Applied Arts

Question 1

Culture Meets Scripture 6 Steps

Answer 1

Step #1 – Describe Traditional Practices. List ALL practices that must be done for this ritual event – especially those that may cause tension for believers. For THREE of the practices you list, describe the reasons (or benefits) why the practice must be done, the consequences if it is not done, and the beliefs that make the practice necessary.

Step #2 – Compare Traditional Practices with Scripture:

1. List Scripture verses/passages that comment on the topic of each of the three practices.
2. Ask: What guidelines do these Scriptures give for making choices that honor God?

Step #3 – Transform the Ritual Event:Having compared the three practices with Scripture, does each oneagree with Scripture,or does it need to bemodifiedorrejected completely?If it is to be rejected, is there a need tocreate a new practice?

• If you decide you need to make some modifications or create new practices for this ritual event, describe what those might look like and how they might honor God.

Step #4 – Unite Believers:

1. Believers need to plan in principle how to support each other before the given event happens. What are some specific ways believers can put into practice the “one another’s” of Scripture?

• 1 Thessalonians 5:11 – Encourage one another
• Galatians 6:2 – Bear one another’s burdens
• 1 Corinthians 12:25 – Care for one another
• 1 Peter 4:10 – Serve one another
• 1 Thessalonians 4:18 – Comfort one another
• James 5:16 – Pray for one another

2. Also, during the event verbalize to others why the ritual was required traditionally, and the fears associated with not doing it. Then give God’s answer to the reasons, consequences, and beliefs with verses. Practice during this workshop!

Step #5 – Create an Action Plan:Describe some ways you willsharethis CMS process with yourextended Christian community. Include how you will encourage believers to help each other stand firm in doing things that honor God.

Step #6: Describe a few ways you hope the new choices will help believers honor God.

Question 2

Five STEPS (C’s) to Learning that Lasts

Answer 2

1. Connection: Getting started, connecting with what participants already know or feel about the topic.
2. Content: Teach them new and needed content about the topic.
3. Challenge: A learning TASK(s) related to the new topic, with all needed resources to complete it successfully. E.g.,
   
   • SLRG questions: What question(s) can we add to incorporate local arts?
   • Let’s try to write an approximation of a Pantun poem in pairs in English, and then share with the class.
   • What ideas do you have for your own LtL lessons?
4. Change: An activity or discussion that leads to a plan or idea for doing something different in the future in response to what has been learned. E.g.,
5. In what ways could it be helpful to create new artworks together with local artists rather than creating exclusively on your own?

• In what ways is it harder to work together than to work alone?
• How much extra effort is collaborating worth?
• How can Learning that Lasts help strengthen your future teaching?
• How will it help people learn in another cultural context you know—or how may it need to be adapted?

1. Closure: Help them focus on their most important takeaway, reflect and release, get ready for the Next Thing.

Question 3

Five Learning that Lasts PRINCIPLES

Answer 3

1. How will you make your teaching Learner-centered (NOT subject-centered)? Respect, Relevance, Relationship.
2. What opportunities are there for Action and Reflection? People learn well by doing activities and reflecting on experiences; actions should create a response.
3. How will learners Solve Problems? Help them discover solutions; there are often multiple answers to a problem; don’t fish for only one answer to an open question.
4. How will learners engage in Teamwork? Encourage dialogue and small group learning.
5. In what ways will Self-discovery and Self-direction be created and supported? Learners have choices about their learning; teachers consult and help learners find resources.

Question 4

Three stages of checking a Scripture publication before it is presented to the intended audience

Answer 4

1. Team Check
2. Consultant Check (scripture/translation consultants, who can adapt a scripture verse in context with surrounding scripture)
3. Community Check (3+ members of the intended audience + gatekeepers)

Question 5

How to Community Check an Illustration Using UNICEF’s Four Interview Questions (Haaland 1984):

Answer 5

1. What do you see? What else do you see?
2. What do you think the artist wants us to learn?
3. What do you like about it?
4. What don’t you* like? Is there anything about it that may offend someone? How could it be improved? (Revise before release).

General version for checking any publication:

1. Content: What is it about?
2. Meaning: What do you learn?
3. Appreciate: What do you like about it?
4. Suggestions: What don’t you* like about it? What may offend someone? How could we improve it? (Revise before release).

* May be culturally more appropriate to ask what “someone” might not like about it.

Question 6

Four Steps for Successful Marketing and Distribution of SE Materials Into a Community

Answer 6

1. Assess current Scripture use (through current sales & who is using Scriptures and how).
2. Assess current marketing strategy (Scripture appropriateness, appearance, and current advertising).
3. Assess current distribution channels (and potential ones) for Scriptures.
4. Assess management of finances (accountability, storage of Scripture materials)

Question 7

Dye’s (2009) Eight Conditions for SE

Answer 7

1. Appropriate Language, Dialect, and Orthography
2. Acceptable Translation and Translators
3. Accessible Forms of Scripture (printed, audio/visual)
4. Background Knowledge of the Hearers
5. Availability of Scripture (distribution)
6. Spiritual Hunger of Community Members
7. Freedom to Commit to Christian Faith
8. Partnership Between Translators and Other Stakeholders

Question 8

Grasping God’s Word (Duvall & Hayes 2005): The Interpretive Journey (4 questions + application steps)

Answer 8

“The Interpretive Journey”:

1) Understand the biblical text as the original audience did. What was the authorial intent, not receptor intent?

2) What are the differences of culture, language, time, and situation between the biblical audience and us?

3) What is the timeless theological principle(s) in this text? (Step 3.5 for OT: Does NT teaching modify or qualify this principle, and if so, how?)

4) How should we apply the timeless theological principle(s) to our lives and contexts now?

• What are the key similarities in this text between the biblical audience and us?
• Identify a real or fictional parallel situation in our contemporary context that contains all of the similarities.
• Discuss how to apply the timeless biblical principle(s) to our chosen contemporary situation in specific ways.

Question 9

Grasping God’s Word (Duvall & Hayes 2005): Meaning and Application

Answer 9

Meaning is set by the author and thus doesn’t change from reader to reader. Application, however, varies for different readers.

Question 10

Grasping God’s Word (Duvall & Hayes 2005): Five Steps to applying meaning from Scripture

Answer 10

Five Steps to applying meaning from Scripture (“what the author intended to communicate through the text”):

1) Summarize the original situation and meaning for the original hearers; 2) List the timeless theological principle(s) communicated by the passage; 3) List all elements in the text that are addressed by the timeless principle(s); 4) Identify a real or fictional parallel situation in a contemporary context that contains all of the elements; 5) Discuss how to apply the timeless biblical principle(s) to the contemporary situation in specific ways.

Question 11

Grasping God’s Word (Duvall & Hayes 2005): Which CLAT steps could benefit from the Interpretive Journey? How?

Answer 11

1. Meet a Community (GGW Step 3: Who is the contemporary audience/context?)
2. Specify Kingdom Goals (IJ + GGW Steps 3-5)
3. Spark Creativity (IJ + GGW Step 5: commissions, workshops, contests, creative groups)
4. Improve New Works (GGW Steps 5: 3-4 checks)

Question 12

3 Orality Authors, 5 points

Answer 12

Tex Sample (1994)

• Sample estimates that one-half of the U.S.A. and two-thirds of the world are predominantly oral (p. 6). The popularity of rap and country music is an illustration of how dominant orality is in this culture (p. 11).
• Sample describes 11 marks of a traditionally oral person, which include: Use of tacit meaning and hyperbole, remembering (memorization), preservation of community relationships, importance of tradition, and resistance to experts from outside their community.

Walter Ong (2002)

• Primary orality = a culture totally untouched by any knowledge of writing or print
• Secondary orality = present-day high-technology culture where orality is sustained by telephone, radio, television, and other electronic devices that depend for their existence and functioning on writing and print.

Rick Brown (2004)

• Provides a list of common characteristics shared by oral communicators such as preference for dialogue, repetition, melodrama, sensitivity to the sounds of voices, and valuing of oral information over written text.

Question 13

Worship Wheel (filled) – purpose & 4 parts

Answer 13

Purpose: helps a church identify which aspects of Christian life are not being affected/enriched by the arts

There are four kinds of Christian songs:

1. We “speak to one another”—songs for others.
2. Music we “make in our hearts”—songs for when we are by ourselves.
3. Music to the Lord, including giving thanks to God for everything—songs to the Lord.
4. Verses 15 and 16 talk about wisely making the most of every opportunity—which could easily include songs for special occasions, such as ceremonies, celebrations, and festivals.

Question 14

PMEC: Appreciative Inquiry

Answer 14

This helps a group discuss the things they like about their current situation, brainstorm ideas for improving their situation, and plan which of those ideas to begin working on.

Question 15

PMEC: Cause and Effect Tree

Answer 15

The Cause and Effect Tree helps a group of people depict the causes of positive and negative effects in a situation.

Question 16

PMEC: Force Field Analysis

Answer 16

Helps a group with a desired change to identify the forces working for and against the desired change. Participants plan how to strengthen favorable forces, weaken negative forces or change negative forces into positive ones.

Question 17

PMEC: Stakeholder Analysis

Answer 17

The Stakeholder Analysis helps a small group of stakeholders to identify other people who have an interest in or are important to a project or program that the group plans to undertake.

Question 18

PMEC: SWOT Analysis

Answer 18

This tool helps a group think about a goal and the internal Strengths and Weaknesses and external Opportunities and Threats that affect it. They can categorize the items they have brainstormed, and indicate the strongest in each category. It also helps them to develop an action plan.

Question 19

PMEC: Overlapping Circles

Answer 19

The purpose of this tool is to assist church leaders in assessing which languages/artistic genres/etc. are used to what degree in which activities related to worship, nurture, and spiritual growth.

Question 20

Finding Artists to Commission: 5 Questions to consider

Answer 20

1. Who is the intended audience?
2. Who is good at an art form the intended audience likes?
3. What kinds of people like the artist’s style?
4. What Scripture is similar in theme to the content of the artist’s style/genre?
5. How willing is the artist to revise their work?

Question 21

What is Stephen Krashen’s i+1 in language learning?

Answer 21

According to Krashen, we acquire language only when we receive Comprehensible Input, termed i+1. i represents knowledge of the language and context. i+1 is a little more than what we knew before.

Question 22

Study Scripture before Creating Together from Scripture:

Four Things to Remember

Answer 22

• Teach artists to find the author’s intent and apply the timeless principle to the local context—what does this look like lived out here?
• Respect the author’s intent in context. There is one meaning, with many applications.
• Learn what the audience doesn’t know and relate to their existing worldview, i+1 and i-1
• Scripture gives a standard for consultant checking and community checking new works.

Question 23

What is the artist’s FRAME?

+

4 Frames in Biblical Illustrations

Answer 23

What is the artist’s FRAME (Bauman 1992)? The purpose or intention of the artist. The audience needs to understand the intention of the artist to interpret a work rightly.

Four possible frames in Bible illustrations:

1. Storytelling Frame: illustrations portray characters, actions, and emotions. These illustrations are likely to engage a reader with a text when they show a key story event.
   
   • Historical Storytelling Frame: shows a story in its original culture, time, and place
   • Contextual Storytelling Frame: shows a story in the audience’s culture, time, and place; concepts behind images more critical than historical accuracy
2. Background Knowledge Frame: teach audiences how to picture unfamiliar objects and places; e.g., bit in horse’s mouth;
3. Symbolic Frame: illustrations evoke concepts; for example, for some cultural audiences, filigree borders around sacred text evoke respect for holiness.

Question 24

What 4 characteristics make for a good storytelling illustration?

Answer 24

• Interesting characters: all the characters needed to understand the story are in the picture
• Action: something interesting and understandable is happening
• Appropriate Emotion: no blank faces!
• Identification: Women identify with women, men with men, children with children, so show a variety of people in the totality of Scripture illustrations to increase audience identification.

Question 25

“Visual” Arts Vocabulary – 4 terms

Answer 25

• Visual vocabulary: a set of well-defined symbols shared by an artist and audience that precisely convey distinct concepts (Hart 2007)
• Visual grammar: the set of rules governing composition and interpretation in a visual system (Hart 2007).
• Visual rhetoric: the art of effectively reaching a communication goal (like persuasion, education, or entertainment) through the use of visual vocabulary and grammar.
• Visual literacy: knowing how to read and interpret visual vocabulary and grammar in a given culture.

Question 26

3 Points of Summary re Bible illustrations

Answer 26

• We must test illustrations of Scripture with the community before publishing them, just like we must test text of Scripture before publishing it.
• Illustrations of foreign concepts belong in the glossary.
• Illustrations of engaging stories showing character, action, and emotion belong in the text to increase audience interest in knowing more about Scripture.

Question 27

Priest (1994): 4 Major Points the Missionary Needs to Remember

Answer 27

1. Seek to better understand your own conscience and the natives’ conscience:
   
   • Stress where native conscience agrees with scripture.
   • Don’t begin preaching until you understand local conscience.
2. Seek to live an exemplary life in terms of native conscience.

Question 28

Priest (1994) – Eclentics definition

Answer 28

Eclentics: concerned with the conviction of sin

Question 29

Arts Acquisition Development: def

Answer 29

Arts Acquisition Development = working with communities to increase the number of experiencers of a local genre.

This involves seeking the support of gatekeepers who make decisions about what artists, arts, and what languages to encourage in which domains.

Question 30

Arts Status Development (def)

Answer 30

Activities that increase community respect for a local artistic genre.

Question 31

Arts Corpus Development (def)

Answer 31

Creating a body of new works in a local genre.

Question 32

When can Scripture Engagement work begin?

Answer 32

SE Activities begin as soon as there is ANY Scripture portion that has been checked.

The foundation for Scripture Engagement begins before this, in forming relationships with stakeholders and building a decision-making team.

Question 33

Critical Contextualization:

The Intersection of Form and Meaning –

4 authors noted in Harris (2007)

Answer 33

Kraft (1996): Model of Form and Meaning

Hiebert (1985): 4 Steps of Critical Contextualization

Liesch (2004): Music is morally neutral, affected only by the condition of one’s heart

Best (2003): Change needs to come from within, from a new heart, not from different outward forms. “Search me, O God, not the artifact!”

Question 34

Critical Contextualization: Kraft’s Model of Form and Meaning (1996) – Chart

Answer 34

Forms Meanings →Result

Local Local →Local Religion

Foreign Local →Christopagan Syncretism

Foreign Foreign →Domination Syncretism

Local Christian →Appropriate Church

– Anthopology for Christian Witness (1996)

Question 35

Critical Contextualization: Kraft’s Model (1996) – Domination Syncretism (def)

Answer 35

A variety of syncretism distinguished by “…western forms of organization, worship, music, preaching, training, doctrine, buildings, and all the rest, plus the western meanings that go along with them. … Although the people are usually conscious of the fact that they are practicing a foreign religion, they think that’s the way Christianity was intended to be” (1996: 377).

“Any society can, of course, borrow cultural forms from another society. If, however, the proportion of borrowed forms is very high and the proportion of the indigenous forms very low, the character of their Christianity is strongly affected” (Kraft 1996: 377).

Question 36

Critical Contextualization: Hiebert’s (1985) 4 steps of Critical Contextualization

Answer 36

1. Gather information from and with locals about the forms and their current meanings, as well as the functions of those forms in the local culture.
2. Study biblical teachings and principles (with local people) that relate to the forms in question.
3. Evaluate with local people the meanings of local forms in light of the related biblical teachings.
4. Encourage local people, based on what they have learned in the process, to make their own decisions to accept/reject/alter the forms to create an appropriate, contextualized practice.

Question 37

Critical Contextualization: Integration with Semiotics (Turino 1999) – 3 Semiotic Ways to Redeem/Repurpose Artistic Forms

Answer 37

Three ways to redeem/repurpose artistic communication forms in relation to each form’s semiotic (relating to signs and symbols) configuration:

• Ungodly or uncommunicative lexical symbolism: change the words
• Ungodly or uncommunicative iconic symbolism: change the form/iconic resemblance
• Ungodly or uncommunicative indexical symbolism: change the associations – but this takes time

Question 38

Language Development – definition

Answer 38

Language Development considers how local languages may gain more functions (uses, bodies of knowledge) for more people in a community.

Question 39

Arts Development – definition + take-away

Answer 39

Arts Development considers how local artistic genres may gain more functions (uses, bodies of knowledge) for more people in a community.

The more people who use a language or an art form, and the more functions for which it is employed, then the more vital the language or art is.

Question 40

Arts Development – 3 parts & defs

Answer 40

Arts Development has three parts:

1. Arts status development: seeks to increase domains of use* for an artistic genre by seeking the approval of an increasing number of gatekeepers to use the art form(s). (*domains of use = agreed-on times and places for using God’s Word)
2. Arts corpus development: creates new artworks in a local genre.
   
   • Scripture Corpus Development places God’s Word in multiple forms (publications, performances, and recordings) and creates Scripture-infused works (songs, dramas, videos, etc.).
3. Arts acquisition development: increases the number of users of a local genre.

Question 41

Which parts of “Creating Local Arts Together” are status, corpus, and acquisition development?

Answer 41

Question 42

Luther’s Example: How did he engage in the three parts of Arts Development?

Answer 42

1. Arts status development: “In seeing all of music as under God’s redemptive hand, Luther underscored the freedom of the Christian to use all of music in the proclamation of the Gospel” (Funk 1994: 114). Luther encouraged early Lutheran congregations to bring all kinds of local instruments and genres into the Churches.
2. Arts corpus development: Luther himself “led the way in encouraging the creation of new texts and melodies through which the congregation could give voice to its faith in corporate song” (Funk 1994: 115). In some situations, Hilderbrands writes, secular songs were “spiritualized.”
3. Arts acquisition development: “The Reformation was ultimately spread through song, not through preaching or writing.” “The chief musical reform of the Lutheran church in the sixteenth century was the establishment of congregational singing as a vital ingredient of corporate worship…” (Funk).

Question 43

Wendell’s model for scaling difficulty of reading material (1982): What determines the difficulty of reading material?

Answer 43

The experiential distance between receptors and the message, rather than linguistic complexity, determines the difficulty of reading material. Thus, easy-to-difficult reading was redefined as being more closely related to cultural function than to simplified language form.

Question 44

Wendell’s model – Level 1

Answer 44

Level 1 material is composed for an audience of a given culture by a member of that same culture conveying content that both the audience and the communicator already know.

Literacy materials at level one can be created by transcribing existing oral folktales, songs, riddles, myths, old jokes, cultural teachings and proverbs.

Question 45

Wendell’s model – Level 2

Answer 45

Level 2 material is also composed by a member of the same culture as the audience. The message conveys content that the message’s creator has experienced, but the audience does not already know.

Question 46

Wendell’s model – Level 3

Answer 46

Level 3 material is composed for an audience of a given culture by a member of the same culture. The author has not personally experienced it (creative writing).

Literacy materials are created by teaching new content that local authors then express in local terms or encouraging creative writing.

Question 47

Wendell’s model – Level 4

Answer 47

Level 4 materials were first written by an author from another culture for a different cultural audience. Literacy materials can be created at this difficulty level by training local authors in translation principles and verifying their translation is clear, accurate, natural, and acceptable.

The cultural distance of a Level 4 message, such as translated Scripture or anything else new we want to teach, can be reduced either by:

1. Pouring Scripture into a local form (proverbs, drama, etc.) commonly associated with similar types of messages from level 1, 2 or 3, or
2. Associating Scripture with parallel Level 1, 2 or 3 elements can allow the audience to better understand and retain new knowledge from the most difficult level by associating it with similar knowledge from a nearer experiential distance level.

Question 48

Results Based Management (Baldwin 2000) is… (3 things)

Answer 48

1. A planning method that involves the community and is mindful of context.
2. A way to assure the planned activities and their outputs are logical and sufficient to reach the impact we hope for.
3. A way to show potential donors expected results.

IMHO, Hasselbring’s (2010) Force Field Analysis or SWOT Analysis tools might be handy to aid in planning for RBM