Ernie: First, thank you for the thoughtful reply. About the question, simple as it is (simple in a very good sense, as in "cutting to the chase"), there is more than one way to answer.
I wonder how Gene Scott would have answered, or Wommack might answer if he was asked something similar. I know (more-or-less know) what kind of outcome I would like to see. Institution building. Something along the lines of a Baptist convention. OR -if this became really successful, a mass movement that creates an institution in its wake -while changing the whole religious landscape. Can't give you any kind of "solid" answer. But who wasn't impressed by the successes of "prime time preachers" in the 1980s, and the most successful, built new institutions. Two universities that we can take full pride in (Liberty, Regent) and others that are, well, OK but not OK, like Oral Roberts. And you can bet that I'd like to see a new university rise out of this, far fetched as it may seem today. Have a name picked out: Schweitzer University. There was also PTL's theme park, viz, before everything exploded and PTL became "pay the lady." I still have not answered your question. Let me try again... I don't like the word "indoctrination." How about "persuasion," or "leadership" ? In your terms this is about "marketing" rather than the Spanish Inquisition. Yes, there is a new theology in all of this, and it is central to everything else. But people have to want to make it their own, strictly voluntarily. My task is to try and be persuasive. I'm assuming that education is all about the outcome for students before all else. That's the guiding purpose. This said, where can this new kind of education take them? I'm not sure. What this is all about is providing a sort of grad school for church goers Except that there is more to it than that and there also is some "home ec" in the mix and some very practical stuff that might be categorized as "self improvement." And it is assumed that there will be Sunday School for kids even if that is an area about which someone else will need to take the reins. It just isn't much of an interest for me. As close as I get is cheerleading for "Tiny Tots for Jesus." That show is 100% charming. Simply great! I think the question evolves into: Where would "students" take this? The guiding concept is a challenge to everyone, after all, liberal Christians, Catholics, Pentecostals, Buddhists, Hindus, Baptists, Baha'is, Mormons, Jews, etc.. the "whole shooting match." I think that if the concept is taken to heart by a lot of people who may disagree with my theology, they could nonetheless use the concept to do some new and exciting things -with Buddhism, with Catholicism, with Mormonism, you name it No objection from me, quite the contrary. Its just that I really-really-really would like to find people who do see things the way the essay suggests, and work with them on a "religious start up" to see what might be possible. A church should be a place where there is communion of minds, where real life people meet and get to know each other, all of that. OTOH, there is a place for online learning and online religion. That is one thing that Melissa Scott never got. Her website, last I looked, was one way, basically "please support our cause." No opportunity for involvement. She is the star, everyone else is part of' a supporting cast. My vision is for people "out there" to have a chance to talk, to communicate with each other so that they can do some really worthwhile things. Maybe, sort of like seeing things from Luther's perspective. There is a Reformation, yayyy, however, not everything is what he would have liked, but some things turn out to be good in ways that were beyond his wildest dreams. Kind of Pandora's box, but the genies inside are a mix of mostly good spirits, but some spirits that are off the wall, or otherwise have agendas that deserve criticism. Just trying to be realistic. But I'd take the "lots-of-good scenario" even if it means some percentage of stuff to put up with that I might wish did not exist I mean, Christianity is "lots of good" but there also are the fringes and the bad fringes and that is human nature. All of this is thinking out loud. Maybe this helps a little toward a decent answer. Billy ________________________________ From: Centroids <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2019 10:00 AM To: [email protected] Cc: Billy Rojas Subject: education vs learning Re: [RC] Part # 2 Sunday Schools for the Future Hi Billy, The guiding concept for a new kind of "Sunday School" can be summarized as: reinventing Christianity as a form of education That’s a really exciting idea. My only concern is that the very concept of education has a strong strain of “indoctrination”. Not sure if that is good or bad from your perspective. Modern theorists are starting to focus more on “learning” (what l students do) rather than “education” (what is done to students). How do you feel about that? E -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
