This document provides an introduction to an online Christianity and culture course. It introduces the instructor, Dr. Stan Meyer, and provides some background on his experience. It also outlines some initial course details like contact information for the instructor, expectations around participating in discussions, and a sign-up for students to volunteer to lead devotions. The document serves to welcome students to the course and provide foundational information.

1. INT-460 Christianity & Culture | Topic 1.1
Introduction

2. Introduce Yourself

3. Dr. Stan Meyer with
Carrie & Jacqui
• Messianic Jewish
• Former Missionary with Jews for Jesus
• Pastoring Tree of Life Messianic synagogue
• Raising a Chinese-Jewish-Christian 18-year-old

4. Contacting me
• Halo Message
• Remind: https://www.remind.com/join/int460
• Email: stan.meyer1@my.gcu.edu
• Text: 480-744-3001
• O
ffi
ce Hours: Immediately after class (or come see
me Tue & Thu at College of Theology bldg 19

5. 1. Name a movie that changed the way you think about
something?
2. What about the movie was worked?

6. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah,
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and
besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah
into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of
God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the
house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of
his god.
(Daniel 1:1–2 ESV)

7. Then the king commanded Ashpenaz, his chief eunuch, to
bring some of the people of Israel, both of the royal family
and of the nobility, youths without blemish, of good
appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with
knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to
stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature
and language of the Chaldeans.
(Dan 1:3–4 ESV)

8. The king assigned them a daily portion of the food that the
king ate, and of the wine that he drank. They were to be
educated for three years, and at the end of that time they
were to stand before the king. Among these were Daniel,
Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. And
the chief of the eunuchs gave them names: Daniel he
called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael
he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego
(Dan 1:5–7 ESV)

10. What was Daniel’s cross-cultural
experience?

11. 1. He identified with his new culture

12. 1. He identified with his new culture
Daniel (God is my judge) —> Belshazzar (“Bel” will protect the king)
Hannaniah (Yahweh is gracious) —> Shadrach (command of the moon god)
Mishael (Who is like God?) —> Meshach (who is “Aku”)
Azariah (Yahweh is my help) —> Abednego (servant of “Nego”)

13. 2. He prepared to go cross-cultural

14. 2. He prepared to go cross-cultural
a. Noble status
b. Without blemish
c. Good appearance
d. Skillful in wisdom
e. Endowed with knowledge
f. Teachable
g. Able to function in the king’s court

15. 3. He became a student of his culture

16. 3. He became a student of his new culture
a. Learn the literature of the Babylonians
b. Learn the language of the Babylonians
c. Lived among the Babylonians (Cultural Immersion)
d. Give counsel to the king

17. 4. What can we learn from Daniel’s intercultural experience

18. Signup to bring 2-devotions this spring
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0c4ca9a729a2
ff
c43-int460

19. INT-460 Overview

20. Course Description
This course examines principles and methods for faithfully ministering in a
contemporary context in a way that is meaningful to people from diverse
backgrounds. Attention is given to the in
fl
uence of Christianity on culture and
vice versa during the 20th and 21st centuries as well as issues related to
social justice and biblical mercy. Emphasis is placed on American cultural
engagement with apologetic concern and sensitivity to contemporary values.

21. Course Description
This is all about North American culture, how it evolved, and how to
understand it by reading “cultural texts”. Also, it’s about how to engage it with
the gospel without falling into “culture war arguments”

22. What we will learn
• What is culture and how do we understand a culture?
• What are cultural texts are and how do we exegete them?
• What is modernity, postmodernity, & critical theory and how did they shape
American culture?
• How does the church engage culture?
• How do we contextualize the gospel?
• How do we train our church or ministry to engage culture?

23. How the class runs
• Each topic is 2-weeks long
• Each topic will have one reading assignment
• Each topic will have one writing assignment
• Topics 1-5 build your benchmark
• No Finals! No Tests!

24. Good Faith
Being a Christian when Society
Thinks You are Irrelevant
David Kinnaman & Gabe Lyons
How to talk about hot button issues
(Super practical)

25. David Kinnaman
The Barna Research Group
Southern California

26. Everyday Theology
Vanhoozer, Anderson, Sleasman
How to read the theology out of everyday
cultural texts (super practical)

27. Missional Church
Darrell Gruder
The relationship between the church & culture,
and how the church can missionally engage
culture (theological)

28. How to ransack a book
• A lot of SHORT reading
• Read intro, headings, and conclusion
• Try to get the main points

29. Rules for Classroom Discussions

30. Original cultural context of Gospels
• Jesus’ name was Yeshua
• Preached in Israel
• Spoke Hebrew & Aramaic
• Went to synagogues
• Proclaimed himself as the Messiah of Israel
• Celebrated Jewish festivals like Passover & Sukkot
• Taught in parables with Jewish illustrations

31. The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to
show them a sign from heaven. He answered them, “When it is evening,
you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ And in the morning, ‘It
will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ You know how to
interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of
the times.
(Matt 16:1–3 ESV)

32. When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of
woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so
that we might receive adoption as sons.
(Gal 4:4–5 ESV)

33. Fullness of time

34. We are instructed to interpret culture.
We are directed to understand the zeitgeist
Pharisees were scolded for not interpreting the times

35. INT-460 Christianity & Culture | Topic 1.2
Interpreting Culture
through its Texts

36. The Good Place, Pilot (2016)

37. What is culture?

38. What is culture?
The languages, customs, beliefs, rules, arts, knowledge, and collective
identities and memories developed by members of all social groups that
make their social environments meaningful.
American Sociological Association https://www.asanet.org/topics/culture

39. Exegeting Culture

40. Visible
Invisible

41. Behaviors
Traditions
Cultural Artifacts
Values
Political Beliefs
Religious Beliefs
Worldview
Visible
Invisible

42. Behaviors
Traditions
Cultural Artifacts
Values
Political Beliefs
Religious Beliefs
Worldview
Exegete

43. Behaviors
Traditions
Religious Practices
Values
Political Beliefs
Religious Beliefs
Worldview
Exegete
Making
Meaning

44. What is a cultural text?
Any human work that, because it is something done purposefully and not by
reflex, bears meaning and calls for interpretation.
Vanhoozer, 2007, p. 298

45. What is a cultural text?
People “make meaning” with cultural texts

46. What is a cultural text?
We exegete cultural texts to learn how people make meaning
Vanhoozer, 2007, p. 298

47. What’s the difference between a cultural artifact or
work and a cultural text

48. What’s the difference between a cultural artifact or
work and a cultural text
• Cultural Artifacts - Things we study to understand form & meaning
• A Work - Things we study to understand the creator’s meaning
• Cultural Text - Things we study to understand culture’s meaning

49. What’s the difference between a cultural artifact or
work and a cultural text
• Cultural Artifacts - meaning is in its form and use
• A Work - meaning is given by the creator
• Cultural Text - meaning given by culture. Study to understand culture

50. Louisa May Alcott
1832 - 1888

51. 2019
1994 2017
1949
2018 2021
1949
2014
1978
1987
1958
1918 1970
1917
Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)

52. What was author’s
meaning of the work?

53. What is the meaning
of the 2019 film?

54. A woman has an equally valid place in
society without being someone’s wife
Little Women (2019)

55. Little Women (2019)

56. Hermeneutics

57. What is hermeneutics?
The theory and method of textual, especially biblical, interpretation
Vanhoozer, 2007, p. 299

58. What is cultural hermeneutics?
The art and science of interpreting culture; the set of rules, guidelines, or
principles for interpreting cultural texts and trends; outside this book the term
stands for approaches to interpretation in which the social and cultural
location of the interpreter.
Vanhoozer, 2007, p. 298

59. What is exegeting a cultural text?
Interpreting the meaning of a cultural text in order to gain understanding about
the culture.
Meyer, 2021, just now

60. Hermeneutics: The art of interpreting texts
Text Reader

61. Hermeneutics: The art of interpreting texts
Text Reader
Writer

62. Hermeneutics: The art of interpreting texts
Text Reader
Writer
World
of
the
Writer

63. Hermeneutics: The art of interpreting texts
Text Reader
Writer
World
of
the
Writer
World
of
the
Reader

64. Biblical Hermeneutics

65. Biblical Hermeneutics
Biblical
Text
Biblical
Interpreter
Biblical
Writer
Culture
of
the
Bible
Culture
of
the
Intepreter

66. Biblical Hermeneutics
Biblical
Text
Biblical
Interpreter
Biblical
Writer
Culture
of
the
Bible
Culture
of
the
Intepreter
Meaning

67. Cultural Hermeneutics

68. Where is meaning?
Cultural
Text
Interpretor
Creator
Culture
of
the
Creator
Culture
of
the
Interpretor

69. Terminology

70. Hermeneutical Terms
Identify the terms and give an example how they relate to cultural hermeneutics
1. Illocution
2. Locution
3. Perlocution
4. Root Metaphor
5. Semiotics Theory
6. Speech-Act Theory
7. World behind the text
8. World of the text
9. World in front of the text
10. Zeitgeist

71. What is a everyday theology?
The attempt to think theologically about the everyday world; faith seeking
understanding of contemporary culture, its texts
[done by by exegeting its texts and reflecting on them through a Biblical
Worldview]
Vanhoozer, 2007, 298; Meyer, just now

72. Everyday Theology: Interpreting texts thru lens of faith
Cultural
Text
Interpretor
Creator
Culture
of
the
Creator
Culture
of
the
Interpretor
Biblical Lens

73. What is a everyday theology?
1. What spiritual or religious message is the writer saying?
2. What spiritual or religious message is culture understanding?
3. What spiritual or religious message is said by the medium?
4. What can you affirm from the perspective of a Christian Worldview?
5. What might you disagree with from the perspective of a Christian Worldview?

74. How do we do Everyday Theology
1. What is the text trying to “say”
2. What is the text trying to “do”
3. What is the world behind the text?
4. What power is being served? (i.e. who has vested interest?)
5. What is the worldview of the text or the creator
6. Find corroborative evidence to support your interpretation
7. Use “Thick Descriptions” to explain your interpretation
8. What does it mean to “be human” according to the text?
9. What spiritual beliefs or values does the text convey?
10. Critique through the lens of Biblical Worldview
Vanhoozer, 2007, p. 72

75. Exegeting Cultural Texts

76. What is the assignment due Sunday?

77. Classroom Exercise:
Interpreting a Cultural Text

78. Stand Up (2019)