Sacred Roots Workshop

162 Sacred Roots Workshop: Retr ieving the Great Tradi t ion in the Contemporary Church

2. How do we homogenize the Gospel? When we grant preferential priority to one cultural expression of the faith over another, or equate Gospel acceptance and embodiment as essentially “being like us,” i.e., declaring biblical discipleship to be nothing more than fleshing out our own comfortable values, cultural mores, and religious practices.

3. Tendencies to homogenize

a. Unbiblical view of biblical freedom and culture, race, class, and ethnicity

b. Underestimating the difference that difference makes in evangelism and discipleship

c. Missing the dragons: ethnocentrism, paternalism, cultural imperialism

d. Equating mission with “making them like us,” i.e., cultural hegemony

4. The core of cultural neutrality

a. A numb mind: The Complexity of Difference (see Appendix)

b. Race vs. Class: Culture, Not Color (see Appendix)

c. Webs and Circles: The Oikos Factor (see Appendix)

d. Christ and Culture: Five Views of the Relationship between Christ and Culture (see Appendix)