{"id":279,"date":"2009-07-30T12:22:55","date_gmt":"2009-07-30T17:22:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/?p=279"},"modified":"2009-07-30T17:41:02","modified_gmt":"2009-07-30T22:41:02","slug":"10-ideas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/2009\/07\/30\/10-ideas\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Ideas"},"content":{"rendered":"

First… an apology to all my readers (all 8 of you… 6 if you don’t count Beth and my mom). \u00a0 On July 14th Beth<\/a> and I started a series of ten top 10 lists.\u00a0 We tried to post daily, but unfortunately I have gotten a bit behind.\u00a0 That has partly been because of craziness in life, but also because I have been a lot of thought in this final list.\u00a0 So far we have explored the things that we enjoy, the things we want to do, and a few things about us.\u00a0 If you have followed along closely, you might have learned a bit about what type of person I am.\u00a0 I believe that underneath these lists are core ideas that define me as a person.<\/p>\n

In reflecting on life these last two weeks, I have examined the concepts that drive me as a person.\u00a0 In my mind, they all are synergistic and guide my day-to-day living as well as the larger direction of my life.\u00a0 Here are the 10 ideas that define me as person.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Trajectory of Redemptive History<\/strong> – I first picked up this phrase in Dr. Sandy Richter’s<\/a> Intro to Old Testament my first semester at Asbury Seminary<\/a>.\u00a0 Since then, it has been the primary way that I understand the work of God, God’s people, and the narrative of scripture.\u00a0 The idea is simple: Since the beginning of history, God has been working in and through his people to bring all of creation to redemption and restoration.\u00a0 I do not believe the world is constantly descending into more and more evil and pain, but rather, it is consistently moving to place where all wrongs are set right and life is as it should be.\u00a0 Martin Luther King Jr. expressed this concept when he said, ” The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.”\u00a0 In regards to this central idea to my life, I must highly recommend Dr. Richter’s book The Epic of Eden<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  2. Kingdom of God<\/strong> – During the summer of 2006 Beth and I hosted a Bible Study for college students in our home.\u00a0 We looked through book of Matthew at all of Jesus’ references to the Kingdom of Heaven (Kingdom of God in other gospels).\u00a0 Simply put, it completely changed the way I viewed the message of Jesus.\u00a0 In the 6 months that followed, my entire approach to Christianity began to morph.\u00a0 This was one of the most formative and painful times in my life.\u00a0 The concept of the KofG is complex and simple at the same time.\u00a0 It is in essence the world where God gets his way — it is a world redeemed and restored.\u00a0 I am convinced Christians are a part of the KofG and called to bring it about.\u00a0 There is a constant tension between the “already” and the “not yet” of this idea.\u00a0 A good intro to this concept is N.T. Wright’s The Challenge of Jesus<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  3. Nature of Truth<\/strong> – During my time of theological and philosophical transition (which, while coinciding with my entry into Seminary, was probably more of a push back to what I was learning than the result of it) one of the primary things I gave thought to was the nature of truth and how we know what we know.\u00a0 I have written an extensive piece on my conclusions<\/a> (this blog is actually titled after this paper).\u00a0 To summarize, I believe there is truth, but it can only be understood through our flawed human existence.\u00a0 Our worldview will always skew our perception.\u00a0 This has led me to be more humble in how I understand knowledge and open to others conclusions.<\/li>\n
  4. Interpretive Communities<\/strong> – If truth is dynamic (or at least flexible in our understanding of it) how do we reach conclusions on what is?\u00a0 Stanley Fish has given me the framework for answering this question.\u00a0 Truth is shaped by the communities we are a part of.\u00a0 I have discussed the practicalities of this in this post<\/a>.<\/li>\n
  5. You must be the change you wish to see in the world<\/strong> – This quote is from Ghandi and is pretty self explanatory.\u00a0 I tend to be fairly cerebral and will process thoughts on societal change in my mind quite frequently.\u00a0 I constantly ask ‘What does it look like to have the Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.”\u00a0 Sometimes I think I have the answer, other times I am overwhelmed.\u00a0 But consistently, I must be reminded that knowing change is needed is useless if nothing is being done to bring it about.\u00a0 I have spent way too much time trying to convince others to change, when in reality, I must first embody the change I wish to see.<\/li>\n
  6. Pacifism <\/strong>– I have increasingly found as I explore the implications of Kingdom theology that if I want to truely follow Jesus, it requires radical pacifism.\u00a0 This is one area where I feel my Mennonite brothers and sisters have a lot to teach mainstream evangelicals.\u00a0 This is a topic I wish to explore further in the coming weeks.\u00a0 Look for a full length post (or 3), but until then, I urge you to ponder the implications of this quote from MLK:
    \n
    \nPeace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
    \n<\/em>
    \n<\/span><\/li>\n
  7. Knowledge is power<\/strong> – This sounds odd to me when I list it out, but the essence of this idea play out regularly in my life.\u00a0 This does not mean the more degrees you get the more influence you have, or that the most powerful people are the most learned.\u00a0 Instead, it refers to ability.\u00a0 If I have knowledge of how to fix a lawn mower, I can help my neighbor out in a pinch.\u00a0 If I can speak another language, I can learn more about a person and their situation.\u00a0 If I understand a person’s situation, I can empathize and appreciate them more.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the withholding of knowledge can be used to oppress and subjugate.\u00a0 That is why I find great power in open and non traditional learning.<\/li>\n
  8. Stewardship of Creation<\/strong> – Because of the way I view the world and the Kingdom of God, I hold firm to the belief that all people are called to participate in the protection and redemption of the world.\u00a0 While this included environmental responsibility, it also points to the belief that all people are part of a larger world and the needs of all must be considered.<\/li>\n
  9. Umbuntu<\/strong> – This is an African concept that can loosely be translated “I am because we are.”\u00a0 It focuses on the interconnectedness of all people and the need for mutual respect.\u00a0 It also captures the way community identity shapes personal identity.\u00a0 It is the antithesis of individualism.\u00a0 In the past few decades, many of the leaders I most respect have used this idea to being about peaceful reconcilliation.\u00a0 Here is a clip of Desmond Tutu discussing the concept of Ubuntu:
    \nhttpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=ftjdDOfTzbk<\/li>\n
  10. Prophetic Imagination<\/strong> – In his book The Prophetic Imagination, Walter Brueggemann discusses the role of the prophet in brining about a better world.\u00a0 He claims a prophet must be able to project a world as is it can be so we can see past the world as it is.\u00a0 In doing this, he identifies two modes: criticizing and energizing.\u00a0 Basically he says at times a prophet must speak out against injustices, and at other times a prophet must speak about things that can happen.\u00a0 However, at the end of the day, the prophet must embody this alternate reality.\u00a0 This tension between criticizing and energizing is put plainly by Ben Harper when he asks, “what good is a critic with no better plan.”\u00a0 In fact, his whole song “Better Way” exemplifies this concept.
    \nhttpv:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=TILzJ-_4urk<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Closing note:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    As I upload this final post in the my series of ten Top 10 lists, I just wanted to say how much I have enjoyed writing them and have been encouraged by the response I have received.\u00a0 I am very thankful Beth decided to join me in writing out her lists.\u00a0 It was a great experiance to work through this process of self-reflection together.\u00a0 If you have not read her posts and are interested in them, you can view them here on her blog: A Sugar-Mamma’s Thoughts<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    First… an apology to all my readers (all 8 of you… 6 if you don’t count Beth and my mom). \u00a0 On July 14th Beth and I started a series of ten top 10 lists.\u00a0 We tried to post daily, but unfortunately I have gotten a bit behind.\u00a0 That has partly been because of craziness […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,21],"tags":[270,272,268,88,267,271,101,269,213,83,150,266,89,273],"class_list":["post-279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith","category-thoughts","tag-change","tag-creation","tag-ghandi","tag-interpretive-communities","tag-kingdom-of-god","tag-knowledge","tag-nt-wright","tag-pacifism","tag-prophetic-imagination","tag-sandra-richter","tag-top-10","tag-trajectory-of-redemptive-history","tag-truth","tag-ubuntu"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=279"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":469,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279\/revisions\/469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/kickert.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}