This is a pilot episode for a video series about how the Bible shapes a Christian’s understanding of the world, culture, identity and society.
In this episode I discuss how the Bible’s particular understanding of God gives Christians a distinctive way of engaging with social and cultural issues. I discuss foundational biblical ideas such as the creator-creature distinction, absolute personality theism, and the biblical affirmation that “God is love”. I relate these doctrines to the difference between a “n-shaped dynamic” in which we relate to God and each other in terms of reciprocal benefit in a dynamic of bartering, and an “n-shaped dynamic” where the central concept of our relationship to God and to others is the gift. I discuss the importance of persons, the modern tension between the individual and the community, the difference between an “ethic of violence” and an “ethic of love”. I also introduce the biblical move of “diagonalization”. I also produced a prototype workbook to accompany the video, which can be downloaded here. It includes some pages to take notes pre-populated with headings and diagrams, a Bible study, some additional quotations, and discussion questions.
I made the video myself during lockdown as a proof of concept, and am looking for funding and partners to help me produce and distribute a higher quality version of the whole ten-episode series.
