Personal Introduction

Examination of Study Texts

• Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13
• Romans 1:26-27
• Other Texts
• Conclusions

Learning From the 1st Century: The Church as Subversive Community

• Culture Wars and the Church
• Rejection of all human culture as normative
• Subversive Church of the First Century
  • Conflicts with Surrounding Cultures
    • Greco-Roman
    • Jewish
  • Gentile Christians and Council of Jerusalem
    • Acts 10, 11, and 15
  • Consequences of the Subversive Church
  • The Cost of Change

Living in the 21st Century: The Church As Subversive Community

• Long Term Results of the Council of Jerusalem
• 21st Century
  • Conflicts with Surround Cultures
    • Mass Media/Popular Culture
    • Traditional American Christianity
    • Southern Hemisphere
• What is Normative for the Church Today?
  • Dilemma of Denominationalism
  • Norms for the Lutheran Tradition
    • Biblical Authority
    • Creedal Doctrines
    • Great Commission
  • Consequences of the Subversive Church
    • Take Biblical teaching and authority seriously
    • Radical Hospitality as Subversion of Status Quo Cultures
    • Understand the Church as Missionary Movement
      • Local Context