Adopt vs. adapt
An early adopter seeks out new ideas and
makes them work.
An adapter, on the other hand, puts up with
what he has to, begrudgingly.
One is offense, the other is defense. One
requires the spark of curiosity,
the other is associated with fear, or at
least hassle.
Hint: it's not so easy to sell to the adapt
community.
--Seth
Godin
The Early Church
Jesus’
practices and strategies were deviant in relationship to the depiction of the
prevailing Judaic culture. The practices Jesus exemplified followed what is
referred to as the Positive Deviance Approach; it is the process of changing
culture from within the culture.[1]
Jesus’ practices and strategies subverted the traditional Judaic views of
holiness through the inclusion of Gentiles and the marginalized. He engaged the
domination of those who were in power and challenged the prevailing culture.
Jesus’ actions were culturally relevant and his practices and strategies were
humanly relevant through his redemptive engagement of those who were
marginalized. The Gospel is humanly real, it is good news for all humanity not
just a select few. Jesus, himself, is the exemplar for the early churches
practices and strategies.
In the
following blog posts our attention shifts to the early church and its
relationship to the pluralistic culture of the first century. Jesus set the
example by modeling his practices and strategies within the culture. We see
these practices and strategies embedded in the narrative of the Gospels. The early
church received these narratives initially through an oral tradition and a few
written letters. The implication is the Gospels were presented in a dramatic
manner to the hearers thereby, creating a connection by drawing the hearers
directly into the story of Jesus challenging the status quo. How did the
narrative of the Gospels inspire the early church to follow Jesus’ model of
deviance and thereby challenging the prevailing cultures status quo? Did the
early church retain continuity with the way of Jesus? If the early church did
follow Jesus’ model, how is it witnessed in church history presented in the
book of Acts? The main text we will examine is the book of Acts. Here we find
the answers to the questions posed about the church following Jesus’ example.
No comments:
Post a Comment