bible study in a vacuum? tsk...

I suppose everyone knows the fact that we're deeply influenced and shaped by cultures--whether the cultures were "caught" or "taught" (termed used by Francis Schaeffer). I'm not sure that every Christian realizes that fact, however. Some Christians (myself included) are not aware of the influence nor think it's relevant enough to spend time to identify our presuppositions, let alone where they came from, dismissing cultures as having little to do with living a Christ-centered life. It's like studying the Word of God, and then apply it in a vacuum.

This caught my eye:

In the past decade, we have been transitioning from a “feminist” to a “post-feminist” era. What’s the difference between the two? In the feminist era, feminist ideas were being developed—now they are fully formed. In the feminist era they were touted by philosophers and academics—now they are spouted by everyone. In the feminist era, the ideas were radical—now they are commonplace. In the feminist era, feminist ideas were pushed to be accepted—now they have been integrated. In the feminist era, feminist ideas were identifiable—now they are indistinguishable from mainstream thought.

~http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2011/01/24/mary-kassian-on-the-church-in-a-post-feminist-world/

I got from the comment section of the above blog entry an audio link, Carolyn McCulley's "Radical Womanhood" workshop message during the NEXT 2009 conference. I listened to it. It's about an hour long, tracing the history of the three waves of feminism and where the ideologies deviates from the Biblical perspective. "The power of woman when she strives not to compete with a man..." What McCulley said in the last several minutes of the clip struck a chord in me.

I still remembered a lady giving her testimony at a local church in San Diego. (I was studying and living in San Diego, which would mean 20+years ago.) She mentioned "wanting to compete" being a bad thing, or a sin, and she quoted a Bible verse. I didn't understand it. Yet, I clearly remember this novel point that "competing with one another" is not a good thing. I still don't fully understand it.

Not that studying these other stuffs should replace studying the Bible, but then the former shouldn't be treated as a distraction from doing the more important Bible Study. It's time to resume some heavy-duty reading of these other stuffs.