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Introducing
Dawn Trautman
LutheranLifeCoach.com
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7 WEBINARS
1.Faith Formation in a Missional Age
2. If Necessary, Use Words
3. Theories of Culture
4. Working Together in Solidarity
5. Inculturating the Gospel
6. Dog Eating Chicken
7. Going Public
Introducing
Dr. Nathan Frambach
Wartburg Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa
WartburgSeminary.edu
Theories of Culture:
A New Agenda for
Theology, Ministry and
Faith Formation
What is Culture?
Heres a topic: culture. Discuss.
The question is: What is culture? Engage. Begin.
Discuss.
This should be difficult, perhaps even frustrating.
Why? Because the notion of culture is
inherently abstract and nebulous
Check out the Websteresque definition ,
specifically #5
Culture: Not
Generalized
Generalized (decontextualized) attempts to understand
culture are seldom helpful unless youre writing a
textbook
Its an old analogy, but asking someone to describe
their culture is like asking a fish to describe water
(assuming you can find a talking fish)its hard to see
it when you are in it
Culture includes all the things a group does together
Culture is who we are and the world we have created to
live in. It is the predictable patterns of who does what
and habitual strategies for telling the world about the
things held most dear. (Nancy Ammerman, Studying
Congregations, p.15; pp. 78-79)
Culture: Beyond
Dictionary.com
To paraphrase anthropologist Clifford Geertz, any
road to truly understanding a culture runs through
the particular and means descending into detail
Or, Shrek was rightlike ogres and onions,
cultures have layers
Understanding culture begins with the outer layer
observable behavior, customs, rituals, symbols,
language, etc.
Thats why we need to shift our attention to
particular cultural contexts, specifically,
congregations
Congregation as
context
Each congregation sees it self as a community of God,
dedicated to sacred things. Yet congregations are also
social institutionsthey are places where people
interact, working with one another and serving
constituentsthe congregation is analyzed as a unit,
and as a unit interacting with other units in society:
people, organizations, and culturesEven as it is
dedicated to God, your congregation is a human
institution located in history (the date of its founding to
the present), in a specific place in geography (your
community), and in the lives of its members (the
network maps of their lives).
Eiesland & Warner, Studying Congregations, pp. 40
43)
Ethnography, for
example
Its beyond the scope of this workshop to get
into these various approaches
Studying Congregations is an excellent
resource (particularly chapter 7)
Ethnography is a focused, disciplined
attentiveness to a particular context with the
goal of understanding it better
It is a kind of holy listening that pays close
attention to narrative and stories
ThoughtsQuestions
Reflections
Dawn
Nate
Trautman
Frambach
Please
type your questions
or comments
into the question box on your screen. Well
try to get to as many of them as we can.
Recording of this
Webinar
www.practicediscipleshi
p.org
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