Week 9 – Tyranny, Boundary, and Might: Colonial Mimicry in Mark’s Gospel – Tat-siong Benny Liew

 Liew states, “Despite Mark’s declaration of an apocalypse, what we have in the Gospel are recurring themes of “empire” such as tyranny, boundary, and might” (Castle, 216). Liew points out that Jesus being reinstated as God’s only Son further perpetuated the colonial heirarchical structure within the Church, such as Liew’s upbringing in colonial Hong Kong. He also reiterates Mark’s reinforcement of the “insider-outsider” binarism through “[p]resenting an all-authoritative Jesus who will eventually annihilate all opponents and all other authorities [...in other words] ’serve-or-be-destroyed’ (Castle, 214).

Week 9 – Mark and Empire – Stephen D. Moore

I was appalled by this reading of Mark, not so much because of the possibility of Mark being written as a counter-empirical Gospel but rather because Moore built his whole argument of this article on this theory that Mark and Mark’s Jesus were all about the physical “empire” rather than spiritual Kingdom. By focusing so much on the “empire” and physical realm, Moore tended to cheapen the spiritual aspects of the Daniel, Revelation, Mark, and John. Is my conception of Moore’s presentation of Mark due to my enculturation within the evangelical Church in America or something else? I am not sure.  

Week 9 – Reading a Woman’s Death – Angela Bourke

I was amazed at the many possibilities of how many ways the death of Bridget Cleary could be read from different people’s standpoints: taken away by fairies (as is oral legend), realistically tortured brutally by her husband and neighbors before being burned to death (either out of “her expected reappearance” [Castle, 453] or out of sheer, provoked violence), husband or neighbor invoked, etc. These different viewpoints make me wonder how much we are affected by the superstitions of our culture and by beliefs of our faith. Michael, according to Bourke, had faith through the fairy legends of his culture that his wife would come back to life after he killed her. What parts of our culture do we need to call into question?   

Week 9 – Out of the Center: The Literatures of Australia and New Zealand – Ralph J. Crane

“In Australia and New Zealand white writers have begun to write back to the center in an attempt to exorcise some of the Eurocentrism that has fashioned so much of the literature of the dominant culture in the two countries. In turning away from the center white writers in Australia and Pakeha writers in New Zealand are beginning instead to redefine themselves in relation to the indigenous cultures of their countries” (Castle, 397). People all around the world–including Caucasians–should follow this example of realizing the true value of “indigenous” cultures and embrace their history rather than try to conform to our Euro-/ethnocentric modern worldview. I, as a white American, had never realized just how much of a Euro-/ethnocentric modern worldview I had until I began studying at Fuller this quarter–thanks to Dr. Ryan Bolger, Dr. Bryant Myers, and Dr. Roberta King.  

Week 9 – The Body in the Library – Helen Tiffin

Tiffin’s subtitle–Identity, Opposition and the Settler-Invader Woman–speaks volumes as Tiffin reveals the (colonial) female’s struggles of 1) being told her identity through literature written by domineering men–putting her a victim of the men and a murder of the other oppressed people (Castle, 377); 2) opposition by writing their own literature; and finally, 3) being “the settler-invader woman on that ambiguous terrain between mother and other” (Casttle, 383). Women have been treated as second-class citizens for so long. Society’s come a long way in women getting more equal treatment, and yet there is still a long way to go before it’s acheived (if ever).     

Week 9 – Wednesday

Today’s class was interesting for me because it helped me think about the messiah complex (due to our conversation of the Emergent Church working within traditional church settings rather than truly contextualizing) I have been combatting this quarter. It also demonstrated how the changes I will be proposing in my paper (of combatting ethnocentrism) truly go along the same lines as the emerging church, which I found to be thought provoking.   

Week 9 – Wednesday

I really enjoyed our conversation about Dr. Bolger’s research in the emerging church ministries. Our conversation encouraged me to think of contextualization’s place not only within missions but also within the United States. Dr. Bolger’s comment on the emerging church’s focus on people movements contributing to its rapid growth rate–and its thoughts of not beginning a new denomination/church but rather adding something needed–reminded me of John Wesley, the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement and most of all Jesus’ view of His ministry.  

Week 8 – Response to Jalissa King’s reflection on Fuellenbach, Ch. 6

I agree, Jalissa. In my response to Fuellenbach, I stated, “People should realize that people should enjoy and possibly apply the strengths of each model to the Church while realizing that no church is perfect, as all of creation is fallen.” In other words, if the Church were still perfect as in creation, it might still be able to reach all peoples; however, the Church is fallen and thus we need the diverse models and church structures to appeal to a variety of people groups. I personally cannot wait for the day when people of every tribe, tongue, and nation are praising our Living God in His throne room in different spoken and music languages: all different and yet in perfect harmony with one another, never creating conflict.       

Week 8 – The Use of Models in Ecclesiology – John Fuellenbach

I was intrigued to see the differences in strengths and weaknesses within each model of the Church: as Institution, as Communion, as Sacrament, as Herald, and as Servant. People should realize that people should enjoy and possibly apply the strengths of each model to the Church while realizing that no church is perfect, as all of creation is fallen.

Week 8 – On Naming the Subject: Postcolonial Reading of Daniel 1 – Philip Chia

I found the issue of “naming the subject” rather intriguing as I had never connected Daniel, Shadrach, Meshack, and Abednego’s being given names by Nebuchadnezzar as a form of dominance. I actually prefer receiving a name from the people within the culture I am entering so that I can have a more holistic experience. I feel that someone giving me a name is a kind of initiation or welcoming into the culture so as to say, “We accept you here.”