Television, praxis, and human nature

Barker: Television
I find it fascinating that all people draw meaning and find meaning in art in different ways. For this chapter it really hit me that we all come to television shows with different perceptions and we bring in our stories to make and find meaning. How we interpret the texts is really a valuable tool. How we do this in television could easily brought into our Christian practices and how we read the biblical text as well as practice how to decipher this meaning and practice. I think television helps bring a national identity as well as new global meaning.

Urban Spaces:
I like tying the practices of watching television shows with than watching how we practice our lives in public spaces. The need and identity of community is important and valuable with meaning making. We bring ourselves to these public spaces and then attempt to build or identify community in these public spaces. I like to think that we can also transfer the idea of sacred space into these public spaces and add another element to making meaning and practicing meaning in these spheres. I hope that as the church we can lower boundaries and limitations of where we can find sacred space and WE place new meaning to spaces that we pass in everyday life.

Cobb: Human Nature
I think we can easily tie in Cobb's chapter on human nature with the way we practice life in Barkers two chapters. Who we are and what we desire and WHY we desire these things are important questions to ask. We can see that life can imitate art or art imitating life. I think that was clear in this chapter as Cobb tries to explain where we find and make meaning and how that interacts with our spiritual nature. I think he offers new conclusions of how it affects our Christian identity but I believe that it doesn't offer hope in how we can repurpose this with new education. How do we understand and make meaning with these multimedia practices?

Bevans: Praxis Model
The praxis model shows that we can bring liberation and freedom to our ministry goals and potential. I think this model isn't presented as the most universal theory but I think it offers new ways to live our lives and where we can offer freedom from oppression. I think this model works if we are able to come into it with a foundation of desire to offer a freedom but it must not be confined to the church but be able to work with governments and power structures that continue to perpetuate the oppress nature of the system. The model has it's faults but done in the right way could be revolutionary.

Comment on Joe's blog:
like your thoughts on this post. I like that you brought up the fact that skin and clothes can be basically the same identity. I like that you brought this up and that it translate to our everyday life experience. It's amazing how much we can find God in our everyday life experiences and find experiences in the most mundane parts of our days.

I was also waiting for the negative from Cobb and he showed me that he could make connections with our everyday experiences and the culture. Though he really didn't offer hope. How do we find hope in all of these connections with our everyday experiences?