Month: February 2013
Ethnocentrism is believing in the superiority of one’s ethnic group. Even though it sounds like ethnocentrism is bad, ethnocentrism has positive and negative qualities. For a minority group in oppressive conditions, ethnocentrism enables the group to create and sustain an identity over extended periods of time. The downside of ethnocentrism is that it causes a people…
Read MoreI was reading through William Barclay’s commentary on Matthew. He has some thoughts about the second beatitude on the Sermon on the Mount that just blessed me. This is a synopsis of what he wrote: Blessed are those who mourn – When people go to God in godly sorrow for their sin they receive the full…
Read MoreWhy is wholistic or integral engagement with God’s world a fundamental aspect of Interserve’s ethos? This quote from Change Across Cultures by Bruce Bradshaw, published by Baker Academic in 2002 highlights why wholistic engagement is so important: The great [overseas] outreach of the 19th and 20th centuries planted churches around the world. It was less successful, however,…
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