11. Identity Diffusion Identity Moratorium
Identity Foreclosure Identity Achievement
Low High
Low
High
Crisis
Commitment
Can’t decide
Doesn’t care
Can’t decide
Does care
Been decided
Didn’t care
Did decide
Did care
😐 🤔
☹ 😋
17. Group: What is your identity status regarding
(If achievement, when did it happen?)
• Ethnic identity
• Religious identity
• Political identity
• Vocational identity
18. Case Study: Nadia
Nadia is a student at GCU from Jordan. Her family is Muslim. They
sent her to GCU because they wanted her to attend a concservative
school, where she’d not fall in with the wrong crowd. She is studying
home economics. She is engaged to Usama, a businessman in
Phoenix. Her plans are to finish GCU, get her degree, marry Usama,
and have children. Over lunch you asked her if this is what she
wants, she says “It is what I’m supposed to do as a good Muslim.”
19. Case Study: Chu
Chu is from Taiwan and is from a Buddhist family. He is a
barrista at Starbucks. You cant with him every time you visit
the store. He loves coffee. But he also likes to hike, take long
bike trips, meditate, do Yoga, and cook. You asked him what
he believes as a Buddhist. He responded, “I don’t know…
actually, I don’t really care!”
20. Case Study: Rachel
Rachel is a UCLA student. She grew up in Santa Monica, in a
Reform Jewish household. She’s taking Eastern Religion at
UCLA. She attends a meditation class in Santa Monica on
Tuesdays. She is going with her family to the Wilshire Blvd.
Temple for the Jewish high holy days this week. Yesterday,
over coffee, you told her about your church, and she actually
said she’d like to come with you one Sunday.
21. Case Study: Nate
Nate’s father is Roman Catholic, and his mother is Yakima
Indian. Nate is from Seattle. For years, he told people he’s
agnostic. However, in his last two years at U of W, he majored
in Native American studies. His senior project was to interview
his mother’s Yakima family members. He says he now prays,
attends religious events with his family, has a ritual bracelet
around his wrist, and communes with an Eagle spirit.
23. De
fi
nition of Culture
A society's complex integrated coping mechanism
consisting of learned patterned concepts and
behavior plus their underlying perspectives
(worldview) and resulting artifacts (material culture)
Kraft. (1996). Anthopology for a Christian Witness. Orbis Books. p. 38.
35. Definition of Worldview
Worldview is a foundational set of assumptions to which
one commits that serves as a framework for understanding
and interpreting reality and deeply shapes one’s behavior.
(Waddel & Jibben, 2021, “What in the World is Worldview?”)
37. Two ways to describe a worldview
A. Elements (set of assumptions)
B. Metanarrative (story)
(Waddel & Jibben, 2021, “What in the World is Worldview?”)
38. A. Elements of a worldview
1. What is Ultimate Reality?
2. What is Nature of the Universe?
3. What is Nature of Humans?
4. What is Nature of Truth & Knowledge?
5. What are Ethics (Right & Wrong)?
6. What is the Purpose of Life? (Why are we here?)
(Waddel & Jibben, 2021, “Set of Assumptions”)
40. What are the elements of worldview?
1. What is Ultimate Reality?
2. What is Nature of the Universe?
3. What is Nature of Humans?
4. What is Nature of Truth & Knowledge?
5. What are Ethics (Right & Wrong)?
6. What is the Purpose of Life? (Why are we here?)
(Waddel & Jibben, 2021, “Set of Assumptions”)
41. Two ways to describe a worldview
A. Elements (assumptions)
B. Metanarrative (story)
(Waddel & Jibben, 2021, “What in the World is Worldview?”)
43. Metanarrative
An overarching account or interpretation of
events and circumstances that provides a
pattern or structure for people’s beliefs and
gives meaning to their experiences.
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/de
fi
nition/english/metanarrative
47. Israel’s Story
• God chose Abraham & his descendants
• God gave them the Law and the Land
• Israel broke the law and got scattered
• Jews were persecuted and died in the Holocaust
• Jews returned to Israel, their homeland
48. Palestinian Story
• Palestinians lived in their land for 2,000 years
• White Europeans persecuted a group called the Jews
• Europeans sent the Jews to Palestine to colonize it
• These Jewish Europeans displaced Palestinians and now
occupy their land.
49. Group:
What is your metanarrative, and how do
you think your religious background
shaped it?
52. A religion is a system of beliefs and practices that by
means of its cultus directs a person toward
transcendence and, thus, provides meaning and
coherence to a person’s life.
(Winfried, 2014, p. 28)
55. Religion v. Philosophy
1. Ultimate issues
2. Sacred spaces, rituals, objects, etc…
3. Displaces (usually) other religions
56. Ex. Marxism
• Political Ideology has no ultimate issues
• Customs, traditions but no
fi
xed practices
• Ultimately allows people to carry on other
religions
59. Groups of 2-3: Christianity
• Sacred Stories
• Sacred Texts
• Sacred Community
• Sacred Spaces
• Sacred Beliefs
• Sacred Rituals
• Sacred Objects
• Sacred (holy) People
• Sacred Time(s)
60. Questions
1. How does Christianity sacralize it? (Separate)
2. What purpose does it serve in Christianity?
3. What is its meaning to most adherents?
