Religion Commons^™

Sbms: A Visual Exploration Of Liberian Identity, Gabriel B. Tait

The Asbury Journal

This article explores the use of visuals by missionaries and social scientists to communicate their encounters in sub-Saharan Africa. It offers an alternative perspective by incorporating the Sight Beyond My Sight (SBMS) visual research methodology created by Gabriel Tait. SBMS is a participant research method that employs photography as a way to understand culture and identity. The implications of this body of work, and the method it provides, presents a much-needed contextual lens for missionaries, visual ethnographers, and general persons who are interested in communicating their contexts in partnership with the cultures they are encountering and impacting. The implication of …

Identification By Spirit Alone: Community-Identity Construction In Galatians 3:19-4:7, Susaan Liubinskas

The Asbury Journal

Interpretations of Paul's letter to the Galatians have tended to focus on its theological content, particularly Paul's attitude toward the Law and Judaism Moreover, the question of how the theological portion of the epistle relates to the paraenetic section (Gal 5:13---6:10) continues to vex interpreters. However, the author notes that the position of Jews and Gentiles within the Christian churches is ultimately a question of identity. Accordingly, the goal of this study is to perform a sociological analysis of Gal 3:19--4:7, drawing upon aspects of social identity theory, in order to analyze Paul's method of constructing community identity in terms …

Our Personal Core Identity: A Wesleyan Perspective, Jim Boetcher

The Asbury Journal

Humans have many relational identities that vary with changes in relationships such as being a mother or a daughter, but one's core identity remains independent of these social roles. This paper explores human personal core identity theologically by drawing on Methodism as it existed under the leadership of John Wesley, and scientifically by using three cutting edge scientific research projects: The Human Family Tree and The Human Genome Project present empirical evidence that all humans are genetically related and only one race exists - the human race. Discovering Ardi: Changing Our Understanding of Human Origins shows that humans did not …

Identity Formation For Conciliatory Existence: How We Perceive The Other, Chris Kiesling, Lalsangkima Pachuau

The Asbury Journal

In this article we interface mission, theology and psychology in an exploration of what hinders and what enables conciliatory existence. Whereas common approaches to reconciliation focus on redressing past wrongs, we propose identity formation that would prevent such wrongs. We consider how people integrate elements of their social context into a social identity that influences how they perceive "the other."

Understanding this to be divine action that transforms psychological processes, we draw from all three disciplines to understand the dynamics of how we come to see the other.

Biblical theology provides penetrating narratives into the nature of fallen humanity and …

An Aboriginal Missiology Of Identity Reclamation: Towards Revitalization For Canada's Indigenous Peoples Through Healing Of Identity, Wendy Peterson

The Asbury Journal

This essay concerns the failure by Canada's Indigenous people to fully apprehend and embrace the Christian doctrine of imago Dei. The concern is founded upon the negative self-perception and perceived inferiority of Aboriginal peoples as less-than the Caucasian majority. Is this a failure of transmission on the part of missionaries, or is it a failure of reception on the part of Aboriginals? The premise is that both the theology of mission and the practice of mission with Aboriginal people must take into account the issue of self-perception and the problem of identity formation. The question is asked, Is there a …