July 17, 2003 Anagrams
Who says computers can't do important work? With apologies
to Melville, Rearranging the letters of 'Call me Ishmael' gives:
I'm a small leech. Slim male leach. Slim lame leach.
Hell! I'm a camels. Ahem! small lice. I'm a camel's hell. Male mill aches.
I'm a leach smell. Slim leach meal. Eh! small malice. Each small mile.
A slim, lame lech. I'm a camel shell. Same male chill. Hell! came mails.
Hell! camels aim. Ahem! a slim cell. Leech maims all. Same, lame chill.
He's a camel mill. Came lame hills. Ha! I'm male cells Mail each smell.
Ill male schema. Hell! am sic male. Ha! smell malice. Hell! slime a cam.
Hell! a scam mile. Eh! I'm male calls. Scheme all mail. Hell! claim as
me. Heal slim camel. Heal small mice. All-male chimes. He's a camel mill.
Seal small mice. A camel him sell. Each small lime. Eh! I'm a calm sell.
Hail! came smell. Eh! ill male scam. Eh! I'm all camels. Each mill meals.
July 16, 2003 Christ,
Culture, and Convenient Categories
I'm quoting
stuff from all over the web on this one and will be glad to give credit
if anybody sees something quoted...
Francis Schaeffer criticized
a socially irrelevant church in his small treatise on " The New Super-Spirituality"
while affirming that Christ is the Lord of the WHOLE man. I was reminded
of this as I reread H. Richard Niebuhr's Christ and Culture. I first read
Christ and Culture when I was working on a degree in sculpture at university
in the late Seventies. I must submit that H. Richard Niebuhr's thinking
informed much of my early thought life on the subject at hand. I have
subsequently deferred to the idea that he was such a refiner of this thought
processes that the truth ultimately suffered. The rough edges of truth
are not always so black and white in a complex culture. Niebuhr alludes
to this early on, but the categories have persisted.
Much of what has been written over the past forty
years on the idea Christ and Culture evidences the great influence of
H. Richard's considerable intellect, especially among a generation of
Christian intellectuals. I will proceed to critique the work with the
premise in mind that his writings have actually helped construct and inform
the present milieu.
How should lessons from the authoritarian societies of the biblical world
be translated to the much different context of our pluralistic, democratic,
postmodern society? Every view has at least a portion of the paradigm
that can be supported scripturally. I will do so at reasonable junctures.
"Christ Against Culture."
This is the view that affirms the separatism based on a view of sanctification
that is not entirely scriptural. It was historically modeled by early
Christians in a context of extreme persecution. 1 John 4 warns Christians
of the importance of deciding for Christ against the attractions of the
world. The Anabaptists and those who follow in their traditions (Mennonites
and Amish, for instance) have interpreted such texts as normative for
the present context. In spite of this these groups have exhibited rich
traditions of service within their communities.
These groups take to heart the designation of
the people of God as a "peculiar "people and even manifest this
belief in their clothing.They typically also refuse to take oaths, serve
in the army or on juries and refuse to bear arms. The United States has
served as a haven for these groups who were traditionally persecuted in
Europe. The refusal of the Anabaptists to baptize infants was a political
act, a rejection of the Constantinian model of the church, and an affirmation
that members should lead lives of discipleship.
The Schleitheim Confession of the Anabaptists
(1527) posited, "God...admonishes us to withdraw from Babylon and
the earthly Egypt that we may not be partakers of the pain and suffering
which the Lord will bring upon them." This does not necessarily mean
geographical isolation from the world, or ignoring the rest of the world.
It means nonconformity to the ways of the world. The view is that Christians
are supposed to behave differently from the standards of the dominant
culture. In and of itself, this nonconformity does not mean disengagement.
It does imply a different way of life.
Calvin wrote that many Christians, especially
the monastics of his day, expected believers to separate from the world
in outward behavior, style of language, dress, and other externals. "We
have never been forbidden to laugh," Calvin writes, "or to be
filled, or to join new possessions to old or ancestral ones, or to delight
in musical harmony, or to drink wine." (Institutes,3:19:9 )
Niebuhr says this view is flawed because in it
Christians are said to withdraw from the world, reject any responsibility
for it, and to be no longer "in the world." One must ask if
it is really possible for adherents to this view to withdraw completely
from "culture." Even those churches that have dissented from
many aspects of the dominant culture still participate in it in many ways
through sharing its language, through involvement in its economic system,
through social interaction of various kinds. Niebuhr ignores the possibility
that the most transforming activity of the church in relationship to the
culture might not be to try to wield power in the dominant culture. It
may be more powerful to demonstrate by the church's own life the transforming
and healing power of God's new community.
"The Christ of Culture."
The second model in the taxonomy is "The Christ of Culture."
One could say that the biggest flaw with this viewpoint is that it ultimately
forgets that creation is fallen- things are not normal. This derives originally
from a Pelagian view of Christ as moral example who is the pedagogue of
the perfect society. The belief smacks of the utopianism evidenced in
modernism's attempts to create a sociological messiah who was an anthropomorphism
of enlightenment faith. He is example, not sovereign, for man fills that
coveted role in this construct. This is a Christ who is created in the
image of man.
Any time the church falls into the trap of confusing
redemption and creation, the distinctives of the Kingdom of God suffer
mightily. We see this in the so called "Social Gospel" as well
as the element of American evangelicalism that associates the kingdom
of God with the "American way of life".
Romans 8 speaks clearly about the nature of redemption.
Not only is God concerned with saving individuals; he has also redeemed
by the work of Christ the cosmos around us. All of the oppression and
ills that devastate culture do have a solution-but they will only be realized
if we work for the advance of the kingdom of God and wait for the consummation.
The logicus terminus of this opposition is evidenced in the total lack
of distinctive difference it has made. The approach died along with modernism.
As its adherents worked to reform society, they were eventually (or are
being) swallowed up by the culture; after a while the distinctives of
their faith disappeared.
"Christ above culture."
The next type is "Christ Above Culture." This approach is held
by so called "centrists," those who have "refused to take
either the position of the anticultural radicals or that of the accommodators
of Christ to culture" (p.124).
While all of these models save "Christ against
culture" are Constantinian in nature , this is the most congruent
with what Christians saw under Constantine the Great when the old world
order was turned on its head and Christians actually enjoyed favored political
status. In medieval Europe, after the fall of the Roman Empire, this model
continued to shape the church, although there were always some dissenting
religious movements, especially in the late Middle Ages. The Catholic
church perfected this model, although it is evident in other areas as
well. This is the model that many of the mainline churches of Niebuhr's
day were working with. I would say this has much in common with the bourgeois
church that Schaeffer blasted in the aforementioned "SuperSpirituality".
Schaeffer insisted that we must not confuse the kingdom of this world
with the kingdom of God. Having lived in Europe for several decades, he
knew well the pitfalls and the ultimate failure of the Constantinian model.
A church that lives by power dies by power. Though the church had shared
the throne in European countries for centuries, now the great cathedrals
of Europe serve as museums.
This construct must take on a different meaning
in the present world order. As culture has realized a defined move away
from Christ into an aggressively hostile attitude toward the church, this
approach would seem to be untenable. Christ is creator, so nature is above
culture at the root. A God of justice demands social action and a God
of Holiness exercises a supernatural redemption.The synthetic nature of
the approach would force the adherents into another category. If to be
in the world becomes synonymous with being of the world then the Christian
must reject the culture's inroads and influence.The church of the center
is a wayward church in that respect. Yet in seeking to communicate with
the world it is doomed to fall in.
"Christ in paradox with culture"
It is debatable whether Luther himself actually
subscribed to a tenable duality of society and kingdom as developed by
his followers, who constructed a doctrine of Christ in paradox with culture.
This approach refuses either to reject culture or to confuse culture with
Christianity. I must say at this point that Niebuhr himself was influenced
mightily by the work of Ernst Troelsch. If you know that up front, you
can conclude that any critique of Lutheran views will necessarily be filtered
through a negative battery of presuppositions that will not necessarily
reveal clear understanding of what Luther said.
On earth we belong to two kingdoms, said Luther:
the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of the world. Each has its own realm
of authority, and we are subject to both. It follows that God has created
two distinct realms of activity in the world : one by creation and the
other by redemption. In creation we are apportioned work, service and
the citizen's responsibility towards the state, the pursuit of pleasure,
and the institution of the family. In redemption, God gives us the church,
with the Word and the sacraments. These are not two antagonistic nor identical
realms, but two distinctly different realms.
This model helped define the Christians' role
in a secular society, but it also posed difficult questions. What happens
when the two kingdoms come into conflict? As Lesslie Newbigin poses the
question, "Can one who goes the way of the Cross sit in the seat
of Pilate when it falls vacant?" In Germany, many of Hitler's soldiers
justified their service as an act of obedience to the secular kingdom.
I find it appalling that many today blame Luther for creating the possibility
of a Hitler. So much of what Luther wrote must be read in the context
of his day. I will speak more on the issues with this view below.
"Christ the Transformer of Culture."
The model most closely associated with Calvin
was realized not only in Geneva but also in England under Cromwell and
in Puritan America. It calls for Christ to transform culture. The transformer
type emphasizes God's sovereign lordship over all of creation and, therefore,
all aspects of life. As part of fallen creation, culture will never be
"redeemed" in the sense the church is redeemed; nevertheless,
Christians should work toward the transformation of surrounding culture,
government and society, bringing it in line with Christ's teaching as
far as possible. the church is called into the world as salt and light,
agents of redemption, which is through Christ. I believe it was Kuyper
who said "Everyone needs two conversions, from the world to Christ,
then back to the world with Christ."
Niebuhr appeals to John's Gospel as a characteristic
example of this approach. Here Christ is emphasized as "the Word
made flesh." Christ is not only the priest of redemption, but the
king of creation. God loves the world, not just individuals in it and
his redemptive work secured redeemed individuals who are part of a new
creation (Ro.8:20-23). There is also the issue of the authority given
to man in Genesis as the keeper of creation and appointee of the Creator
Lord in the "cultural mandate" of the early chapters of Genesis.
I take issue with Niebuhr's thesis, in which he
argues a wider gulf between Luther and Calvin than are reflected in their
writings. While there are distinctions between Luther's sharp contrasts
between the sacred and secular spheres and Calvin's interest in showing
the relationships between them, the theories are congruent and analogous,
not at odds with one another.
Calvin includes a section in his Institutes titled
"The Two Kingdoms," from which this excerpt comes:
There is a twofold government in man: one aspect
is spiritual, whereby the conscience is instructed in piety and reverencing
God; the second is political, whereby man is educated for the duties of
humanity and citizenship that must be maintained among men. These are
usually called the 'spiritual' and the 'temporal' jurisdiction (not improper
terms)...The one we may call the spiritual kingdom, the other, the political
kingdom. Now these two, as we have divided them, must always be examined
separately; and while one is being considered, we must call away and turn
aside the mind from thinking about the other. There are in man, so to
speak, two worlds, over which different kings and different laws have
authority. Through this distinction it comes about that we are not to
misapply to the political order the gospel teaching on spiritual freedom,
as if Christians were less subject, as concerns outward government, to
human laws, because their consciences have been set free in God's sight.
(Institutes, 3:19:15)
Niebuhr's understanding of the differences as
expressed in the book have shaped evangelical thought on the subject and
I for one do not concur with his analysis. I would say that the reformers
were agreed that while there was no final conflict between a Christian
being involved in both realms, but there was a contrast. The Reformation's
central affirmation is that human activity can never bring salvation.
And yet, the activity of Christian men and women does bring a certain
transforming element as they live out their callings while bringing civil
righteousness, justice, and compassion to bear on human relationships.
The problem of personhood and citizenship is at
the center of the issues addressed by Niebuhr. Plato had postulated that
injustice serves the individual good with his Contra Thracymachus, which
was left uncontested until Rousseau. The problem is monumental. Rousseau
would say that natural man is entirely for himself "He is numerical
unity, the absolute whole which is relative only to itself or its kind.
...Civil man('s) value ...is determined by his relation to the whole."
Rousseau postulates that uniting the two is all
but impossible in the Emile. He also postulates that oppression is the
WORST thing. Rousseau believes -, in a leap of unsubstantiated faith,
that raising Emile FOR HIMSELF will allow him to develop a character free
of doublethink- i. e. "one who reads the word and the world."
(Macedo et. al.). This is a throwback to fundamental enlightenment faith
that never worked in reality. Dewey and Friere abandoned this approach
(the path of nature, claiming authority that philosophers since Nietzsche
have dismissed) and rightfully so, yet the problem they DO accept from
Rousseau has evaporated with the passing of the enlightenment. Oversimple
problems invariably yield reductionistic answers. In accepting the TERMS
of the problem of personhood from Rousseau guarantees that the solution
will not stray too far from Rousseau's. Today we live in a postmodern
milieu where the critical theorists happily substititute "history"
for "Providence" as the source of human's faculties for good.
Yet human nature is not ONE set of properties- i.e. they are defined solely
by their political role That assumption is a result of the predeterministic
nature of the postmodernist's presuppositions.
Over and against this approach is the Reformation
"world-view." Schaeffer wrote a great deal of material on the
Christian view of the world, creation, fall, redemption, eschatology,
and other aspects of Reformation theology. He would be disappointed that
evangelicals and fundamentalists have remained essentially hostile toward
this world, though involved again for the first time in decades.
His legacy is being carried forward by men like
out speakers who are actively engaged in the arenas of the academy and
the mass media, two prime purveyors of culture in our day. I would submit
that though the lines blur between the last two types in the taxonomy
the speakers most neatly fit into the transformative modality. It is clear
from their lectures that they are being driven by a desire to be a part
of God's redemptive process which effects intellectual pursuits as well
as the hearts and minds of those they are in relationship with. This classification
is my own estimation however. Schaeffer himself would not answer the question
when posed to him by Phillip Yancey in an interview in 1978, as revealed
in a recent article:
"Several times I tried to pin Schaeffer down
to one of the approaches outlined by Niebuhr. Which of the five did he
prefer? He ducked and dodged, refusing to settle on one. Finally, he said,
"I believe what works best is a nation that operates out of a moral
consensus that is Christian." The Christian faith should not be imposed
by the state. Rather, government and laws exist ideally as a kind of spillover
of Christian sensibility, reflecting God's values as revealed in the Bible:
peace; respect for life; environmental, racial, and economic justice."
(Christianity Today, 2-3-97, A State of Ungrace, Part 1 )
This is the background I grew up in - a moral
consensus informed by Christian morals. That is not to say that it was
or is a Christian nation. On a more local scale, I grew up in an uneducated
family that was against culture, or so we thought. If anything we accommodated
to it, fearing to embrace it and drawn to it like a moth to the flame.
We had no idea of transforming such a beast. It is a world that seemingly
has passed away and lingers only in the ruins of modernism like the proverbial
Ozymandias.
While I am not particularly nostalgic for the
"good old days" (they never were), my preference for the idea
that Christ is the transformer of culture who informs and authorizes its
existance. The world is not normal. It will be made to be so one day.
We are actively investing our lives in the activities which will bring
glory to the Father and the redemption of His creation is one way in which
he glorifies himself in time and space This approach is the only one,
in my view that has an answer to the ills of the world and has in its
previous incarnations met with some success in glorifying God.
As I said above, the transformer type emphasizes
God's sovereign lordship over all of creation and, therefore, all aspects
of life. Ultimately I prefer it because it is the only answer I can see
to the problem of personhood and citizenship in any meaningful way in
relation to the way things really are. Man finds true personhood by the
transformative power of Christ and becomes a good citizen who although
an alien is the preservative salt and light of his culture. Culture itself
is influenced by the praxis of such citizens who engage and transform
their particular portion of this culture.
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