Power and Participation

Power and Participation

Introduction

The two modules discussed here are about being in the world and of the world in order to exercise Christianity in this worldly cultures and societies. The discussions are all related to the article proposed by H. Richard Niebuhr, who as a response to the challenges outlined by the “Christ and Culture”, published this discussion. Niebuhr refers to some “enduring problem”, which seem to manifest today's heavily diversified cultures and due to higher rates of interactions, more conflicts arise because of the mixing of the modernized cultures.

Module number four holds the apparent presentation of the teleological ethical perception of Niebuhr. In addition to this, the module also consists of Niebuhr's suggestions of how Christians can and should live on today's fallen world which hides under the mask of modernism. The module then follows Niebuhr's model discussed by John Howard Yoder.

The Problems

According to Stassen, the problems arise when the population who is more loyal to Christ and the tradition, the church and the state, to faith and reason mix with the assumptions of today's mind, the values, and the understanding of finding the reality of Christ. Moreover, today it is difficult to find out the meaning of following Christ and to understand the true missions of the church (Stassen, Yeager, & Yoder, 1996, p. 10).

The humans are going towards destructions because there is a lack of understanding towards each other. No one is aware of the things that a person would face and how would they be able to survive without the presence of fellow humans. This results in the birth of uproar and other problems that we, humans face today.

No two countries like each other, no tow neighbor think good about or for each other. The world today is more selfish than ever before. A person will only like someone if that 'someone' is of any good use to him/her. Otherwise the 'someone' is nothing but a mere 'freak' that is of no help.

Another major problem that the humans' today face is the lack of understanding and selflessness even between the siblings of one family. No two brothers would want the other one to be more successful than him. Everyone is racing for successful, a success that is merely for the world and not the later life. There is no peace in the mind and the heart of a man who is constantly trying to beat his own brother so that he could be the winner of success.

Module Four

Module number four holds the apparent presentation of the teleological ethical perception of Niebuhr. In addition to this, the module also consists of Niebuhr's suggestions of how Christians can and should live on today's fallen world which hides under the mask of modernism. The module then follows Niebuhr's model discussed by John Howard Yoder.

The Basics of Christ and Culture

Briefly, Niebuhr's five types of Christian ethics as noted by Stassen et al. (1996) include the New Law (Christ Against Culture) portrays Christians as a totally new kind of people ...