{"id":50,"date":"2010-03-26T10:47:12","date_gmt":"2010-03-26T15:47:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/?p=50"},"modified":"2010-11-22T10:52:04","modified_gmt":"2010-11-22T16:52:04","slug":"the-stories-we-live-by","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/the-stories-we-live-by\/","title":{"rendered":"The Stories We Live By"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Stephen

Stephen Johnson, DMin, ThD - Associate Professor of Ministry, Director of Contextual Education<\/p><\/div>\n

I spend a good amount of time these days thinking with students about contextual theology – this notion that theology is enacted in practice in particular times, places, and people. \u00a0Not only do I spend time thinking with students about these things, but also exploring notions of contextual theology with a community of faith. \u00a0For nearly six years, I have journeyed with the Buffalo Gap Church of Christ as preacher. \u00a0The gracious invitation to walk with with them in this way has afforded me the opportunity to explore contextual theology in “real time.” \u00a0For this, I am grateful.<\/p>\n

One of the things that strikes me as I reflect upon the relationship between teaching contextual theology and engaging in it in Buffalo Gap is the role of congregational narratives. \u00a0As homiletician, I have long been aware of narrative. \u00a0The key idea advanced by Steven Crites in his influential essay, “The Narrative Quality of Experience,” is that human beings structure and understand their experience of life by telling stories. \u00a0Herbert Anderson and Edward Foley write, “Stories are privileged and imaginative acts of self-interpretation” (Mighty Stories, Dangerous Rituals: Weaving Together the Human and the Divine<\/em>).<\/p>\n

I’m convinced that attention to narratives is a key to reading and understanding congregations. \u00a0I’m also convinced that helping congregations attend to and reflect upon their story is a means of communal discernment. \u00a0Let’s call it “narrative ethnography as communal discernment in the life and mission of God.” \u00a0So, I’ve engaged in a little narrative project in Buffalo Gap. \u00a0I have attempted to listen carefully and attend faithfully to the story of our common life over the last several years and narrate that story as an act of ministry, allowing the congregation to both tell and interpret the story.<\/p>\n

There are many forms for narration. \u00a0I have chosen to produce our story in audio format episodically. \u00a0Capturing audio conversations allows the voice of others to be present in the narration and also allows for some artistry. \u00a0I have titled the project Dispatches from the Trails End: One Church’s Story in the Mission of God <\/em>for reasons that may only be apparent in the hearing of the story. \u00a0So, let me share the Prologue to my little project with you, “Story and Place.”<\/a>
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I spend a good amount of time these days thinking with students about contextual theology – this notion that theology is enacted in practice in particular times, places, and people. \u00a0Not only do I spend time thinking with students about these things, but also exploring notions of contextual theology with a community of faith. \u00a0For […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3460,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1294,609,1718,1719,64083],"class_list":["post-50","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-audio","tag-community","tag-contextual-theology","tag-mission-of-god","tag-narrative"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Stories We Live By - ACU Graduate School of Theology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/the-stories-we-live-by\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Stories We Live By - ACU Graduate School of Theology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I spend a good amount of time these days thinking with students about contextual theology – this notion that theology is enacted in practice in particular times, places, and people. \u00a0Not only do I spend time thinking with students about these things, but also exploring notions of contextual theology with a community of faith. \u00a0For […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/the-stories-we-live-by\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ACU Graduate School of Theology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-03-26T15:47:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2010-11-22T16:52:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/files\/2010\/03\/1-4a-150x100.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Stephen Johnson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Stephen Johnson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/the-stories-we-live-by\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/the-stories-we-live-by\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Stephen Johnson\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/#\/schema\/person\/8ac94e4a8841bc3447517bc8bb9ecdad\"},\"headline\":\"The Stories We Live By\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-03-26T15:47:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-11-22T16:52:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/the-stories-we-live-by\/\"},\"wordCount\":405,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/the-stories-we-live-by\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/files\/2010\/03\/1-4a-150x100.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Audio\",\"Community\",\"Contextual Theology\",\"Mission of God\",\"Narrative\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/the-stories-we-live-by\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/the-stories-we-live-by\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/acugst\/the-stories-we-live-by\/\",\"name\":\"The Stories We Live By - 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