By Greg Forster: part ten of a series. In my last post I talked about how the underlying theology of accommodation paradigm churches leads to pseudo-pragmatism. Here are three specific ways accommodation paradigm churches can overcome this: The Past: One of the clearest identifying marks of the three paradigms is how they think about the American experiment in freedom and…
It’s well past 1 p.m. From my desk I look across Acoma Street and see a woman in her early 20s wearing baggy sweat pants, a cigarette hanging out her mouth, tossing an empty Mountain Dew bottle in a dumpster that’s been parked in her driveway for months. She squints at the sun, as if it’s an unwelcome guest disturbing her slumber. Next…
In my previous posts in this series I talked about the character of the Mercenary, which reflects the new norm of apprehensive individualism in global corporate culture. In the next few posts I want to examine how Christians working in global corporations integrate (and segment) their faith in such environments. Subsequently I will return to consider the factors that generate…
Reprinted from The Anxious Bench with permission. We though this post was interesting in light of earlier reflections we’ve posted here regarding how the faith and work movement needs to think about gender (here and here for starters.) By Kristin Du Mez By now, I’m sure you’ve all seen this video. If you haven’t, here you go. You’re welcome. I could write…
Dr. Dallas Bock recently interviewed Andy Crouch on The Table. Andy recently came on staff at the John Templeton Foundation. Previously, he was the executive editor of Christianity Today. He is also the author of a number of books including Strong and Weak, Playing God, and Culture Making as well as the forthcoming The Tech-Wise Family. The focus of this interview…
By Adam Roe I was recently sitting around the house on a Saturday afternoon in my customary t-shirt, socks, and boxers. It was one of those days when in a pinch I’d throw on shorts or jeans, but unless you’re answer-the-door-worthy, my attire isn’t changing. I flipped through TV channels and found a University of Kentucky game. I grabbed a…
In my last post, I talked about how many professionals, even Christian ones, define themselves in relation to the symbolic image of the Mercenary—a person who is oriented towards “apprehensive individualism.” What does that mean? Individualism isn’t simply self-centeredness; as many scholars such as Robert Bellah and Charles Taylor have pointed out, it can also be a moral vision. But…
By Greg Forster: part seven of a series. In my last post I talked about how the underlying theology of fortification paradigm churches leads to cultural puritanism. Here are three specific ways fortification paradigm churches can overcome this: The Past: Where dominance paradigm churches overestimate both the moral and religious integrity of the American experiment, fortification churches tend to underestimate…
By Sarah Conrad Sours Professional integrity seems a straightforward matter, but it isn’t always. Many professions, organizations, and industries are currently in the midst of a period of–let us put it as mildly as possible–uncertainty. As a new administration attempts to seize the moment, enacting sweeping and sometimes confusing policies, people may suddenly find themselves confused about or needing to…
While studying global corporate workplaces in India and the Middle East, I came across a peculiar set of ideals, norms, and expectations that were widely shared across companies. Together, these constitute a distinct “representative character” that (thanks to Ashwin, the IT professional I mentioned in my previous post) I call the Mercenary. What’s a representative character? It’s a recognizable symbolic…
The Green Room 