cultural engagement cumulative

in the chapter, Keller uses the Western phenomenon of "church hoppers,"—people who attend a variety of churches and don't join or fully enter any of them—as an example of...

A nonbiblical feature of American culture, which has been brought into the Christian life, and thus represents deep unconscious contextualization.

Why is two-way traffic across the bridge of contextualization important, according to Keller?

Because all people have certain "pre-understandings," or sets of already established beliefs about the subjects addressed in the Bible, which derive to some degree from our culture. Due to our cultural blinders, we benefit from interactions with other cultures, since they approach the text differently, and cause us to examine its truth more critically.

Why does Keller believe that revivals are necessary?

Because the default mode of the human heart is one of works-righteousness, such that we do not usually live as if the gospel is true.

Why does Keller believe we must "enter into" a culture before we can effectively share the gospel?

Because truth should not be simply declared into a vacuum, but must be delivered as a response to the questions of a particular people, and this means understanding their culture.

Based on his treatment of contextualization, Keller makes a final conclusion about it. What is his conclusion?

Everyone contextualizes—but few think much about how they are doing it. We should not only contextualize but also think about how we do it. We must make our contextualization processes visible, and then intentional, to ourselves and others.

keller claims that "Gospel renewal fits our times." What does he mean by this?

He means that after the major changes of the industrial revolution and the rise of pluralism, greater cultural emphasis has been placed on individual persuasion and conversion rather than on inherited family/community beliefs. Thus, revival must play a role in the modern world if Christianity is to be properly contextualized.

Keller discusses the role of the Church to be salt on the earth in the context of cultural engagement. What does he say this means?

He means that as salt, we will have a restraining influence on a society's natural tendency to decline and fall apart

ultimate source of revival

Holy Spirit

Keller states that "there are, in the end, only two questions to ask as we read the Bible." What are these questions?

In the final analysis, are the Scriptures about me, and what I must do? Or are they about Jesus, and what He has done?

Keller believes that much of the current division in the church over the different models of cultural engagement boils down to the fundamental question:

Is the current culture redeemable and good, or fundamentally fallen beyond recovery?

What does Keller say a church that truly understands the implications of the biblical gospel will look like?

It will look like an evangelical-charismatic church, placing great emphasis on personal conversion, experiential grace renewal, evangelism, outreach, and church planting. It will look like an Anabaptist "peace" church, emphasizing deep community, cell groups or house churches, radical giving and sharing of resources, spiritual disciplines, racial reconciliation, and living with the poor. it will look like a mainline, or Kuyperian Reformed church, emphasizing seeking the welfare of the city, neighborhood and civic involvement, cultural engagement, and training people to work in secular vocations out of a Christian worldview. all of the above

Keller provides an historical example of proper contextualization from the early Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England. Who is the historical figure that he uses?

Jonathan edwards

From where does Keller believe that cultural changes originate?

Keller believes that cultural changes tend to flow out of urban and academic centers. With this, it is not necessarily the "inner elite," but rather the "outer elite,"—usually young people who are either low on the ladder of the highest-prestige institution, or in the less influential or newer institutions—who really make the change

How does Keller define the human heart, according to the Bible?

Keller believes that, according to the Bible, the heart is the center of our personality, the seat of our fundamental commitments, the control center of the whole person. The mind, will, and emotions are all rooted there.

In this chapter, Keller references a particular preacher, whose methodology of preaching two times a day, in the morning and the evening, was very influential to him. Who was this famous preacher?

Martyn Lloyd-jones

If you seek to be right with God through your morality and religion, you are...

Not seeking God for your salvation but using God as a means to achieve your own salvation.

In the New Testament, Paul articulates the gospel to both Greeks and Jews, providing us with an example of proper contextualization. How does Paul do this?

Paul applies the gospel to confront and complete each society's baseline cultural narrative.

keller defines culture as

Properly understood, culture touches every aspect of how we live in the world, and involves bringing the natural order into the service of particular "commanding truths," core beliefs, and assumptions about reality and the world we live in.

What is the first principle of Keller's "Seek the Center" approach to the different cultural engagement models?

Proponents of each model should do their best to discern and incorporate the insights of the other models into their own thinking, thus "seeking the center".

Keller writes that both fear of punishment and pride are essentially...

Self-centered, and while they may for a short time be able to produce desired behaviors, ultimately they cannot effect a changed heart, and will not be acceptable to God.

In the United States, a new unreligious mood erupted in, and was widely transmitted through, the youth culture of the 1960's, which questioned all moral authority through popular music and television.

TRUE

Without the power of the Spirit, our hearts don't really believe in God's delight or grace, so they operate in their default mode. But the truths of the gospel, brought home by the Spirit, slowly but surely help us grasp in a new way how safe and secure, how loved, and how accepted we are in Christ.

TRUE

all human problems are symptoms and our separation from God is the cause

TRUE

danger of contextualization

The danger of contextualizing is that it could lead Christians to surrender historic, biblical doctrines for the sake of appeasing a culture that finds those doctrines offensive.

What three elements does Keller identify in every gospel presentation that Paul preached in the New Testament?

The epistemological challenge, the personal challenge, and the proclamation of Christ.

What is the "functionalist" view of culture that Keller describes?

The functionalist view of culture, based in a Darwinian approach to society, sees culture as a set of unrelated practices that together help a people group adapt to its environment by functionally meeting their psychological and social needs.

In the subsection "Guilt and Self-Image," what is Keller's conclusion?

The gospel can produce in us both enormous boldness and utter humility, for we are simultaneously both perfect and sinner.

gospel

The gospel is a clear and present word, but it is not a simplistic word. There is a singular, universal truth to its message that is the same for all people, but there is also an irreducible complexity in how that message is presented.

The main positive emphasis of the Relevant model is...

The importance of a church that exists for others, doing sacrificial service for the common good.

How does Keller define the work of gospel renewal?

The practical ways and means by which the Holy Spirit brings lasting change to the lives of individuals and to congregations.

Why does Keller believe that the "indigenous church model" ultimately failed?

The primary failing of the indigenous church model was that it did not encourage Christian leaders to engage in deep theological reflection on how profoundly the gospel challenges culture. By assuming that Western Christianity was the true, undistorted, universal expression of the faith, it failed to challenge Western missionaries to recognize the culturally adapted nature of their own theology and practices.

What best represents the early American revivalist emphasis in response to changing social conditions, such as the Industrial Revolution?

The revivalist emphasis tended to be on the decisions of individuals rather than the incorporation of families into a community, calling on a dramatic turning experience, rather than a process of liturgy and catechism, for spiritual formation.

What does Keller mean when he discusses "the canon within the canon."

This phrase indicates that sometimes, Christians treat some parts of the Scriptures as more important, while ignoring or discarding others. This represents a flaw in our approach to understanding the Biblical text, which proper contextualization and interaction with other cultures can help correct over time.

Paul describes the three ways people could live under the Old Testament, which still has a deep spiritual meaning for the church today. What are these three ways or categories?

Those who were physically uncircumcised, those who were physically circumcised only, and those who were circumcised in the heart.

What does Keller describe as the first task of contextualization?

To immerse yourself in the questions, hopes, and beliefs of the culture so that you can give a biblical, gospel-centered response to its questions.

How is the gospel different from "traditional religion?"

Traditional religion teaches that if we do good deeds and follow the moral rules, God will come into our hearts, bless us, and give us salvation. The gospel teaches the reverse: that God has loved by grace, so I can obey out of joy and gratitude.

How does Keller perceive the relationship between human effort and revival?

Ultimately, Keller believes we can only prepare for revival; we can't really bring it about. God must send it.

Keller argues that because all gospel ministry and communication is already heavily adapted to a particular culture...

We should do our contextualization consciously and deliberately, thinking through ways to rightly present the gospel to a new culture.

What illustration does Keller use to clarify the idea of contextualization?

a boring sermon

How does Keller define Gospel renewal?

a life-changing recovery of the gospel

For those who opposed revivalism, what did they consider the main danger(s)?

all of the above stressing conversion, emotional experience, individual privilege

relationship b/w biblical knowledge and gospel

biblical knowledge is necessary for the gospel and yet distinct from it. provides an appropriate context by which the gospel is to be understood

are covenant blessings of god un/conditional?

both bc Jesus fulfilled the conditions of the covenant, making it possible for God to love us unconditionally

how does the gospel address problems of suffering and injustice in the world

brings us solutions to these problems by first solving the deepest of all human problems, the problem of mans relations with his Maker

In the subsection on race and culture, does Keller describe Christianity as universal, or particular?

christianity is universal in that it welcomes everyone and particular in its confession that Jesus is Lord and culture and ethnicity not

In this chapter, Keller references missiologist David Hesselgrave, who speaks of three basic ways to reason that different cultures may adopt. What are these three types of reasoning?

conceptual, concrete rational, institutional

Which model emphasizes the church as a contrasting society to the world, viewing the kingdom of God manifesting primarily as a church community in opposition to the kingdom of this world, and stresses the dissimilarity between the kingdom of this world, based on power and human glory, and Christ's kingdom, a community based on love, service, and the surrender of power?

counterculturist

Bibles story line tells us at least four things

creation, fall, redemption, restoration

What are the two complementary truths that a balanced view of the Fall requires?

curse and common grace

which aspects of our lives does the gospel affect?

every aspect

All cultures have what it takes to be neutral on the great questions of life, such as what is of ultimate value, and why are we here. However, very few put in the work to arrive at neutral conclusions to these questions.

false

An idol, by definition, cannot be made out of good things, like family, achievement, work, romance, talent, or especially gospel ministry.

false

Before the great culture shift in America, evangelicals could not count on their listeners to be mentally able to understand the message of the Christian faith. This message was rarely seen as credible and positive.

false

Conceptual reasoning is when people make decisions and arrive at convictions through insight and experience. Such people find stories and narratives more convincing and mind-changing than proving propositions through reasoning

false

Dutch neo-Calvinist Abraham Kuyper is the primary inspiration for the Relevance model.

false

Gospel renewals rarely involve church members being converted.

false

In his letter to Titus, Paul calls his readers to say "no" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled lives because otherwise they will be excluded from the social circles that are important to them, and will forfeit God's blessing of health and prosperity that come as a result of obedience.

false

Interactions with different cultures hinder our ability to come to a more solid biblical Christianity, because by emphasizing human traditions and expressions, we deteriorate the authority of the Scriptures.

false

Keller describes the "Winter" season of the church's relationship to culture as a situation in which the church is embattled, even persecuted by a pre-Christian culture, but is growing.

false

Overcontextualizing is when we challenge the culture too much, without seeing any redeeming features in it.

false

Sexuality is supposed to reflect the self-giving of Christ. Consequently, we may give of ourselves in this regard to anyone we wish, so long as we both consent to it.

false

Since gospel communicators should seek to correct their hearers' cultural beliefs with the gospel, they need not seek to correct their own understanding of the gospel through interaction with different cultures.

false

Some parts of the Bible are "better" for gospel preaching than others.

false

The Two Kingdoms model of cultural engagement typically views the political realm as the primary field of Christian activity in the modern world.

false

The main purpose of contextualizing the gospel is to change someone's superficial behavior—for example, the music they listen to or the clothes they wear.

false

There are no areas where the Bible gives us freedom to conduct life in different ways. Even the most seemingly-minute areas of when to arrive at events, or what foods to eat, are actually prescribed in the Bible. This is the meaning of Sola Scriptura.

false

To know if a person is saved, it is enough to ask if they have learned the faith, been baptized, and joined a church. Repentance is ideal, but not absolutely necessary.

false

Ultimately, only certain forms of human work—specifically those centering on the full-time ministry of the word and sacraments—actively represents the concept of "gardening" displayed in Genesis.

false

When Christians realize they did not save themselves but were rescued from spiritual poverty, it naturally changers their attitude toward people who are in economic and physical poverty, leading them to be less inclined to help the poor, since the poor should rely on God instead of money.

false

While every Christian, regardless of income, is both a sinner and a son/daughter of God, Keller recommends for the wealthy Christians to only associate with other wealthy Christians, and not mingle with the poor, as this will tempt and entice the poor to envy and worldly longings.

false

a person can be "put right" through Jesus: the answer the gospel provides is through good works= faith

false

good news= god is healing and will heal the world of all its hurts so gospel= work for justice and peace in the world

false

gospel= primary way of life not a message

false

kingdom theme in scripture: Christs liberating rule has already fully arrived on earth

false

the free, unshakable grace of God liberates us to follow all of our passions, appetites, and affections in this life, knowing that they have already been forgiven by Jesus at the Cross.

false

Keller recommends that for our communications with other cultures to be properly contextualized, we ought to adapt to the "conceptuality" of the hearers. What does he mean by this?

illustrations from social world, emotions within cultures comfort, questions/issues addressed highly relevant to culture, authorities cited are respected by culture all of the above

3 stages by which christ "puts things right again"

incarnation, substitution, restoration

Which thinker does Keller most associate with the rise of the "Christian worldview" concept?

kuyper

Keller identifies two equal and opposite dangers to the gospel. What are they?

legalism and license

As an example of poor contextualization, Keller uses the illustration of "liberal Christianity," which unwisely wedded itself to which worldview, thinking it represented a permanent change in human thinking that had to be accepted?

naturalism

how do biblical themes Keller identifies relate to each other?

no contradiction, only harmony, each is a different but accurate way of presenting the same gospel

the covenant fulfillment theme in scripture shows

our need to be saved from our transgressions of the law which we could never keep

what's the root of all human problems which the gospel claims to set right

our vertical relationship with God

illustration to describe our need for the gospel

out of tune orchestra

Keller relates Andy Crouch's illustration for the usage of more than one models in our cultural engagement. What is this illustration?

posture and gesture

What does Keller indicate is the "single venue of information and teaching to which the greatest number of church people are exposed," and which is vital to revivals?

preaching

Which model sees Christianity as being fundamentally compatible with the surrounding culture, and believes that God is at work redemptively within cultural movements that have nothing explicitly to do with Christianity. The primary way to engage culture, then, is for the church to adapt to new realities and connect to what God is doing in the world.

relevance

Keller describes how it is possible for "two people basing their lives on these two systems may sit right beside each other in church," yet one is acceptable to God and the is not. What are these two systems?

religion and gospel

In the beginning of this chapter, Keller uses a metaphor to describe the work of contextualization. What is this metaphor?

removing a boulder by drilling and blasting

2 reasons why gospel is never presented exactly the same form twice

richness of biblical material and diversity of humanity

keller identifies two "terrible consequences" of sin

spiritual bondage and condemnation

what does reading the Bible diachronically mean?

to follow scripture along its narrative arc, tracing the redemptive history of God's work in the world

All sound cultural engagement must be built on a view that sees the world as inherently good and sustained by common grace, yet cursed at the same time.

true

As Romans 1 and 2 teach us, all human beings are made in the image of God, and can therefore understand certain truths about God and reality, even if they reject the gospel. This means we should have some respect for all cultures, even if they are not explicitly Christian.

true

Because Jesus was the king who became a servant, we see a reversal of values in His kingdom administration, such that in His kingdom, the poor, sorrowful, and persecuted are above the rich, recognized, and satisfied.

true

Behavioral compliance to rules without heart change will be superficial and fleeting. The purpose of preaching, pastoring, counseling, instructing, and discipling is, therefore, to show people these practical implications of faith in the gospel.

true

Do not preach to your congregation assuming that everyone in attendance is a Christian; and don't just preach the gospel evangelistically, thinking that Christians cannot grow from it. Rather, evangelize as you edify, and edify as you evangelize.

true

Effective contextualization addresses culture in the broadest sense of the word, along the maximum surface area.

true

Evangelicals seek to work in the middle of the spectrum between cultural fundamentalism and cultural relativism, insisting that while there are no universal, culture-free expressions of biblical teachings, the Bible nonetheless expresses absolute and universal truths. This is what Keller calls "balanced contextualization."

true

If not properly contextualized, a sermon or gospel presentation can seem to be either a "bridge to nowhere," or a "bridge from nowhere."

true

If the church does not think much about culture—about what parts are good, bad, or indifferent according to the Bible—its members will begin to uncritically imbibe the values of the culture.

true

In North America, the Kuyperian view of cultural engagement was first promoted by thinkers and institutions associated with certain strains of Reformed theology and has been dubbed "neo-Calvinism."

true

Keller believes that instead of looking at Scripture, the culture, and our own gifts and callings, we tend to form our views on cultural engagement in visceral reactions to the behavior of other Christians that we find distressing.

true

Keller believes that many sermons today are "boring," not because they are doctrinally inaccurate, but because they fail to contextualize, and thus fail to bring truth into the listeners' daily life and world.

true

Kuyperian theology is most closely associated with the Transformationist model.

true

Moralistic behavior change bends a person into a different pattern through fear of consequences rather than melting a person into a new shape.

true

Personal gospel renewal includes a new, commensurate grasp of the wonder of forgiveness and grace as we shed these attitudes and practices and rest in Christ alone for salvation.

true

Repeatedly throughout the New Testament, we see that saving faith and repentance are inseparable, and that true repentance includes grief and sorrow over our sin.

true

Revivalist ministry emphasizes conversion and spiritual renewal, not only for those outside the church, but also for those inside the church.

true

Saving faith isn't a level of psychological certainty, it is an act of the will in which we rest in Jesus

true

Sin affects everything—not just hearts, but entire cultures in every area of life.

true

The Counterculturalist model produces hostility towards what are considered "worldly" institutions, such as politics, government, and capitalist economy.

true

The Two Kingdoms model draws heavily from Lutheran tradition.

true

The gospel of God's grace doesn't try to bend a heart into a new pattern; it melts it and re-forms it into a new shape.

true

Undercontextualizing is when we fail to adequately or accurately adapt our gospel presentation to the culture, and therefore make it unnecessarily alien to our listeners.

true

When American fundamentalism went into a more pietistic mode in the first half of the twentieth century, it drew more from its German roots, which emphasized submission to the state and culture, than from its Puritan roots, which did not.

true

the gospel brings unity to all we do: every form of ministry is empowered by the gospel, based on it, and a result of it

true

Which model has a core teaching that God rules all of creation, but does so in two distinct ways. First, there is the common kingdom, established through the covenant with Noah, and secondly there is the redemptive kingdom, established with Abraham in Genesis 12. It believes that only the building of the church—evangelism, discipleship, and Christian community—is "kingdom work," and that the main problem today is the confusion of these two kingdoms?

two kingdoms

Which model has been criticized for giving more weight and credit to the function of common grace than the Bible ever does, and tends to cement an unhealthy hierarchy between clergy and lay-people?

two kingdoms

Keller provides a metaphor for the process of affirming the doctrines in a culture's worldview that match the Bible, and confronting those that do not. What is this metaphor?

using logs to float rocks across a river