Quote:
Originally Posted by zeek
If we stick to observed behavior maybe at the end of the day we more likely to reach a common understanding of what we are talking about.
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Well I don't perceive a common understanding looming, but what I simply tried to point out is that there is this thing called culture. And while I cannot say how much it drove WL's thinking, it is kind of naive to think it had no effect on his ministry at all. And I'd add that the people who study society don't perhaps say "How much was individual 'x' driven by his native culture" as they say, "If you try to sell a McDonald's hamburger in Country X what factors do you have to take into consideration?" Or, "If Politician Y wants to get votes, what demographic is key here?" Or, "If you want a good opening night for this movie, what sort of title and billboard poster will bring in the crowds? What separates a mediocre showing from a blockbuster?"
All of that stuff is under the "common understanding" of the people that study it. And in evaluating the Local Church experience in its successes and failures, we might profit by considering the effect of culture. Because human culture does exist, and even though we insisted as Christians that we were the "one new man", if you step back and look carefully you might still see traces of the old man's culture(s), even in the framework of the religious collective. I think WL successfully blinded us to this, to some degree, and it may have been a big part of his survival.