All authors dream of writing the book that is not only popular and valuable, but which becomes the reference point—the standard work—the book that sets the terms of the discussion, such that all subsequent books have to take account of it. H Richard Niebuhr managed to do that with his 1951 book Christ and Culture.
In it, he put forward a five-fold framework or typology for how Christians in history have interacted with culture. Niebuhr’s typology has framed the options ever since. His five models for Christians relating to culture were (very briefly):
1. Christ against culture—in which the demands of Christ are so opposed to the norms of culture that the two must be fundamentally opposed. In the Bible, we see this in the powerful imagery of Revelation (where the world is an evil opposing force to God’s kingdom), or in passages that urge us not to “love the world or the things in the world” (1 John 2:15).
2. The Christ of culture—in which Christ represents, exemplifies and perfects all that is best in human culture. This is the vision of Enlightenment-style Liberalism, where there is no opposition between Christ and culture, but where Christian doctrine is molded to reflect and endorse what we already regard as the best and highest aspects of our civilization.
3. Christ above culture—in which the demands of Christ and culture are in some tension, but a tension that can be resolved by putting the two together (with Christ in the higher place). This approach is typified by Thomas Aquinas, who argued that the church stands over the world and helps the world achieve peace, stability and fulfillment.
4. Christ and culture in paradox—which also sees Christ and culture in tension (neither entirely separating, nor accom¬modating), but says that this tension will never be resolved in this age. This approach is exemplified in Luther’s doctrine of the ‘two kingdoms’, in which the Christian belongs at the same time to Christ’s eternal kingdom, and to the temporal kingdoms of this world. There is a high degree of pessimism in this option about improving or transforming the culture: it will remain sinful and flawed until it is redeemed in the new creation.
5. Christ transforming culture—which accepts the tension of option 4, but is more optimistic about the effect that Christ’s gospel will have in renovating the world now. Niebuhr anchors this in Augustine and Calvin (although with some difficulty), but is a little vague about how much transformation is possible. (more…)
