Cultural Forms of Christianity
Recently, I've been reading the book Becoming Sinners by Joel Robbins, an ethnography that describes a small tribe in Papua New Guinea called the Urapmin. Robbins provides a rich account of how this community underwent charismatic revival in the late 1970s, abandoning their traditional beliefs and instead turning to a Baptist-influenced Christianity that stresses human sinfulness and the imminence of Jesus' Second Coming. The book provokes questions about how Christianity int
Encountering God in Depression
Week 5 is here! But what if the blues never seems to end? Living through depression last term was bleak. Getting out of bed every morning is a huge hurdle when there's nothing to look forward to in that day, and nothing seems to be worth living for. But yet drifting off to sleep again is welcoming the nightmares that have haunted me. Every criticism I faced from supervisors is amplified by voices in my head telling me that I'm incompetent. Being around people is difficult as
Standing by to encourage
Acts 23:11
The following night the Lord stood near Paul and said, "Take courage! As you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome." In Acts 23, Paul was thrown into prison. In this difficult time, Paul was probably feeling discouraged. The Lord stood near Paul one night and encouraged him to take courage, praised him for how he testified about God in Jerusalem and encouraged him to continue testifying in Rome. We will face difficult times in our