this blog is a result of a few discussions and readings over the past few months...for instance a couple of blogs on dtb discussing drinking & culture, and the influence of "culture" on the church and its functions, and more recently a conversation with a canadian mennonite about the ethics of war and pacifism...and the issue of war has always intrigued me...and while i do not accept the view of pacifism, i do realize that we "american christians" too often neglect the preciousness of humanity and a christian worldview...that is for another day...
this has been one of the most discussed and debated theological topics for centuries...the exact words of this title are an umbrella under which many other ideas, concepts and principles of theological discussion are covered...
in 1951...h. richard niebuhr published his book "Christ and Culture"...this book has been a landmark in theological circles for the last half century...he discusses 5 differing views:
Christ against culture - Christ of culture - Christ above culture - Christ and culture in paradox & Christ transforming culture...
he refers to the beliefs of men like th. aquinas, john calvin, martin luther & st. augustine in reference to the topic of Christ & culture...
niebuhr was a moderate liberal theologian at yale...he was definetely not a "conservative evangelical"...i mention this because this is THE book on the subject...and by that i mean that every work on the subject refers to this book...and it is the most widely known among "biblical scholars"...
what happens so many times is catagories are established...and thereafter it is convenient to try to place concepts in one of these catagories rather than start with a blank canvas...for instance...in many peoples minds, with reference to salvation, election etc...you have two choices...you can place your tent in the calvanistic camp...or the arminian...and many times it is not mentioned to people moving their tents that there are other camps inbetween the two great camps...
so when discussing the ideas that surround Christ & culture...it has been helpful to me to start with a blank canvas...and i have discovered that there are no clean cut catagories in which to fit many of the difficult conepts of how we as christians are to mix in with ,separate from, and impact culture...when do we heed and respect our culture...when do we forsake it...i believe it is a vital subject...God left us on this earth to be ambassadors of heaven...we are citizens of heaven, but are temporary residents on earth...deciding what is cultural and what is biblical is difficult many times...not to mention i believe that God wants us to heed to our culture sometimes and others times He does not...i encourage you to study this yourself...and always be sober and vigilant to process what you are told and what you read through the filter of the letter and spirit of God's Word...
i will tell you this...since i was a senior in high school...i have read my bible about 30 times...not to mention the hours i have studied and read a specific book or passage...i have consumed at least 300+ books that relate to some biblical subject...and with that being said, i become less and less dogmatic about many things associated with christianity that i knew "for sure" in the past...i have become aware of pre-existing christian catagories, and try to make sure that i do not cram things into them that do not belong...i have learned that INDIVIDUAL SITUATIONS and the application of the HOLY SPIRIT to those situations matters emensly...i do not promote situational ethics...but i do enourage Holy Spirit situational decisions...
later from 3rd St.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
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7 comments:
i agree.
christ and culture, being the broad umbrella that it is, is often way over-simplified in contemporary christianity. i won't bother repeating everything you said about it, but i will say this about one aspect of culture:
politically speaking, jesus was not a conservative or a liberal. he was not a republican or a democrat. he did not walk a party line, and i think we should be concerned if we ever find ourselves doing that.
what do you think?
go to derekwebb.net, and listen to the latest interview. listen to his explanations of his new songs.... very relevant to this.
I agree as well.
I may make a brash statement here but I sometimes find as I get older, the more adament someone is concerning politics, social issues, etc. under the umbrella of conservatism, they have remained in a state of "milk" concerning the word of God. Every situation is different, that is true.
concerning politics I ran into this in 1992. Some of my closer friends to this day still deride me for voting for Bill Clinton. Now remember, this is 1992, and after taking office we realized he wasnt a middle of the road candidate. But it was at this time I noticed a trend in church circles that still bothers me. All of a sudden people like Rush Limbaugh were the spokesmen for the Church. Somehow spirituality was determined by how Republican someone was. ( For the record I've voted Republican ever since 1992 so hopefully I wont be going to hell! ) But as admin has said, politics should not be the bell-weather of someone's walk with Christ. I think we have too easily placed our trust in politically parties and conservative social issues instead of giving THE WORD OF GOD the proper place in our lives.
A good example of this, and I think it is amusing, is when Joshua at the end of Chapter 5 asks the angel "are you for us or against us?".
Jesus replies, "Neither! But as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come."
We are so like Joshua, rushing to determine camps and sides and quite frankly, the Lord is way above us and all that. HUMBLENESS is the determination of spirituality. We need to remember that and exercise it in our lives. Humbleness in every situation. Humbleness without compromise. It is possible.
i agree
whenever i referred to niebuhr as a liberal...i was speaking theologically rather than politically...it is a generalization that hopefully is understood within the context of the beliefs of our blogging community
understood.
i was choosing to step in the political directions with my comments.
direction
one last thing, and then i'll go.
in regards to theology (specifically calvinism v. arminianism), you stated "many times it is not mentioned to people moving their tents that there are other camps in between the two great camps..."
theological or otherwise, the fact that there are many camps in between two opposite views does not necessarily discredit those opposite views or make them untrue.
there is much to be said against the over-categorization that we do in the church, but we also need to be careful that we don't get to the point where we are afraid to take a stand on one side or the other of a particular issue.
on some theological/doctrinal issues, i am comfortable choosing sides. this doesn't make the other side an enemy by any means - some issues should be vigorously and HONESTLY debated "in-house", that is, within the christian community. what better way to strengthen and encourage one another than to challenge each other to constantly turn back to THE WORD for guidance.
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