Christians and Culture
Written by Jared Burkholder | Pastor of Outreach & Connections
It’s beyond a truism that wars around culture have infiltrated so much of daily life, both in and outside of the church. While bigger than mere politics, culture wars often fall along political lines. Yet, increasingly, fault lines within political ideology reveal that no one group has the corner on the market of truth and goodness.
“For the average Christian, seeking to live faithfully in all areas of life while keeping pace with the conversation of whom we are supposed to be mad at is an overwhelming and futile pursuit.”
This can lead many to outsource their perspective on culture to their favorite talk show host or social media personality.
But what is culture, actually? To understand the interplay between the Christian faith and culture, we must first understand its true nature. A simple definition could be:
The values and trajectory of a particular group of people, as seen in their choices, actions, and words.
This is more than merely an individual pursuit; culture reflects the values and identity of particular groups of people. A more complicated formula for defining culture is: Values + Context + Purpose/Direction + History/Geography = Culture. In that sense, culture is not merely a value system but rather the expression of the values of a group that defines a clear purpose, situated in and shaped by context. By that definition, we can recognize the amorality of culture itself. While certain value systems that lead to certain life trajectories would clearly stand outside the realm of a God-ordained life, the values and trajectories are the problem.
Still, no group of people is monolithic, and it often seems far easier for Christians to retreat into Christian communities where their values and purpose will never be challenged. But is that really the calling of the Christian life? To find others like us and hunker down until Jesus comes to prove the rightness of our worldview?
In his excellent book, Christ and Culture, Richard Niebuhr outlines various approaches to the intersection of the Christian faith and secular culture. (1) He describes, on the one hand, an antagonistic view that pits the Christian faith against the outside world. He further describes four other perspectives that run from outright accommodation to culture, to seeking to synthesize Christianity and the outside world, to living in an irreconcilable paradox of two cultures, and to endeavoring to transform culture through involvement in the public space.
While certain tribes of evangelicals might gravitate to one of these, it is not a simple conversation. Without seeking a reductionist, overly simplistic response to this, I would offer that several passages of Scripture, taken in tandem with one another, outline some principles for engagement.
Genesis 1:26-31 and the Cultural Mandate
Theologians have long understood these verses to encourage God’s people to do good work in and among the world around them. Part of the image of God in mankind comes in the ability to subdue the earth around them and create beautiful and useful things. When God’s people do this as vice-regents, they are extending and embodying the rule of God over his creation. So God encourages Adam and Eve, in verse 28, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Without tripping into knife fights about the particulars of cultural engagement, these verses clearly push the God-fearer toward involvement in the world, demonstrating the beauty of God as king in how they live. These verses, at the very least, create the impetus for Christians today to seek to do good and create beauty in the world — not as a means of sidestepping the Gospel or hyper-elevating this life but as a conduit to demonstrate the majesty of God in all spaces of life.
John 17 and the High Priestly Prayer
Sometimes the content of one’s prayer communicates as much as any lesson or sermon. And that’s exactly what happens in John 17, where Jesus outlines a posture towards the lost world in praying for faithfulness for his followers. In verses 15-18, Christ prays for God’s sustaining power in the lives of his followers so that they remember their transcendent identity and are equipped to live faithfully among a lost world.
Far from retreating from secular culture, Jesus here describes a community of God’s people, transformed by his love, confident in their eternal identity, and sent with purpose into the realm of lost humanity. These verses are not incidental to a Christian’s understanding of cultural engagement; they represent a defined and God-intended purpose for Christians to move into secular spaces as agents of transformation.
1 Peter 3 and Immanent Transcendence
All throughout his first letter, Peter calls Christians to recognize their eternal identity in a way that sustains them for a life of faithfulness on earth. Peter, beautifully and helpfully, moves beyond describing mere transcendence or simple immanence, pairing the two together instead. In other words, it is precisely because Christians do not belong to this earth and have a truer, better hope that they can live lives of clear witness among the lost today. The calling is not to forsake heavenly identity for earthly good, nor is it to abandon earthly good because of transcendent hope.
This is true not just in a benevolent context that creates a wide margin for Christians to be Christian but even in a hostile world. So Peter writes:
Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, [15] but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, [16] having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. [17] For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.
These verses presuppose the kind of life that invites questions about its values and purpose. No one will ask about Christian hope if Christian hope postures itself as isolationist or antagonistic. Rather, clinging firmly to the Christian gospel and eternal identity, Christians can move towards the lost, doing real good in a way that points back to the greatness of King Jesus. As Pastor David has reminded us many times, the Christian calling towards culture is neither war nor withdrawal, it’s witness.
There’s certainly a whole lot more to say about this issue. These few hundred words don’t really scratch the itch of the questions we often have about culture and boundaries and the complexities of living Christianly in decidedly unchristian spaces. (2) But I want to propose a baseline understanding of the Christian’s approach, and even calling, towards culture-making: Christians should inhabit secular spaces with the express purpose of showcasing the beauty of King Jesus’ rule in all of life.
“In business, in the arts, in recreation, in domestic life, in athletics, in investment, in eating and drinking, and in every other part of life— Christians represent the values and purpose of Christ by demonstrating the beauty of his rule in all of life.”
This moves the Christian message from merely something celebrated in the Christian community and at churches and extends the domain of Christ into all of life.
In short, don’t be afraid of culture, and don’t be overly enamored with culture. Root your heart in the eternal values, purpose, and identity given to you in Christ, and seek to embody the beauty of your Savior in every sphere of life. If we gave our lives to that, the culture wars would seem less real and less pressing.
End Notes:
(1) H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture (New York: HarperCollins, 1951).
(2) For further, helpful discussion, see Part 5 of: Tim Keller, Center Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012).