby, dispensationalism and the schools associated with it. do you know if any dispensational theologians have stepped out and critiqued/refuted newbigin and missional theology? curious as i get ready to finally head to regent in august.
blessings. clement.
Posted by
Clement |
6:05 AM
hey clement-
there's really not much of a specific debate between dispensationalism and what newbigin represents (something along the lines of missional ecumenism). the dividing line theologically has traditionally been between a covenant/reformed tradition and the dispensational camp. newbigin would probably identify himself within the reformed tradition because he was anglican, but it's just so large that it's almost dispensationalism against everyone else. but at the same time, it's virtually a moot debate aside from a few schools left... even DTS is moving much more "progressive" in their dispensationalism, relegating the traditionalists (like ryrie) to a smaller and smaller minority.
as i mentioned somewhere in my thesis, in time, a lot of theologians feel that dispensationalism will eventually just be absorbed into the larger reformed tradition as an aberrant bump on the theological timeline.
good luck in your transition to regent in the fall- you've got good times ahead!
Posted by
david |
4:22 PM
Yeah, The Stranger taking potshots at Christians of any stripe... big surprise, eh? The Stranger is crap as far as journalistic integrity goes. At it's best, it can be entertaining, but most of the time, it's usually self-absorbed, mean-spirited, and completely worthless except as something to line your birdcage with or wrap a piece of fish in.
The Seattle Weekly is by far a better publication, and hey - it's free too.
Posted by
Gar |
1:55 AM