Denver Seminary

Seeking Christ in Culture As Christians, we can celebrate the goodness already present in our culture and work to create more. Today in the United States and in the larger western hemisphere, we are faced with a changing world. The philosophy of modernism has given way to post-modernism. We speak more commonly of feelings than facts. Life goals are wrapped up in the elusive ideas of pleasure and happiness rather than character formation. Furthermore, Christianity seems to have lost its microphone in the public square. Our language must be so carefully nuanced that we often say very little for fear of offending others. In the wake of Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage in the United States, many believers are asking how they should move forward within today's culture. Do we retreat to an insulated world of our own making, like monks withdrawing into medieval monasteries? Do we charge forward into the public square? Amid vast and rapid change in our society and political structure, it's easy to forget that the church has been here before. We lose ourselves in the obsession with our immediate situations, ignorant that this sweeping change has been approaching for decades and centuries. We fail to look back to our predecessors' response to such cultural change during the Enlightenment, the Reformation, and the beginning and end of fusing Christianity with political power, often called Constantinianism. The world is constantly shifting, continually evolving, because human beings are changeable creatures. When we remember this, our questions become less panicked and centered on fear, turning instead to thoughtful engagement. H. Richard Niebuhr is just one example of a figure from Christian history who addressed a shifting culture. An American theological ethicist, Niebuhr lived through times of tumult and vast cultural change: two world wars, the Great Depression, the rise of Marxism and Communism, and the intertwining of Americanism with Christianity to form a new culture in the United States. In reflecting on how Christians have engaged the surrounding culture, be it hostile or friendly, Niebuhr describes five options. 1 We'll consider four of them here: CHRIST AGAINST CULTURE Christians may take what many today call the Benedictine Option, an approach in which believers separate themselves from the world and create their own, highly insulated culture. This can be seen most palpably in communities where Amish and strict Mennonite orders live in distinction from those around them. The hope of this approach is that it might offer the world a light in the darkness, a clear alternative to the status quo. But it also has the potential to denigrate human culture and secular offerings, forgetting the common grace that covers all humanity and allows for great good to come even from those who do not profess faith. CHRIST OF CULTURE On the opposite end of the spectrum are those who embrace culture, buying into the status quo. These people are often concerned with forward progress, social justice, and the wish to celebrate human potential. It is good to recognize that each of us, created in the image of God, has the ability to create beauty (consider Aristotle or Claude Monet). But this view fails to acknowledge the fallen side of our nature and dismisses the fact that we must work toward God's kingdom, not the kingdom of human potential and progress. CHRIST ABOVE CULTURE This third view suggests a mimicry of sorts. Believers create a subculture, one that parrots the broader world. We design our own music, art, and movies. This view attempts to honor the human endeavor, but does so by reworking it and demanding that everything point explicitly and continually towards the faith. But in doing so, we may forget to enjoy creation, language, music, and beauty for its own sake, seeking instead to use it as a means to an end. CHRIST THE TRANSFORMER OF CULTURE The fourth option that Niebuhr suggests is that of seeking goodness in the culture at large: acknowledging those things that already point to Christ, transforming those that don't, and rejecting anything that is inherently irredeemable. Here we seek where God is already at work in our society, and speak truth into those places. Makoto Fujimura, a writer and visual artist, reminds us that beauty has "an ontological reality." 2 Beauty has a transcendence, which even non- believers can recognize, though they may not understand the grounding of that reality or the 20 FALL 2015 CULTURE 1 H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1951). 2 Makoto Fujimura, "Art, Love and Beauty: Introduction," Makoto Fujimura's personal website, www.makotofujimura.com/writings/art-love-and-beauty-introduction/ (accessed July 29, 2015).

• Cover