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discussion

cultureVision high school curriculum

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geoffh
Mar 20 2003
03:33 am

Hello Kirstin,

I was wondering about a cultureVision design for the curriculum. Has Bill done any work on this, is there anything out there ready for use?

Bill wrote:

Here is a case where content and medium fit together well. In researching what Christian communication and cultural engagement ought to look like, students will have a chance to participate in what they are talking about.

Where has Bill’s research taken him with regard to communication and cultural engagement? What christian philosophical traditions does he think are helpful for this?

In my mind we need a thoroughgoing cultural education, to know how the media, arts and the like work. I was listening to a sermon in my church the other week and the speaker was talking about ‘conceptual conquest’ and how the early christians used the images of pagan beliefs and concepts to overcome those beliefs and establish Christ as King over every area of creation.

Education of our students needs to start with some very simple concepts of culture making and progress onto more demanding brainteasers as they grow.

Working with university students as I do brings me in to the frame and the fray, too late in their cultural conversations and conceptions of what art is. All sorts of influences, from relativism, mysticism and humanism pervade their thought and become part of their knowledge ownership, neatly syncretised little packages that are promoted as christian thought, becasue they are christian. In every sphere of life you get this, from the politician to the educationalist, from the educationalist to the artist.

This cycle needs to be broken very early on so that christian thought matures nicely, like a good Chianti!

Any thoughts on a strategy for breaking the cycle?

Geoff