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| November 2009 eJournal | Wheaton College, Wheaton IL | ||
From the Director's Desk This month’s ejournal finds us well into the school year. As we have reflected on the theme of identity, we have given significant consideration to questions related to how we understand ourselves as members of the Christian community. Both the Penner dialogue and screening of Lord Save Us From Your Followers led us to consider how questions of theology, history, and culture inform us when we give definition to the term “Christian.” This month we will continue in these vein, though from a different angle. This month we have our annual Moral Formation Lecture series, which will consider how we arrive at our Christian identity through the interaction of a number of “voices” which contribute to our self-concept. One interesting fact about the modern Western world (over the last 300-400 years approximately) is that there is a much greater interest in understanding the “self”; positively there has been a turning inward which has led to greater understanding of ourselves and negatively there has been the potential of unhealthy narcissicsm in our efforts to arrive at true self-knowledge. Dr. Kang’s lectures should help us to see how we can navigate our contemporary moment while seeking to have a deeper understanding of what it means to be a Christian when there are many other voices whispering and shouting in our ears. Please join us next week, and enjoy our resources this month which highlight our Christian Formation and Ministry department. |
Is one’s identity a unitary concept that one forges during her adolescent years and, having successfully done so, can move on to bigger and better things in life with her identity intact? Or is that a mere hopeful illusion in this ever-protean world that is intertwined among seemingly an infinite variety of “post” conditions? Should a belief in the reality of the Triune God matter when it comes to our attempts at identity formation? |
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Featured Resource:
Dr. Steve Kang, Associate Professor of Educational Ministries, will be speaking about identity this coming CACE lecture. He has participated extensively in local and parachurch ministries and is one of the founding pastors of Parkwood Community Church (a Pan-Asian American church plant inthe Chicago area). His interdisciplinary studies intersect theological anthropology, ecclesiology, social and self psychology, sociocultural analysis (particularly from a post-Christian era perspective), and multiethnic ministries. Here are further links to explore that may be of interest for this month: Evan Howard, The Spirituality Shoppe director, will be the guest speaker at the Christian Formation and Ministry Symposium in February 2010. Here is a link to a site that is currently being developed and will include Christian Formation and Ministry Professors Jim Wilhoit, Don Ratcliff, Dan Haase & Dave Setran. Jim Wilhoit is a department member and has written many articles and books on the topic of spiritual formation. This is the link to his book, Spiritual Formation as If the Church Mattered. |
Upcoming Events: "The Emerging Church: Origins, Doctrine, Truth, Rumors from an Insider Perspective" ATTENTION: LOCAL PASTORS |
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