Jesus Cropped from the Picture

Jesus Cropped from the Picture

simply acting naturally, go about their daily routine without making reference to their own cultural assumptions. In the same way, Anglos are least likely to see their cultural preferences, whereas Hispanics and African Americans can point them out quite easily. Culture is like the air; the people within a culture cannot see it, nor are they aware of its existence from moment to moment. This is why it can be difficult to identify the cultural elements of Individualism and Rationalism found in SLIM. These cultural assumptions are buried deep in the American psyche, especially in the church, where they have been erroneously placed in the virtue category of culture, instead of the neutral category where they belong. SLIM has arguably slipped into the category of syncretism. View of Nostalgia Besides culture, the three methods were formed by their favorite historical era. Each method has an unspoken sense of nostalgia about “the good old days.” There is a deep desire to regain the “glory years,” imagining a future that looks something like a bygone era. Some view the Reformation as the “Golden Era,” and others idealize the early Church. For others, the nostalgic era is a period of American history (such as the 1950s), or a time when their local church or denomination was at its peak. They reminisce about the days of old, when their church was growing in numbers, finances were not a problem, the music was good, and the preaching sound.

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