Five-Part Social Change Model: Naive Formula or Useful Framework for Christian Social Engagement? - Bob Osburn - Friday Night Lecture - August 23rd

L’Abri Rochester

n this lecture, Dr. Bob Osburn invites critiques of his five-part social change model that has been developed over the past decade or more. Although the model, which will be presented in detail, was featured in an article he recently wrote for Christianity Today, the model has not yet been tested, let alone systematically applied. Is the model guilty of utopianism, on the one hand, or is it too modest for the rough and tumble of a fallen world, on the other? How well are its assumptions grounded in orthodox biblical theology as well as the best of social science? What are its limitations, and what are the primary objections that can be posited against it?

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A Senior Fellow with Wilberforce International Institute, which he founded in 2009, Robert Osburn trains international students as redemptive change agents and writes and teaches about international development, comparative worldviews, corruption, education policy, and wealth creation. For seven years he taught courses on religion and educational policy and religion and international development at the University of Minnesota, and currently teaches courses with The New International University and Wilberforce International Institute. He has a PhD in comparative and international development education from the University of Minnesota, a ThM from Dallas Seminary, and a BA from the University of Michigan. He is the author of Taming the Beast: Can We Bridle the Culture of Corruption? (2016) and, most recently, Developing Redemptive Change Agents: Discipleship That Helps Nations Flourish Rather Than Flounder (2021). Bob and Susan have been married for 49 years, are the parents of four sons, and grandparents to 13.