VOTE
“Is the church culturally relevant or culturally captive?” asks Soong-Chang Rah, author of The Next Evangelicalism: Freeing the Church from Western Cultural Captivity. He talks with ThinkFwd host Spencer Burke about the purported decline of American Christianity. In Soong-Chan’s view, it is not Christianity that is collapsing but rather the Western-, White-culture Christianity that’s rooted in suburban, upper middle-class, politicized culture—whether the mega church or emerging church.
But just the opposite, Soong-Chan sees incredible growth and strength in the multi-ethnic, immigrant, and second generation churches. Soong-Chan was born in Korea, but lived most of his life in America. In his personal life experience, his Korean and American cultures intersect to create a new multi-cultural experience. He suggests we need to hear the stories of the Native Americans, immigrants, and the many non-white cultures (many of them much older than the recent “anci-future” trends that only go back 200 years to European roots). “I am not putting down Western White evangelicalism, and I don’t want to throw out Christianity that has existed before us. But there’s a lot more out there, and all the elements of all of our varied cultures need to be part of the discussion,” he says.
By interacting with people who are outside of “our” culture, something new emerges from our dialogue together. It’s not that the truth of the gospel changes, but that seeing things from where I’m seated (culturally) or where you’re seated, we may have different and honestly valid views. We need to hear all the voices to see the full picture of what God is doing in our world.
Watch Part 2 of this interview by clicking here
Resources
- Soong-Chan Rah’s official website
- Free Chapter Download of The Next Evangelicalism - Individualism: The Heartbeat of Western, White Cultural Captivity (152)
- Soong-Chan Rah’s Social Networks:
- Soong Chan Rah on the web:
-
Get 30% OFF by clicking here!
FEEDS
Highest Rated
- Pete Rollins – Resurrection as Insurrection (+153 rating, 59 votes)
- Brian McLaren – Navigating Through A New Kind of Christianity (+151 rating, 57 votes)
- Phyllis Tickle – Beyond Denominations, the Hyphenated Church (+144 rating, 54 votes)
- Andrew Marin Pt 2- Elevating the Conversation Between the Church and the Gay Community (+121 rating, 36 votes)
- Philip Clayton – Emergence Taking on a Life of its Own (+103 rating, 41 votes)
July 23rd, 2009 at 5:42 am
[...] Here to View Part 1 of the [...]
July 30th, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Spencer thanks for all the work you are doing to bring a different perspective on faith in Jesus. I am not a progressive but value the “angles” you frame on the web site and through this 2.0 format. I would like to offer my opinion on the Soong-Chan Rah interview. To me it seems that he is not really offering anything other than a twist of the kaleidoscope. He thinks that white Christianity is declining and that it has held too much of a dominant perspective on what we define is normative. Fair enough. However, form the interview at least, the only fix he is offering is a differing perspective. Nothing that is inherently Jesus driven. He would obviously disagree…but to simply swap preferred ethnic orientations because it better suits the audience seems to violate the purpose driven life principle (its not about you). Hopefully, even though that line was written by a white guy, the principle won’t be dismissed. I am not familiar with Soong-Chan Rah’s work (thus exposing my paleness) and will assume that he is doing great things for God personally. However, it seems to me that he is actually advocating something that is not terribly persuasive to his cause. It will only appeal to a mentality that wants things his way. It simply advocates preference. This has obliviously been a perpetually debated assumption since The Bridges of God was published. While Soong-Chan Rah might not formally align with the homogeneous unit principle he is essentially advocating the “heads” side of the quarter while Mcgarvan is arguing the “tails” side.
In any case they are both describing a quarter. However true this sociological principle is, it does not seem to answer the riddle that the Bible begs…how do we get cultures to integrate rather than splinter into preferred explanations that satisfy our ethnocentric tendencies? So I am not persuaded by Soong-Chan Rah’s assumptions while I believe Mcgarvan is right. How can this be? Soong-Chan Rah seems to be arguing from a individualistic perspective (which oddly enough is extremely male and Western) while Mcgarvan is actually arguing form a collective perspective (how do people groups convert). Ultimately I think the better question we should be asking is “what is the Father doing?” Our plea should be….”Can we help you do it God?” We don’t need to add anymore niche thinking to our theological orientation. We need to be led by the Holy Spirit to discern God’s plan…because it is what is moving forward as we debate human inspired method.
November 16th, 2009 at 11:17 am
[...] this reason I truly appreciate the interview Ooze TV conducted featuring Soong-Chah Rah who speaks specifically about freeing the church from White captivity. I will soon add his book, [...]
December 22nd, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Amazing article this is. It gets a thumbs up from me.