In preparing for a DMin class on discipleship and spiritual formation I was teaching this summer I was doodling in my notebook, pondering the question "How does a follower of Jesus relate to...?" Below was the list I created:
Very comprehensive for a ToM (top of mind) listing.
Top of mind, I might add: Desire or Eros, not just the ‘sexually erotic’; Difference as encountered in Different value systems and worldviews based on the authority of ‘sacred ancient wisdom and spiritual traditions’, some may appeal to ‘ancient sacred meditative wisdom texts’ — none of these ‘believers’ accept their worldview as being understood as an ‘ism’, a label considered to belong to a very ‘Western’ categorisation of beliefs/belief systems; Disagreeing Well. I might also add The Relevance of Meaning; The Art of Listening (or The Practice of Attending — inspired by Simone Weil’s “attention is the purest form of generosity” and Iain McGilchrist’s “what we attend to, and the kind of attention we bring to it, shapes our world”); Personhood & Imago Dei — who determines was it is?; Extraterrestrial intelligent life (not just ‘heavenly beings’ faithful or fallen); Faithfulness in a transaction-shaped, utilitarian society; ‘Voca’tion vs Career (Parker Palmer reminds vocation is ‘response to a [the?] ‘call’ — voca, voice). Finally, What it means to be Human — humanity and ‘apotheosis’ in light of the Incarnation. Sorry, didn’t intend for this to be so rambling and long. Hope it helps. Blessings.
The various metaphysical presumptions of religious beliefs
How revelation may and/or may not impact metaphysical presumptions
Whether metaphysical presumptions are part of child-like faith, and if so how, and if not how so
Whether religion is a natural phenomenon, and how that impacts all of the above
And a comment on the comments and list: I am glass more than half full on what I see; each question poses an opportunity for what will be surprisingly strong responses to many persons, IMO.
Social media
Screens
Very comprehensive for a ToM (top of mind) listing.
Top of mind, I might add: Desire or Eros, not just the ‘sexually erotic’; Difference as encountered in Different value systems and worldviews based on the authority of ‘sacred ancient wisdom and spiritual traditions’, some may appeal to ‘ancient sacred meditative wisdom texts’ — none of these ‘believers’ accept their worldview as being understood as an ‘ism’, a label considered to belong to a very ‘Western’ categorisation of beliefs/belief systems; Disagreeing Well. I might also add The Relevance of Meaning; The Art of Listening (or The Practice of Attending — inspired by Simone Weil’s “attention is the purest form of generosity” and Iain McGilchrist’s “what we attend to, and the kind of attention we bring to it, shapes our world”); Personhood & Imago Dei — who determines was it is?; Extraterrestrial intelligent life (not just ‘heavenly beings’ faithful or fallen); Faithfulness in a transaction-shaped, utilitarian society; ‘Voca’tion vs Career (Parker Palmer reminds vocation is ‘response to a [the?] ‘call’ — voca, voice). Finally, What it means to be Human — humanity and ‘apotheosis’ in light of the Incarnation. Sorry, didn’t intend for this to be so rambling and long. Hope it helps. Blessings.
The various metaphysical presumptions of science
The various metaphysical presumptions of religious beliefs
How revelation may and/or may not impact metaphysical presumptions
Whether metaphysical presumptions are part of child-like faith, and if so how, and if not how so
Whether religion is a natural phenomenon, and how that impacts all of the above
And a comment on the comments and list: I am glass more than half full on what I see; each question poses an opportunity for what will be surprisingly strong responses to many persons, IMO.
Art
Violence
Anxiety
Superstition
Art and literature
Artistic practice
These are rather thorny.
Belief and unbelief