Amanda: Christianity in context

There is an incredible tension that occurs between making faith relevant to a culture, and stepping outside the fundamental beliefs of that religion. Separating doctrine from the core morals and beliefs which the rest of a religion is founded on is practically impossible yet doctrine can’t be the sole unifying factor between people of the same faith. The story of Bruce Olsen that we talked about in class is a perfect example of how the gospel of Christianity was successfully explained to people who had no knowledge of a Jewish Jesus, yet some might argue that this takes away from the power of the story.

It is true that the Jewish law does play a pivotal point in explaining the emergence of Christianity, but to me it is far more important to first establish a connecting factor which all people can understand before more elaborate concepts of the Christian faith can be presented. I would argue then that regardless of time period, cultural factors, religion or race, the accounts of the life and actions of Jesus should be the main focus, rather than the details of the story. If the purpose of sharing the gospel is in fact to help those who are confused and misguided by all the contradictions in the world and to turn them towards faith, this seems like it should be an obvious solution to the problem.