tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76244149110745778972012-02-16T00:41:55.831-08:00A blog designed to facilitate the conversation about Christianity and Anthropology, as a profession, discipline and theoretical orientation.Brian Howellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02043527652997919446noreply@blogger.comBlogger201100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624414911074577897.post-63300960860895627102009-04-21T04:11:00.000-07:002009-04-21T04:15:17.837-07:00

Recently the members of Fishnet (the listserv associated with the Network of Christian Anthropologists) have been discussing a string of questions inspired by a query from an undergraduate anthropology major attending a well-known university in California.Basically, the student had asked whether it was possible for an anthropologist to pursue “social justice” issues while retaining his culturally

Edwin Zehnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17001911581601852292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624414911074577897.post-53433405277387550672009-04-08T06:36:00.000-07:002009-04-09T08:43:57.356-07:00

The following review was contributed by Jutta Bluhberger, currently a student at Fuller Seminary:Paul G. Hiebert (1933-2007) was a pastor and missionary in India, and later professor of missiology and anthropology at Fuller and Trinity, authored many articles and books, of which Transforming Worldviews: An Anthropological Understanding of How People Change. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic,

Brian Howellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02043527652997919446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624414911074577897.post-48840410380050940312009-01-15T20:01:00.000-08:002009-01-15T20:10:16.105-08:00

From Robert Priest, Professor of Anthropology and Chair of the Ph.D. program in Intercultural Studies, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School:I agree with Ed Zehner and Brian Howell's comments about worldview analysis being rather marginal to anthropology.What follows is a rather long and ad hoc disquisition on why I am not enthusiastic about worldview analyses. This is rather off the cuff, but I

Edwin Zehnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17001911581601852292noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624414911074577897.post-21900591346369641292009-01-15T19:39:00.000-08:002009-01-15T20:00:46.683-08:00

From Kevin Birth, Professor of Anthropology, Queens College, City University of New York:In many ways, questions among the cultural anthropologists I interact with the most have shifted away from descriptions and discussions of particular cultures to the issue of the relationship between societies and the construction of identity/difference. I am particularly struck by this as I prepare by

Edwin Zehnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17001911581601852292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624414911074577897.post-63164313744194624132009-01-15T18:44:00.000-08:002009-01-15T18:50:02.089-08:00

From Brian Howell, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Wheaton (IL) College, and Chair, Network of Christian Anthropologists (NCA):For those who didn't read all of Ed's earlier post, I would recommend you do. It's very good! I won't rehash his critique, but I do have my own in a 2006 article in Christian Scholar's Review. I agree with Ed that the Worldview concept, though not completely moribund

Edwin Zehnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17001911581601852292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624414911074577897.post-42260949379581173972009-01-15T18:41:00.000-08:002009-01-15T18:44:22.914-08:00

From Robert Canfield, Professor and former Chair, Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis:It seems to me the major turn in anthropology in the discussion about culture is the attempt to deconstruct the term and the attempt to specify how/ when specific cultural practices are created and reinforced. The result is that other categories than “culture” become useful. When the

Edwin Zehnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17001911581601852292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624414911074577897.post-76468563905214610202009-01-15T18:37:00.000-08:002009-01-16T05:44:14.210-08:00

From an anthropologist in the United States:Steven, I don't know those sources or anything about “worldview.” It's been common since the early 1990s to criticize “anti-essentialism” very strongly, for numerous reasons. I've heard Jonathan Friedman do it most flamboyantly. But the critique is not usually performed by anthropologists in their own right (in a technical sense), but rather by

Edwin Zehnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17001911581601852292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624414911074577897.post-76967062392536539392009-01-15T18:32:00.000-08:002009-01-15T18:41:05.602-08:00

From Steven Ybarrola, Professor of Cultural Anthropology, Asbury Theological Seminary:Thanks, Edwin, for the thorough reply. I think you've nicely laid out some of the main criticisms of the “worldview” concept in modern anthropology. Indeed, one way to dismiss the work of an anthropologist today is to label him or her an “essentialist.” However, I'm not sure the concept has been totally

Edwin Zehnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17001911581601852292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624414911074577897.post-66877574513116289032009-01-14T22:19:00.000-08:002009-01-16T05:46:11.356-08:00

The following is the first of several posts from members of Fishnet (the listserv associated with the Network of Christian Anthropologists) suggesting sources that can help readers become better oriented to contemporary anthropology. [This was in response to a request in the entry below titled "Christians, World View, and Contemporary Anthropology - 2."]From an anthropologist in the United States

Edwin Zehnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17001911581601852292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624414911074577897.post-7919793600002514432009-01-14T22:13:00.000-08:002009-01-15T19:13:58.511-08:00

Over the weekend, the following came to Dr. Zehner from an American doing anthropological consultancy work with a mission in Africa:“Ed, do you have a couple/few good refs. for “the more recent, more nuanced approach [to doing and using anthropology and thinking about “culture”]'? I trust you think it's worth it [he was serious, as he clarified in a separate email], because I hate the idea of the

Edwin Zehnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17001911581601852292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624414911074577897.post-72855759366763213862009-01-14T22:09:00.000-08:002009-01-15T19:15:25.694-08:00

The following query appeared on the Fishnet listserv on Friday, January 9, 2009:Hi,I am wondering if anyone knows of any Christian anthropologists in Mexico? I am working here in Oaxaca and I would like to partner with so me other organizations and people to hold a week long worldview seminar in 2010. I am looking for people that can speak a native Spanish, explain anthropological topics like

Edwin Zehnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17001911581601852292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624414911074577897.post-58635614212014104502008-10-17T13:56:00.000-07:002009-01-15T19:38:26.700-08:00

The following was originally written in February 2007. It is posted here for the first time:One of the primary things that anthropology offers to the Christian liberal arts student is ways of learning to listen to socially and culturally different others, even when disagreeing with some or all of what the others are saying. Not only are such skills useful in conventionally “cross-cultural”

Edwin Zehnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17001911581601852292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624414911074577897.post-40531693298471415262008-07-17T13:26:00.000-07:002008-07-17T13:28:06.660-07:00

The term “the Cultural Mandate” has been used to refer to God’s command to Adam and Eve to “tend and keep the Garden.” This has been extended to refer to the work that humans do on earth to care for the physical needs of one another and creation generally. (This is often juxtaposed to the “evangelistic mandate” or the call to share the gospel.) This notion of the Cultural Mandate,

Brian Howellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02043527652997919446noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624414911074577897.post-270789498850136482008-07-15T12:32:00.000-07:002008-07-17T13:08:28.330-07:00

Five years ago, Nicholas Kristof called Evangelical Christians "the newest internationalists." In his travels he'd seen Christians in places previously reserved for nomadic herders and a few intrepid anthropologists, working for the good of people the rest of the world seemed to have forgotten.His piece prompted a few letters in response, at least one pointing out the problems perceived when U.S

Brian Howellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02043527652997919446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624414911074577897.post-18984707154012574062008-07-14T08:56:00.000-07:002008-07-14T09:05:44.109-07:00

It seems useful to me to review something of the history of organizations and gatherings of Christians in anthropology.Bob Priest (Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) gave a short history of the Network of Chrisitian Anthropologists on the listserv Fishnet recently. (excerpted here with permission)“In the very first 1976 mtg at Wheaton College which produced the Network of Christian

Brian Howellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02043527652997919446noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624414911074577897.post-63467156378135979562008-07-12T10:02:00.000-07:002008-07-12T10:05:59.365-07:00

In general, I support the idea of a kind of society or group or formally recognized body of self-identified "Christian Anthropologists" and those sympathetic to its interests. I don't intend to debate definitions of or threshold criteria for membership with this posting. Rather, I aim to bring about a bit of discussion about some other reasons in support of this group, as opposed to the informal

The Smokin' Foxnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624414911074577897.post-18335629366900542402008-07-11T21:07:00.000-07:002008-07-11T21:26:26.104-07:00

Yesterday I said that I expected there would be as many Christian anthropologies as there are Christian anthropologists. I firmly believe this, even though I expect there will be many overlaps among those anthropologies.Lately, as a "Christian anthropologist," by which I mean an anthropologist who happens to be a Christian, and also vice-versa, I've found it useful to think of Christianity in my

Edwin Zehnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17001911581601852292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624414911074577897.post-1307737118033520572008-07-10T21:38:00.000-07:002008-07-10T22:13:01.542-07:00

I’m pleased with the discussion this proposal has already been receiving on Fishnet, a listserv closely associated with the Network (Fishnet signup information is at: https://lists.bethel.edu/mailman/listinfo/fishnet). Major questions have included: Who are we? Why do we need this? and What should the group do? This post addresses the first two questions. The third will be reserved for a later

Edwin Zehnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17001911581601852292noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624414911074577897.post-65295281967641249382008-07-10T16:50:00.000-07:002008-07-10T17:00:10.469-07:00

There have been several comments on Fishnet today about who gets to be a Christian for the purposes of the interest group.In this, I would hope that we would continue the tradition of the Network (not to imply the IG is replacing the Network, but simply to make the analogy) of being open to all who find the conversation interesting. That is, I think it imperative that "Evangelical Christian" (a

Brian Howellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02043527652997919446noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624414911074577897.post-7018054045067129352008-07-09T11:51:00.001-07:002008-07-09T19:02:31.191-07:00

For years the Network of Christian Anthropologists has been meeting at the American Anthropological Association meetings as an informal way to get Christian Anthropologists together. For the years I have been attending, this has been an important source of contacts (very much living up to the idea of a "network"). Now Ed Zehner has proposed the idea of going legit and gaining more official

Brian Howellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02043527652997919446noreply@blogger.com2