Cultural Stories

October 21, 2024

Summary

Each person has a context in which they live and contribute to the world. This context is like the water a fish swims in. ‘Culture’ is a notoriously difficult ‘thing’ to define, particularly because it is a term which has so many facets to it—such that debates have raged over the very meaning of “culture”. In terms of human society, the Oxford dictionary defines the term as: “the customs and beliefs, art, way of life and social organization of a particular country or group.” Culture is a system of truth claims and moral obligations, Culture is a product of history—are a few things we could say. And picking up the fish image, culture is like the water that the fish swims in.

So in the next few weeks we’ll look at some of our dominate cultural stories,

  • Affluence & Consumerism, Eph 5:5; Col 3:5; 2 Corinthians 9:6-15; 1 John 1:1-7 (Oct 27th)
  • Entertainment and Me, Matt 4:4; 1 Cor 10:31; Rom 12:2; 2 Cor 6:14-18 (Nov 3rd)
  • Racial tension, Psalm 133; Rev 7:9-14; Gal 3:23-29 (Nov 10th)
  • Ethics of harm, Hebrews 13:1-10 (Nov 17th)
  • History and human progression, Ecc 3:1-11; Job 28:1-16; Revelation 21:1-8 (Nov 24th)