Christ and Culture thoughts

So I think I've come to a nice pause in my thinking on culture. This is partially because I've exhausted the books on the subject that I planned to read, but probably mostly because thinking can only take a person so far--at some point he just has to live it.

The big question I've been wrestling with (as you have read about since pretty much the inception of this blog) is along the lines of "is affecting culture a means to reach people or can it be an end in itself? Are we doing good works just to change lives?" These sound like simple questions, but I think the answers can make a significant difference in how we approach our involvement with the world. In more concrete terms, is it ok for church groups to hand out food to the homeless without first making them sit through a sermon? Should Christians be involved in protecting the environment even if we somehow knew that nobody would be spiritually affected by that good work?

The fact that I struggle with these questions indicates my strong Evangelical bent. It's not a bad thing, but I see that it's there. That is a strong "Christ above Culture" stance (see below).

I have become more comfortable with a "Christ Transforming Culture" position as I think this through. In my readings, I've come across quite a few "Christ Transforming Culture" arguments that have been quite dissatisfying (See here. Also, in "Plowing for Hope," the author makes a very attenuated argument that the Bible begins with a garden and ends in a city, so that means we should be affecting culture--what!?). I think in order to appreciate a Christian call to change things of this world as an end in itself, you have to accept two propositions: 1) that Christ is in dominion over all things, and relatedly, 2) that we can't divide our life into a spiritual part and a secular/worldly part. In that way, interacting with the world and changing culture 1) can be a participation in what God is doing and 2) can be a spiritual act of worship just on its own.

I am sure this is quite elementary to some people, but for me that wasn't immediately obvious. I've enjoyed thinking about these issues and I do think it is practically important, particularly for someone who will be entering the workforce soon. From the "Christ above Culture" perspective, work is useful only to the extent that it puts you in touch with people you can share the gospel with, or puts you in a position to get people thinking about God. From the "Christ Transforming Culture" perspective work itself can be a spiritual act of worship. Our work itself glorifies God.

(mini)Book Review: "Christ and Culture"

Over the break, I read "Christ and Culture" by Richard Niebuhr. As you can tell from the blog, I've been going a little "old school" in my leisure reading lately. This book is copyrighted in 1956.

Niebuhr tries to establish a framework that can be used to think about how Christians have approached their involvement with culture (which he defines, in part, as human achievement). He admits the weaknesses of putting various thinkers into one category (even though they might be more of a mix of two or more of the categories), but the hope is that it will give the reader a structure to work with (or you might think of it as giving the reader bones on which to hang the proverbial meat). So here's a rundown of the five categories and the examples he uses:

1. Christ Against Culture: Tertullian, Tolstoy, Quakers (Niebuhr includes an interesting quote from Tertullian: "[T]he Christian does everything with a difference; not because he has a different law, but because he knows grace and hence reflects grace; not because he must distinguish himself, but because he does not need to distinguish himself.")
   
2. Christ of Culture: Gnostics, Ritschl
   
3. Christ Above Culture: Clement of Alexandria (God "admonishes us to use, but not to linger and spend time, with secular culture"), Thomas Aquinas, Joseph Butler, Roger Williams,
   
4. Christ and Culture in Paradox(A Christian "is under law, and yet not under law but grace; he is sinner, and yet righteous; he believes, as a doubter...): the Apostle Paul, Marcion, Luther, Kierkegaard
   
5. Christ the Transformer of Culture: John (the writer of the gospel), Augustine, F.D. Maurice

I thought the framework Niebuhr lays out is a useful one. The language is a little dense sometime and I honestly didn't recognize all the theologians he names, but if the subject interests you, I would still recommend the book. It is comforting to know that people have been the same things I have been thinking about for centuries. This is just a general overview, I'll post more thoughts next time.

Things I read on the plane (part II)

"[W]hat is worst of all is to advocate Christianity, not because it is true, but because it might be beneficial...To justify Christianity because it provides a foundation of morality, in stead of showing the necessity of Christian morality from the truth of Christianity, is a very dangerous inversion."

T.S. Eliot, The Idea of Christian Society

Weathering the storm

"The culture, then, is like the weather. We may be able to influence it in modest ways, seeding the clouds, but it is a recipe for frustration to expect that we can direct it. Nor should we expect positive change without some simultaneous downturn in a different corner. Nor should we expect that any change will be permanent. The culture will always be shifting, and it will always be with us.

God has not called us to change the weather. Our primary task as believers, and our best hope for lasting success, is to care for individuals caught up in the pounding storm. They are trying to make sense of their lives with inadequate resources, confused and misled by the Evil One and unable to tell their left hand from their right (Jonah 4:11)...

[W]e are misguided even to think of our opponents in the "culture wars" as enemies in the first place. They are not our enemies, but hostages of the Enemy. We have a common Enemy who seeks to destroy us both, by locking them in confusion and by luring us to self-righteous pomposity.

Culture is not a monolithic power we must defeat. It is the battering weather conditions that people, harassed and helpless, endure. We are sent out into the storm like a St. Bernard with a keg around our neck, to comfort, reach, and rescue those who are thirsting, most of all, for Jesus Christ."

~"Loving the Storm-Drenched" by Frederica Matthewes-Green

John Stackhouse has a completely different take which is posted on the same website, right here (if you actually read the article, let me know if you find it heretical?). Whereas Matthewes-Green emphasizes people need fixing, Stackhouse argues that God's purpose is that culture itself gets fixed. All this trendy talk about Christians and culture leaves me wondering if anybody knows what they're talking about.

Cultural Engagement--What does that mean?

When people talk about being counter cultural Christians and hype up cultural engagement, a clear explanation of what that looks like often gets lost in all the hooplah. This pastor blogger describes cultural engagement with a 3-part framework consisting of:

1. Rejecting what is evil
2. Receiving what is good
3. Redeeming what is broken or lost.

That seems to be a nice, concise summary of what is going on (or should be going on). In case you aren't planning to actually click on the link and read the rest of his article, he goes on to lay out "Six Rules of Cultural Engagement" within the 3-part framework:

• Be present.
• Practice discernment.
• Develop your theology.
• Find courage.
• Speak clearly.
• Love.

What do you think?

[HT: Common Grounds]