Christianity & Culture. Part 11: A Summary & Critique of Niebuhr s Five Patterns, Conclusion

Transcription

1 Christianity & Culture Part 11: A Summary & Critique of Niebuhr s Five Patterns, Conclusion

2 Introduction In our previous lecture, we began the task of differentiating one view of Christ and Culture from another and evaluating each on the basis of God s Word. Today, we will continue our summary of Richard Niebuhr s five patterns, particularly Patterns 4 & 5, in order to help us build a foundation by which we may be enabled to think more clearly and confidently about the relationship between Christianity and civilization. Following Pattern 5, I will present a one-page summary for each of the patterns. Then, having finished this detailed examination of the five patterns, we will consider D.A. Carson s critique and alternative to Niebuhr s model.

3 Niebuhr s Fourth Pattern Niebuhr calls this pattern Christ and Culture in Paradox, and is part of the second family under the heading of Christ Above Culture: the Dualists. Dualists seek to do justice to the need for holding together as well as for distinguishing between loyalty to Christ and responsibility for culture (both-and). For them, the conflict is between God and man (not Christ and culture). It is not a question about Christians and pagans, but a question about God and man.

4 Niebuhr s Fourth Pattern The dualist Christians differ considerably from the synthesis in their understanding of both the extent and the thoroughness of human depravity, i.e., they discern corruption and degradation in all man s work. Whereas the synthesist sees rational elements in culture, the dualist sees that reason in human affairs is never separable from its egoistic, godless, perversion. In distinction from the radical Christian (Christ Against Culture), the dualist knows that he belongs to the culture, cannot get out of it, and that God sustains him in it and by it.

5 Niebuhr s Fourth Pattern Speaking positively, their recognition of the sin that is not only in believers but also in their community is more in accord with what the Christian knows about himself and about his churches than are the descriptions of holy commonwealths and perfect societies set forth by radicals and synthesists (Niebuhr). Speaking negatively, dualism tends to lead Christians into antinomianism and into cultural conservatism. Their view of sin in the culture leads them to avoid obedience to cultural law. Cultural institutions, they maintain, belong entirely to the temporal and dying world.

6 Niebuhr s Fifth Pattern Niebuhr calls this pattern Christ the Transformer of Culture, and is part of the third family under the heading of Christ Above Culture: the conversionist. Like the dualists, they note that sin is deeply rooted in the human soul and pervades all of man s work. However, they also believe that culture is under God s sovereign rule, and that the Christian must carry on cultural work in obedience to the Lord. Their focus is on redemption through Jesus death and resurrection.

7 Niebuhr s Fifth Pattern The conversion is so radical that it amounts to a kind of rebirth. For the conversionist, history is the story of God s mighty deeds and of man s response to them. The conversionist, with his view of history as the present encounter with God in Christ, does not live so much in expectation of a final ending of the world of creation and culture as in awareness of the power of the Lord to transform all things by lifting them up to himself (Niebuhr). God makes a new beginning for man by causing man to begin with God (Niebuhr).

8 Christ Against Culture The Christian Community Sole authority of Christ over the Christian Rejects culture s claims to loyalty The reality of spiritual warfare Do not love the world Do not be conformed to this world. Culture World hopelessly corrupted by sin The world is the kingdom of the Evil One Culture is concerned with temporal and passing values My kingdom is not of this world. The fashion of this world is passing away. A Hard Line Separating the Two

9 The Christ of Culture The Christian Community Culture Embraces cultural Christianity Acknowledges the good in culture At home in the community of culture Removes the offense of Christ and His cross Pays little attention to Scripture No great tension between church and world Understands Christ through the world Understands the world through Christ Jesus is abandoned in favor of an idol called by His name Writes apocryphal gospels and new lives of Jesus, i.e., makes Jesus in their image (Gnosticism and Liberalism) Identifies Christ with culture: Is this really a Christian pattern? The symbol of what is highest and best in that culture Reason is the way to the knowledge of God and salvation Christ is identified with what men conceive to be their finest ideals, their noblest institutions, and their best philosophy Harmonization of culture and Christ

10 Christ Above Culture: Synthesis The Christian Community Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Father Almighty who created heaven and earth Affirms Christ and culture Never says, Christ or culture Does not need Christ at the lower level only reason (Aquinas) Does not separate the works of human culture from the grace of God Christ supplements nature with something higher (grace) They do not face up to the radical evil present in all human work Culture Culture is man s development of nature Culture is good and rightly ordered by the One to whom Jesus Christ is obedient and with whom he is inseparably united If God created nature, and culture is founded upon nature, then Christ and the world cannot be opposed to each other Both divine and human in its origin Both holy and sinful A realm of necessity and freedom A realm where reason and revelation apply Separates Nature and Grace

11 The Christ and Culture in Paradox: Dualist God God exercises double sovereignty (Gene Veith) Two kingdoms: the church and the world God rules one way in the world (Christ) and a different way in the world (natural laws) Gospel vs. Law; Spiritual vs. Secular The righteousness of God Reconciliation through Jesus Christ The greatness of the grace of God The power of the work of Christ Man Man is totally depraved Human culture is intensely corrupt All human action infected with godlessness Human reason has been altered by sin Man belongs to the culture and cannot escape it God sustains man in the culture Man avoids any kind of Christian activism Paradoxes: law & grace; revelation & reason; Creator & Redeemer Focus on religious, but not state & economic Culture is transitory and dying Double sovereignty

12 Christ the Transformer of Culture: Conversionist God Culture God is Creator as well as redeemer Divine renewal of creation God transforms creation and culture Jesus Christ came to heal and renew what sin has infected God makes a new beginning with man God gives common and special grace Transformation of culture: Does this really happen in its absolute form? Culture is under God s comprehensive sovereign rule Man radically fell in the Garden Disorder extends to every phase of culture The story of the Spirit s encounter with nature History is the story of God s mighty deeds and man s response to them Christians should seek to transform culture according to God s Word Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. The present: a period of preparation for the ultimate communion of the soul with God Man as man is to glorify God in his/her calling

13 Merging Patterns? One begins to wonder whether, at least in some cases, the discrete patterns rarely subsist in pure forms, and perhaps ought not do so. Is it possible that a merging of patterns sometimes brings greater fidelity to the biblical revelation than adopting any of the patterns in its purist form? D.A. Carson, PhD Research Professor, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

14 How to Approach Niebuhr s Patterns We should not think of each pattern in Niebuhr s fivefold scheme as warranted by individual documents in the New Testament, such that we have the option to pick and choose which pattern we prefer, assured that all are equally encompassed by the canon that warrants them individually. Rather, we should be attempting a holistic grasp of the relations between Christ and culture, fully aware, as we make our attempt, that peculiar circumstances may call us to emphasize some elements in one situation, and other elements in another situation. D.A. Carson

15 An Alternative to Niebuhr Would it not be better to remind ourselves of other complementary truths, such as the fact that God remains sovereign over the entire created order, that we ourselves are sinners constantly in need of grace so that we are never more than poor beggars telling others where there is bread, that the gospel transforms people such that they begin to function as salt and light in a world that is decaying and dark, that God s gifts of common grace are good gifts even when they are embedded in a culture dominantly characterized by rebellion against God, and that on the last day justice will not only be done, but will be seen to be done? (D.A. Carson).

16 Great Turning Points in Redemptive History 1. Creation: All things created good. 2. Fall: Revolt against the Almighty 3. Israel and the Law: God chooses His own people and must remain God s people in every dimension of their existence. 4. Christ and the Covenant: Incarnation, Kingdom of God, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, Session 5. A Heaven to Be Gained and a Hell to be Feared: The current relations between Christ and culture have no final status. They must be evaluated in the light of eternity (Carson).