Recent Posts
A good theologian once drew me a diagram of the progress of Christian doctrine and [more]
We began this series by making the claim that Pentecostalism has quietly (or not so [more]
Pentecostal worship places great emphasis on intensity. By intensity, they mean a strongly felt experience [more]
A polarized debate goes on between different stripes of Christians over the place of experience [more]
I am very pleased to announce that I have accepted a position with G3 Ministries  [more]

Alan Hirsch on cultural distance

I’ve been doing some reading on the missional movement, and one of their big arguments is that we live in a post-Christendom West, and therefore the barriers between the culture of the church and the culture around has grown significantly.

Now there’s a whole lot of baggage with what they’re trying to prove, but I found it very interesting that they argue basically what many of us have been arguing in terms of “Christianization” of Western culture — something many of our detractors like to deny.

In particular, I found the following chart by Alan Hirsch in The Forgotten Ways really interesting:

I agree with Hirsch on this point of his analysis. Our difference may be perhaps in our answer to the problem.

About Scott Aniol

Scott Aniol is the founder and Executive Director of Religious Affections Ministries. He is director of doctoral worship studies at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he teaches courses in ministry, worship, hymnology, aesthetics, culture, and philosophy. He is the author of Worship in Song: A Biblical Approach to Music and Worship, Sound Worship: A Guide to Making Musical Choices in a Noisy World, and By the Waters of Babylon: Worship in a Post-Christian Culture, and speaks around the country in churches and conferences. He is an elder in his church in Fort Worth, TX where he resides with his wife and four children. Views posted here are his own and not necessarily those of his employer.