In my career one of the most formative books I read was by Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann, The Social Construction of Reality. It was stunning in both is freshness (to me; I read it about 25 years after publication) and its impact. Ever since I have been attuned, not an expert though, to sociology and social scientific studies. Reading on these themes are a hobby.
Oh my goodness. This sounds fascinating… I loved sociology in college, and have a degree in library science which is fundamentally a social science. I’m looking forward to reading this.
“Religious growth and decline have always been more about the causes and consequences of population change than whatever theological ideas are being propagated.”
So the gospel is not transformative? Or is it we have to gospelize enough people to change a population? Either we are salt and light or we are just along for the ride.
Thanks Andrew. I will see how Perry develops this, but the issue has been a one-sided explanation: gospel work without recognition of social factors. Like the rise of Billy Graham when the USA was in a tizzy over communism; like Greeley and Stout's book showing that mainline decline was directly correlated with population declines and esp birth rates among mainliners. These things, I suspect, is what Perry has in mind. It's not an either-or.
Excellent stuff. We are driven much more by who we want to be associated with than we are by abstract ideas, beliefs or doctrine. I have found this to be true in my experience teaching “professional Christians” to think theologically. Many people know the right theological idea that needs to be defended, but cannot coherently articulate why apart from some form of “That’s what we need to believe because thats what the people I love believe ”. Once we discover this, the temptation is to advise robust intellectual individualism, throwing off the yoke of being a ‘social creature’ and becoming committed to truth no matter the cost. The reality is that there is no way to do this which maps to the New Testament vision of being God’s people. We have to accept that our loves shape what we rationally affirm and as Jesus reminds us; “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength”. Then we are formed to believe and live out a faith that is integrated into the whole human life which includes our social relationships.
Thank you Scott
Oh my goodness. This sounds fascinating… I loved sociology in college, and have a degree in library science which is fundamentally a social science. I’m looking forward to reading this.
“Religious growth and decline have always been more about the causes and consequences of population change than whatever theological ideas are being propagated.”
So the gospel is not transformative? Or is it we have to gospelize enough people to change a population? Either we are salt and light or we are just along for the ride.
Thanks Andrew. I will see how Perry develops this, but the issue has been a one-sided explanation: gospel work without recognition of social factors. Like the rise of Billy Graham when the USA was in a tizzy over communism; like Greeley and Stout's book showing that mainline decline was directly correlated with population declines and esp birth rates among mainliners. These things, I suspect, is what Perry has in mind. It's not an either-or.
Excellent stuff. We are driven much more by who we want to be associated with than we are by abstract ideas, beliefs or doctrine. I have found this to be true in my experience teaching “professional Christians” to think theologically. Many people know the right theological idea that needs to be defended, but cannot coherently articulate why apart from some form of “That’s what we need to believe because thats what the people I love believe ”. Once we discover this, the temptation is to advise robust intellectual individualism, throwing off the yoke of being a ‘social creature’ and becoming committed to truth no matter the cost. The reality is that there is no way to do this which maps to the New Testament vision of being God’s people. We have to accept that our loves shape what we rationally affirm and as Jesus reminds us; “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength”. Then we are formed to believe and live out a faith that is integrated into the whole human life which includes our social relationships.