DESCRIPTION: This course looks at contemporary culture from a missiological perspective, and covers issues of modernity, post-modernity, pluralism, secularism, globalization and the challenges and opportunities that each bring to Church worldwide, necessitating thoughtful, culturally relevant yet biblically sound responses. This course proposes the paradigm that missionary engagement should be the basic stance of the Church toward its cultural context, wherever the Church is located.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Upon successful completion of this course, students will have

• demonstrated the ability to "read or "exegete" modern/postmodern culture using missionary criteria;

• discerned those values and characteristics in their cultural contexts that can be affirmed, promoted, and leveraged for the benefit of God's kingdom as well as the cultural values and forces that bring spiritual lethargy and decline;

• designed strategies of missional engagement with contemporary culture that show cultural awareness and understanding, and in which the full resources of the Gospel are brought to bear in their ministries and churches;

• explored the challenges and opportunities of globalization and its impact on the communication of the Gospel locally and internationally.

Crouch, Andy. Culture Making: Recovering our Creative Calling. InterVarsity Press, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-8308-3394-8. List price: $20.00.

Frost, Michael and Alan Hirsch. The Shaping of Things to Come. Baker, 2004. ISBN: 978-0801046308. List price: $20.

Kling, Fritz. The Meeting of the Waters. David C. Cook, 2010. ISBN: 1434764842. List price: $10.

Sutter, Arloa. The Invisible: What the Church Can Do to Find and Serve the Least of These. Indianapolis: Wesleyan Publishing, 2010. ISBN: 0898274567. List price: $12.

Volf, Miroslav. How Followers of Christ Should Serve the Common Good. Brazos Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-1587432989. List price: $21.

Supplemental required readings that will be included electronically in the course shell (150 pp. assigned).

*Publisher's list price is usually much higher than prices available from various book websites. All the above books except for The Shaping of Things to Come are available in both print and electronic forms.

1. Weekly threaded discussions, reading interactions, and web research (35%)

2. A 2,000-word collaborative Culture Watch assignment (15%)

3. A 1,500 -word Cultural Analysis through Film comparing and contrasting two films and their post-modern cultural themes (15%)

4. A 3,000 -word Case Study paper addressing a contemporary cultural theme and its practical outworking in a student's ministry context (35%)