Engaging With Contemporary Culture

Theology and the churches are often considered to be at the margins of contemporary culture, frequently struggling for identity and attention. In this important new book Martyn Percy argues that a rich form of practical theological engagement is needed if the churches are to comprehend their situation in the modern world, thereby enabling them to engage more confidently with society. Drawing on a range of perspectives in the religion-culture debate, and from case studies in the USA and Europe, the book explores the myriad of ways in which culture is now shaping contemporary Christianity, and how vital an appreciation of this dynamic is for the self-understanding of churches and theology. This book explores the crucial and continuing contribution that theology can make to public life, in an era that is often perceived to be dominated by consumerism and secularity. It will especially appeal to scholars of contemporary religion, practical theologians, and all those who are engaged in ministerial formation.

Theology and the churches are often considered to be at the margins of contemporary culture, frequently struggling for identity and attention. In this important new book Martyn Percy argues that a rich form of practical theological engagement is needed if the churches are to comprehend their situation in the modern world, thereby enabling them to engage more confidently with society. Drawing on a range of perspectives in the religion-culture debate, and from case studies in the USA and Europe, the book explores the myriad of ways in which culture is now shaping contemporary Christianity, and how vital an appreciation of this dynamic is for the self-understanding of churches and theology. This book explores the crucial and continuing contribution that theology can make to public life, in an era that is often perceived to be dominated by consumerism and secularity. It will especially appeal to scholars of contemporary religion, practical theologians, and all those who are engaged in ministerial formation.

Annotation Theology and the churches are often considered to be at the margins of contemporary culture, frequently struggling for identity and attention. In this important new book Martyn Percy argues that a rich form of practical theological engagement is needed if the churches are to comprehend their situation in the modern world, thereby enabling them to engage more confidently with society. Drawing on a range of perspectives in the religion-culture debate, and from case studies in the USA and Europe, the book explores the myriad of ways in which culture is now shaping contemporary Christianity, and how vital an appreciation of this dynamic is for the self-understanding of churches and theology. This book explores the crucial and continuing contribution that theology can make to public life, in an era that is often perceived to be dominated by consumerism and secularity. This book will especially appeal to scholars of contemporary religion, practical theologians, and all those who are engaged in ministerial formation.

Art is a multi-faceted part of human society, and often is used for more than purely aesthetic purposes. When used as a narrative on modern society, art can actively engage citizens in cultural and pedagogical discussions. Convergence of Contemporary Art, Visual Culture, and Global Civic Engagement is a pivotal reference source for the latest scholarly material on the relationship between popular media, art, and visual culture, analyzing how this intersection promotes global pedagogy and learning. Highlighting relevant perspectives from both international and community levels, this book is ideally designed for professionals, upper-level students, researchers, and academics interested in the role of art in global learning.

How should Christians approach important contemporary issues like war, race, creation care, gender, and politics? Christians in every culture are confronted with social trends and moral questions that can be difficult to navigate. But, the Bible often doesn't speak directly to such issues. Even when it does, it can be confusing to know how best to apply the biblical teaching. In Cultural Engagement: A Crash Course in Contemporary Issues authors Joshua D. Chatraw and Karen Swallow Prior first offer a broadly accessible framework for cultural engagement and then explore specific hot topics in current Western culture including: Sexuality Gender Roles Human Life and Reproduction Technology Immigration and Race Creation and Creature Care Politics Work Arts War, Weapons, and Capital Punishment Featuring contributions from over forty top thinkers, proponents of various views on the specific topics present their approaches in their own words, providing readers an opportunity to fairly consider options. Unique in how it addresses both big-picture questions about cultural engagement and pressing current issues, Cultural Engagement provides a thorough and broad introduction useful for students, professors, pastors, college ministers, and any believer wanting to more effectively exercise their faith in the public square.

It also shows how work with a connection to Vienna by international stars like David Bowie, Wes Anderson, and Christoph Schlingensief has absorbed the same principles.While the overwhelming scale of technological development and the ensuing problems and crises may not have been deliberately designed to induce resignation, passivity, and despair, those who benefit from the related hyperobjects of financialization and climate change must find it convenient that they do, as demoralization reduces resistance to their profit-making machinations. It is in this context that Red Vienna's proud tradition of social engagement and long tradition of resistance and radicality deserves to be better known. Susan Ingram is Professor in the Department of Humanities at York University, Toronto, where she coordinates the Graduate Diploma for Comparative Literature and is affiliated with the Canadian Centre for German and European Studies and the Research Group on Language and Culture Contact. .

Drawing on unique multi-arts, multi-city scholarly research, Understanding Audiences for the Contemporary Arts makes a timely and urgent contribution to debates about the place of arts and culture in contemporary society. The authors critically interrogate the challenges of access, diversity, privilege and responsibility in contemporary art. Asking who benefits from, pays for and consumes the arts, the book highlights fresh, forward-thinking audience and organisational attitudes that show the potential of live arts engagement to contribute to engaged citizenship. Complemented by comparative global analysis, the cutting-edge insights in this book are relevant for interdisciplinary researchers across audience studies and beyond. Enhanced by a new framework for the understanding audience engagement, the book is relevant to scholars, policymakers and reflective practitioners across the spectrum of arts and cultural industries management. Chapter 7 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license here.

Once upon a time, Postmodernism was a buzz word. It pronounced Modernism dead or at least in the throes of death. It was a wave that swept over Christendom, promising to wash away sterile, dogmatic and outmoded forms of church. But whatever happened to postmodernism? It was regarded as the start of a major historical transition to something new and promising and hailed as a major paradigm shift. Is it a philosophy that has passed its "sell-by" date? No! The radical fringe has become the dominant view and has been integrated into all aspects of life, including the Christian church. With the emergence of multicultural societies comes interaction with different belief systems and religions. Values like tolerance and a dislike of dogmatism have become key operating concepts, which reflect a change in worldview. This change is affecting every area of life, including the way we believe and what we believe. The effects are far-reaching. Postmodernism presents new challenges and opportunities for Christians. In this book Kieran Beville presents Postmodernism as a quest for significance, meaning and belonging and outlines evangelistic strategies for reaching Postmodern people with the abiding good news of the gospel.