{"id":514,"date":"2009-08-04T00:20:00","date_gmt":"2009-08-04T04:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/?p=514"},"modified":"2013-06-20T16:18:05","modified_gmt":"2013-06-20T20:18:05","slug":"ken-myers-on-titus-and-cultural-engagement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/?p=514","title":{"rendered":"Ken Myers on Titus and Cultural Engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_xECWNO6yc9I\/Sne4LuIZO8I\/AAAAAAAAAhQ\/tTKfzl7ZZCY\/s1600-h\/touchstone+july+09.jpg\"><img id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365959992536546242\" style=\"float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 152px; cursor: hand; height: 200px;\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_xECWNO6yc9I\/Sne4LuIZO8I\/AAAAAAAAAhQ\/tTKfzl7ZZCY\/s200\/touchstone+july+09.jpg\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<div>In the recent issue of <a href=\"http:\/\/touchstonemag.com\/\">Touchstone Magazine<\/a> Ken Myers&#8217; article &#8220;Waiting for Epimenides&#8221;\u009d draws from the letter to Titus lessons for cultural engagement. This is a good article both in its handling of Titus and in its observations of the current church scene. Here are some quotes:<\/div>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;A passion for Christian maturity is easily obscured when church leaders become preoccupied with the church&#8217;s cultural relevance.&#8221;\u009d (9)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;Far from looking more like their neighbors in the interest of winsomeness, they are enjoined to live lives that put their neighbors to shame.&#8221;\u009d (11; commenting on Titus 2:1-10)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;St. Paul&#8217;s letter to Titus is a bracing rebuke to much of the vague talk about cultural engagement one hears in so many Christian settings&#8230;.\u00a0 It recognizes that cultural moods and styles can be enemies of faithfulness.&#8221; (11)<\/p>\n<p>Noting that there are often secular voices pointing out the deadening effects of cultural trends, Myers goes on to say:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;But, all too often, these prophetic voices are ignored, as American churches have emulated the most popular trends of our time to attract people who want a spiritual supplement to the cultural status quo instead of a radical critique of the conventional wisdom. Christian leaders have assumed that &#8220;engaging the culture&#8221; means finding out what the majority wants and figuring out how to exploit those desires in the name of Jesus.&#8221; (11)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>If you are not a subscriber to Touchstone, I would encourage you to try out the magazine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the recent issue of Touchstone Magazine Ken Myers&#8217; article &#8220;Waiting for Epimenides&#8221;\u009d draws from the letter to Titus lessons for cultural engagement. This is a good article both in its handling of Titus and in its observations of the current church scene. Here are some quotes: &#8220;A passion for Christian maturity is easily obscured &#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/?p=514\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading &lsquo;Ken Myers on Titus and Cultural Engagement&rsquo; &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[173,143,71],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=514"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3048,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514\/revisions\/3048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rayvanneste.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}