As I am an Ethiopian, which is part of Africa as all of you know and I feel a little uncomfortable when Hipps refers to Africa as one country and generalize his thoughts and say 'Africans'. Africa has 53 countries and even one country has way very different cultures, leave alone Africa in general.
My question is, Do you agree with Hipps that image is soul stealing? Plus, it is hard for me to relate image with fruit of the Spirit as Hepps tried to do. Does image has something to do with fruit of the Spirit? (Hipps, p. 100)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Hipps' generalization of "Africans", Meheret. You bring a valuable perspective to the table, and I appreciate you pointing out his ignorance (or indifference) to this inaccurate description.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Hipps was arguing that image has something to do with the fruits of the Spirit. I think he was saying that the fruits of the Spirit (love, gentleness, generosity, etc.) are what matter to God--not outward appearance (or "image"), and that the fruits of the Spirit (not "image") are what should matter to us as well. What do you think?
First of all, I am with you on the gross overgeneralization Hipps makes. I get frustrated when people refer to "the Dakotas" and that's only one other state! That's not even close to comparing with this. Hipps should be more specific.
ReplyDeleteIn reference to your question, I got the impression that Hipps was ciriticizing people's pursuit of the "perfect body image" by saying that it wasn't a fruit of the Spirit. Paul's list deals with virtues, whereas image deals with appearances.
I guess I think that image could be seen as soul stealing, or perhaps as stealing from the soul. Image seems to make us more preoccupied with our appearance, which distracts from the things that are really important--the things that would feed our soul.
I agree...generalizations are rarely ever or maybe never appropriate. They do very little to further any argument or point, except to misconstrue it.
ReplyDeleteWhen we focus on images and the surface of everything we fail to see the fruits of the spirit at work inside of the individual or the image. I think that images, if used in the improper ways can be soul stealing.
I appreciate your adding a more global perspective to this work, Meheret. I think that in many cases Hipps' oversimplifies the topic at hand.
ReplyDeleteI also think that where he writes about the fruits of the Spirit in relation to image and the "Soul Stealing" aspect of what technology can and does do to that image he is saying that the fruits don't have to do with the physical image that we all become preoccupied with.