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Christ and Culture

This question reflects a typology about the relationship between Christianity and the surrounding culture. This typology was first articulated by H. Richard Niebuhr in his book Christ and Culture. Niebuhr suggests that throughout history Christians can be divided into these five categories, each of which describes a possible attitude about the interaction of Christians with their culture.

TYPES	Christ against culture	Christ & culture in paradox	[Christ transforming culture]	Christ above culture	Christ of culture
EXAMPLES/Explanations	The Amish, who pull out of mainstream culture to design their own would be good examples of the resistance of culture.	Luther is the paradigm: "I am at once a sinner and redeemed." The parable of the wheat and the weeds is typical of this type.	Where everyone wants to be! Niebuhr defines this as classically Reformed.	Culture is fine, but incomplete. Faith needs to be added. Niebuhr thinks that Aquinas belongs here.	Christ can be found in culture. Clement of Alexandria, who thought that Greek philosophy prepared people for the gospel, is a classic example.

Problems:

1. One of these things is not like the others. "Christ transforming culture" is a goal, not a strategy. That's why everyone who reads the Niebuhr book believes that he or she belongs in this category.

2. The "Transformation" goal is very vague, which is another reason that everyone sees him/herself fitting here. Transform to what? You fill in the blank. Niebuhr doesn't tell us.

3. Which culture? We live in a world of competing cultures. There is a dominant culture, more or less, but there are also many sub-cultures. When we talk about how we as the Church should be relating to our culture, do we mean the culture of main-stream America? the culture of Hollywood? the culture of western Michigan? the Calvin sub-culture? Different cultures may provoke different appropriate responses.

Still, it's a useful typology to know. For one thing, so many people know it that it's used a lot, and you should know what the terms mean. For another thing, it's useful to think about what strategy is appropriate in a given situation. When Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Confessing Church wanted to transform German culture under Hitler, they very appropriately used the strategy of being against culture. When Calvin College invites music groups to perform here which are not conventionally "Christian" bands and asserts that there is value -- even, dare we say, religious value -- to be found in their music, even though they may not mention Jesus, then we are asserting that Christ can be encountered in our culture, which is a Christ of culture strategy.

As you answer this question, think about what strategy you think is the most appropriate for us to use in interacting with the dominant culture of North America today, at the beginning of the 21^st century.


				Nancy Zylstra