CULTURE: Christians and culture evaluated!

According to Baptist Press, Gene Veith, "cultural editor of World magazine; director of the Cranach Institute at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Ind.; and author of more than 15 books," evidently presented a well-reasoned analyse of the real and imagined interaction of Christianity and culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary recently.

Veith offered four views on this interaction ...

The first way, which Veith called "Culture Rules Christianity," is associated with liberal theology. In this model, the world sets the agenda for the church so that "when culture changes, Christianity needs to change as well to remain culturally relevant."

Problems with this model abound, Veith noted. "How much can you change the church's teachings and practice to make them relevant to people today, given that the dominant culture is non-Christian?" he asked.

The next view is sort of a Christian kingdom on earth ...

The second model, "Christianity Rules the Culture," is "much more noble than the first option" but still runs into serious problems, Veith said.

According to this model, the church's means of impacting culture is to obtain political power and subsequently implement the laws of the Bible as the laws of the land.

While Veith presents a form of ostrich Christianity, head firmly stuck in the sand ...

A third view, "Christianity against Culture," maintains that culture is so sinful that Christians must separate themselves from it. [...]

"This seems to violate John 17, where Jesus says, 'I'm not taking you out of the world; I’m sending you into the world,'" he said. "The Lord teaches in that passage a principle: He wants His people to be in the world, but not of the world."

The good professor then discusses my favorite view of the real clash of civilizations ...

A fourth option, which Veith said he prefers, is "Christianity and Culture" or "the doctrine of two kingdoms." In this model, Christians live out their faith as citizens of both of God's kingdoms, the church and culture. Foundational to this view is an understanding that God already reigns in both church and culture as part of His governance of the universe, Veith said.

"We’re engaged in [culture]; we’re active in it," he said. "But our identity comes not from it but from the spiritual community controlled by His Word.... The church, under this model, is not to be shaped by culture but only by the Word of God. We can shape culture by bringing our faith to everyday life."

To my way of thinking this last model most closely fits the model established by our Lord. We are God's hands in the mirey clay; He uses us to shape and smooth vessels of cursing and blessing in this life and the next.

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TAGS: Carver-Barnes, Christianity, Church, Culture,
Gene Veith, Gospel, Liberal theology, Politics,
SBTS, Separation, Sin, Theology, Worldview