The relations between Christianity and culture have varied according to circumstances and particular perceptions of culture. Although modern social science has given us a more detailed understanding of culture, we are basically concerned with the way God's work of redemption, both in Scripture and in history, has confronted and changed the social order in its created context, and also with the ways believing communities have viewed and responded to their environment. The church confronts these issues whenever it seeks to live its faith and give a credible witness in the place to which God has called it.
The world "culture" originally referred to cultivating the ground, and it has never completely lost this rapport with natural productivity. While the word is often used more narrowly for the fine arts, culture is better understood as the total pattern of a people's behaviour, and it is in this latter sense that the word will be used in this article. Culture includes all behaviour that is learned and transmitted by the symbols (rites, artifacts, language, etc.) of a particular group and that focuses on certain ideas or assumptions that we call a world view.
BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK:
OLD TESTAMENT:
The Bible has no word for culture as such, but it is clear from the beginning that God created man and woman as creatures of culture. The early chapters of Genesis present the created order as an interrelated community in which relations with God, the earth, and human beings all played a part. There is an implied covenant between man and God that must be lived out in a social context by a people embedded in creation. Clearly the order was good (Gen. 1:31), and the human process of having dominion was good as well.
The fall following Adam and Eve's rebellion against God's instructions resulted in a disordered community and a culture that reflected human pride (Gen. 11:4). God's intervention, from the choosing of Abraham to the deliverance from Egypt, should be seen in terms of God's purpose to restore and renew the created order through a people reflecting his character.
It is a mistake to see the law as an expression of God's desire for his people to have a unique cultural system. Much of Israel's culture was common to other nations of the ancient Near East. True, contact with other cultures was forbidden upon entrance into Canaan (Josh. 6:18), but this was because they were subject to God's wrath due to their wickedness, not because they were foreign.
Indeed, anthropologists studying the Old Testament recognise that Israel, due to its geography, had greater exposure to influences from neighbouring peoples than almost any other ancient nation. Bible scholars have begun to appreciate how biblical practices, e.g., the ornamentation of the temple or even the covenant idea, have close parallels in neighbouring cultures.
So in the process of revelation God is not concerned to give his people a special culture, but to intervene and reveal his will so that institutions and practices that already existed could be reformed and become suitable vehicles of his glory. Of course this meant that much from neighbouring cultures had to be forbidden, and even those institutions that Israel had in common with its neighbours, like the priesthood or kingship, were transformed under the impact of God's instructions (e.g., Deut. 17:14-20).
As Israel prospered during the monarchy, it forgot that its institutions were a means of furthering God's purposes and saw them as ends in themselves, so that God had to expel Israel from the land and send it to live in an alien culture. Even there God promised a sprout from the stump of Jesse would encompass the renewal al of all creation (Isa. 11); in the meantime they must seek the welfare of the land in which they were dwelling (Jer. 29:5-7).
NEW TESTAMENT:
God's desire to redeem and restore human cultural patterns is implied in the ministry of Christ, who came with a clear consciousness of fulfilling the redemptive purpose of the Old Testament. His earth-shattering re-creative work focused on the resurrection, ascension, and Pentecost, which were seen as fulfilment of the Old Testament promises for covenant life and community.
The oft-repeated remark that the New Testament is indifferent to culture holds only for a very narrow view of culture. The Christian experience with Christ was seen to have great implications for culture (cf. Paul's advice to Philemon). And if the Old Testament vision of earthly and human renewal is borne in mind, it can be seen that Christ's earthly work started a process of transformation that will be gloriously completed when he returns to judge the world, a consummation which by our response of faith and obedience we are already made to taste.
As in the OT, the environment of the NT church was highly cosmopolitan. Roman administration and Greek language and culture all favored the exchange of ideas. NT writers often used terms familiar to a broad spectrum of people: John makes use of words like logos or sophia to express the transforming reality of the Word made flesh; Paul shows respect for a great variety of cultural practices (1 Cor. 10:23-33; Rom. 14; Col. 2:16; 1 Tim. 4:3-4) to underline the genuine liberation that comes from being in Christ.
This is not to say that the gospel was compatible with any and every cultural pattern. There were fundamental encounters with Judaizers who insisted on a Jewish culture for all believers and with Greeks who believed wisdom expressed an immanent order discoverable by human reason. For these, the coming of Christ was the decisive element; new meaning was given to the witness of the Jewish law and to the Greek quest for human wisdom.
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE THE EARLY CHURCH:
The church was born in the midst of major intellectual traditions. Some, such as Justin Martyr, felt that good culture was a reflection of the divine Logos and preliminary training for the gospel. Others agreed with Tertullian, who insisted that culture was the locus of sin and that salvation involved an ethical separation from surrounding influences. But it soon became clear that if the church was to communicate its faith in terms the world understood, it too, like the NT church, must make use of current expressions.
The ideas of infinitude and eternity, which the Greeks were reluctant to apply to God, were used to describe the Christian God; the Near Eastern idea of a transcendent source of all things influenced later formulations of the doctrine of creation; and Plotinus's intelligible world was used to describe the New Jerusalem and to formulate a way to God from within. At other points, however, as in views of history and providence, Christianity broke sharply with these influences.
The conversion of Emperor Constantine (A.D. 312) decisively changed the position of Christianity in the world, if not the character of Christianity itself, and made it possible for a particular civilisation to be identified with Christianity. The temptation was to view the faith in an institutional way rather than as the power of God to reform individuals and communities. Augustine contributed the first general interpretation of history and culture in his City of God. There he argued that history involved a continuous struggle between the city of man ruled by cupiditas (or covetousness) and the city of God ruled by love.
With the fall of classical culture Augustine had come to feel a certain pessimism about human achievement and the need to rely on God's grace. The fall, he believed, created a split in human consciousness which could be healed only by submission to the church and an appropriation of its art and liturgy as a way of achieving oblique knowledge of God. Biblical imagery then replaced the classics as the basis for a "Christian culture" (cf. his On Christian Doctrine), thus laying the foundation for medieval art and worship.
Meanwhile in the East theologians stressed the earth as a potential vehicle of God's spirit and saw redemption in terms of divinisation (Athanasius), a restoring of its "image" of God. This recaptured some OT echoes lost in the West and led to the rich mystical traditions of the Orthodox Churches.
MIDDLE AGES:
From Augustine there developed the view that everything on earth conformed to some heavenly pattern. Bonaventure pictured the world as a road leading to God where he could be read in every object. For Aquinas culture as a reflection of man's natural end must conform to natural law. Since "it is natural for man to be a social and political animal," life in assistance, perfects rather than judges what is naturally good, since our end is implicit in our nature. This view understood the eternal significance of human achievement, our work "bears eternal fruit," as Dante put it in the Divine Comedy, even as it reduced its historical significance and sometimes elicited uncritical loyalty to particular embodiments of Christian civilization.
REFORMATION:
The decisive critique of the medieval view of culture came with the Reformation. The Copernican revolution and the voyages of discovery focused on the possibilities of earthly life. The static medieval world view was broken, and the Reformers began to define Christian purposes not in terms of imaging some eternal pattern but in realizing a future ideal. John Calvin emphasized the sovereign interventions of God and the definitive victory of Christ which the resurrection highlights. The ascension implies the filling of all things with his glory, and so the Christian can be optimistic about this world order. The dynamic kingdom of Christ presses through the church to bring all mankind under the sway of the gospel.
Martin Luther, on the other hand, reacting against medieval pretensions of Christian culture, emphasized the sinful character of human work and the need for grace. Cultural forms then have no positive value and serve only to restrain evil. The spontaneous act of love which God produces in the believer can be performed as well in any calling and in any case will not be fully manifest until Christ returns. The church leavens society, but its influence is often visible only to faith.
The radical stream of the Reformation, sometimes called Anabaptism, picked up ascetic and perfectionist currents in the church and stressed personal conversion and a separated Christian community. Their view of the pervasive character of sin, their emphasis on the immanent return of Christ, and perhaps their minority status made them generally pessimistic about the possibilities of human culture.
ENLIGHTENMENT:
The Reformation conscience and the Renaissance emphasis on this world both contributed to a process of secularization in the West wherein the Christian consensus of the Middle Ages gradually gave way to the goals of the secular state. Christian ideals were often influential on society (as they are to this day), but belief in the Christian reality was given up.
By the late eighteenth century, during what is known as the Enlightenment, the world was understood in immanent terms; God was distant and uninvolved; man had come of age. Lying behind this faith was the conviction that "the human situation is fundamentally characterized by conflict with nature" rather than conflict with God (H. R. Niebuhr). Moreover, there was every confidence that this conflict was being won, and the way was open to identify Christianity with Western European (and later North American) culture and to the cultural imperialism of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Hegel's idea of the immanent development of spiritual reality in human cultures marked a final stage of the influence of Christianity on European culture. Soon Nietzsche announced that God was dead and all values must be reformulated. Karl Lowith calls the resulting nihilism "the only real belief of educated people" at the end of the nineteenth century.
MODERN PERIOD:
World War 1 seemed to conform Nietzsche's cynicism and the absence of all Christian influences on culture and dashed the hopes of some who had believed it possible to bring in the millennium. Not surprisingly, most Christians were negative about the drift of Western culture and contented themselves with fighting on very narrow fronts. In an early attempt to make a critical judgment on modern post-Christian culture, T.S. Eliot in 1934 argued that modern literature was ruled by secularism and individualism.
More recently evangelicals Francis Schaeffer and H. R. Rookmaaker traced the alienation of modern culture to the surrender of Christian values since the Renaissance. B. I. Bell and C. S. Lewis have described the manipulation and dehumanisation that have resulted from modern consumer society and the resultant starved sensibilities. More positively Paul Tillich has pointed out that modern cultural forms still express basic religious or absolute commitments and make possible an experience of depth.
The most far-reaching influence on Christian thinking about culture since World War II has come about by the growing impact of the social sciences. These studies have shown us that culture is more than an intellectual world view; it is also a complex of symbols, including objects, words, and events, by which a people orient themselves in the world. The meaning and thus the implications of the Christian commitment are seen to be pervasive throughout human culture, making possible a new, holistic understanding of the gospel. Cross-cultural communication of the faith has suggested the need to appropriate the resources of both sender and receptor cultures to achieve a fuller comprehension of Christian truth. In all communities there is the growing awareness that the Word of God, not some particular culture, will correct faults and redeem strengths,
and every cultural perception of Christian truth and Scripture can be used to enhance our understanding of the gospel "until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God" (Eph - 4:13).
TYPOLOGY:
The history of the encounter between Christianity and culture shows certain typical responses that reflect varying theological emphases and historical contingencies. At the risk of arbitrary division, we may suggest three typical views that have been influential on evangelical thinking.
ANABAPTIST:
Throughout Christian history a radical and rigorist stream has appeared emphasising the fallen character of this world order and the necessity of creating alternative structures that more closely follow the model of the church's crucified Lord. Finding its clearest expression in the Radical Reformation, that view has continued to influence Christians through churches in this tradition and the many pietist groups that share its spirit.
An extreme expression of this point of view is Watchman Nee, who believed that salvation involved the total severance of a person from this world's system. The Christian lives in the world as in an alien environment, like a diver in water, and so should develop an attitude of detachment. The earthly work of the Christian is always under death sentence; his only hope is God's final deliverance. A more moderate proponent of this view is Jacques Ellul, who argued that civilisation to a new work of God wherein the New Jerusalem will displace this fallen city.
Meanwhile we continue to work, realising "we are participating in a work of death which is under a curse." A more positive and influential expression of this tendency comes from J.H. Yoder. For Yoder, Jesus came to effect a social revolution by the formation of a new voluntary community rather than by an encounter with the powers. Christ founded a new order with alternative patterns of leadership and life style that will eventually condemn and displace the old dying order. The way of the cross, Yoder believes, is an "alternative to both insurrection and quietism." This view has given clear expression to the apocalyptic and transcendent elements of Christianity, and many representatives have exerted a strong prophetic influence, though they have hesitated to engage in active public efforts to improve existing conditions.
ANGLO-CATHOLIC:
Other Christians have insisted more on the distinction between the spheres of grace and nature. Continuing the medieval tradition, thinkers of this bent believe the area of human culture is indifferent to religious values. J. H. Newman gave a classic expression to this view a century ago when he claimed that culture has value on its own (natural) level but it cannot be the locus of virtue: "Intellectual cultivation is not the cause or proper antecedent of anything supernatural."
In our century C. S. Lewis has taken a similar view. He believes the NT is unmistakably cold toward culture, which must be dispensed with the minute it conflicts with the service of God. The good of culture may be analogous to Christian good but it is not the same, he does not know, he confesses, how spiritual and cultural goods are to be reconciled. These thinkers correctly give priority to spiritual values, but they are not able to suggest critical perspectives shaped by Christian truth and so tend to support the cultural status quo.
REFORMED:
Since Justin Martyr there have been Christians convinced that culture can be taken captive to the lordship of Christ. Emphazing the creative power of God and the victorious work of Christ, these thinkers tend to be more optimistic about human structures, feeling that however wicked and depraved certain institutions may appear, they do not lie outside of Christ's kingship. Calvin gave classic expression to this position, and he has been followed by the tradition of Reformed and Presbyterian Christianity.
Early in our century Abraham Kuyper gave a concise expression to this view, which places the self-glorification of God in the centre of Christian thinking about culture. All human labour collectively exhibits the image of God and by common grace is given to honour Christ, the mediator of creation. Culture then can be the means of controlling the influence of sin and, because of Christ's work which restores creation in its root, can begin to reflect the triumph of Christ's restored kingship which will be consummated at the second coming.
Kuyper believes that genuine development in society will carry over into eternity (Rev. 21:24) even if the last days display an apostasy in spiritual things. This view has had a great influence on societies where it is present and exhibits an attractive emphasis on the lordship of Christ and the actuality of his kingdom; its weakness has been a tendency to triumphalism that underestimates the power and extent of evil.
THEOLOGICAL CONCLUSION:
From the evidence surveyed, is it possible to suggest some guidelines for a Christian approach to culture? Some agree with H. R. Niebuhr that the relativities of our faith and station suggest we leave our options open. But certain biblical parameters may be proffered. Evangelicals have been properly concerned that cultural influences not challenge or dilute the authority of Christ and his Word.
But clearly this problem cannot be solved by an avoidance of culture; it is impossible to commit oneself to Christ in isolation from our culture. A measure of solidarity with our environment is inevitable; we are products of it, and as Christians we are responsible to it as salt and light. Sin moreover is rebellion against God and his Word, and so the basic struggle in culture is not with nature but with the forces of evil. It follows that we cannot avoid the struggle for righteousness in the cultural sphere.
As Milton put it: "It is one thing to be naive and ignorant of moral options; it is quite another to be aware of options and choose to obey God." For visible purity, while it comes from God, cannot be realised except by trial, and trial comes by what is contrary.
The basic need for Christians through the ages has been a faith large enough to include the whole of the biblical material, that sees God as Creator and Sustainer; that honors Christ as both Logos and Lord; and that envisions in redemption both the reconciliation of the sinner and the renewal of the created order.
This leads to a realistic optimism, for commitment to God frees us from subservience to lesser principles and helps us keep them in proper perspective. Scripture is the norm for all peoples and times, but the supracultural element must always be expressed in some particular cultural form, even if those forms are transformed as the Holy Spirit applies the reality of the kingdom.
Meanwhile in our families and communities let us pray for the delight of the child who is astonished simply to be and for the wisdom of the sage to discern and contend for the truth. For the "little deeds of little men and women, all incomplete and imperfect ..., are crucial and have their place in God's great schemes" (H. R. Rookmaaker).
[Elwellss Dictionary]
