Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.
-John Wesley
Christianity makes suffering contagious
-Friedrich Nietzsche
Christians are told to be ‘in the world, but not of the world,’ but it is hard not to err in one direction or the other. Too much emphasis on the “evils” of secular culture can lead people to isolate themselves in a bubble of Christian culture. On the other hand, Christians seeking to engage the culture can find themselves changed by it in ways they aren’t aware of. And even when Christians feel like they are striking the right balance, the secular culture might not be too happy to have them involved. What is the proper role of Christians in secular culture? Is there a place for Christian culture, or does that inevitably lead to isolation? And what should we make of the reaction of non-Christians to our involvement in the culture?
This week we are going to talk about the interaction with the culture (media, art, schools, relationships, etc.). NEXT week we are going to talk about politics and the law and the following week we will talk about finances and the workplace.
Michael Gleghorn, Augustine on Popular Culture: Ancient Take on a Modern Problem,
Jerry Solomon, Christianity and Culture,
Susan Wise Bauer, On Slippery Slopes, the Blogosphere, and (oh, yes) Women,
Andy Crouch, Creating Culture,
Philip Jenkins, "Shall the Fundamentalists Win?",
Todd Hertz reviewer, Saved!
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2 comments:
Hi all. This is the first chance I've had to comment, but this is a near and dear topic to my heart so here goes:
Christians have NO EXCUSES when secular culture reflects/is influenced by non-Christian "morality" when we FAIL to participate. The culture war on homosexuality, humanism, etc was lost years before we in the church were even aware standards were changing. Two brief illustrations. One positive, one negative:
1) Civil Rights legislation finally came about in the 1960, one hundred years after fighting a civil war and legislating the 14th and 15th Amendments. What changed in the 60s to finally make people see the light? Simply put, the 1950s and the social acceptance by (young) white America of people like Chuck Berry, Fats Domino and Little Richard. Popular culture acceptance(as happens so often in history)laid the groundwork for "official" legislative action. This is a history lesson we, as Christians would be wise to master.
2) The Christian singer, Steve Taylor, released a song in the 1980s called "Baby Doe" based on the true account. I've quoted Steve's linear notes below, since they require no elaboration:
"A baby was born in Bloomington, Indiana with Down's Syndrome, and despite numerous outside pleas for adoption, the parents, doctors, and ultimately the courts agreed to allow Baby Doe to starve to death, right there in the hospital.
I began writing this song with the sense of outrage that fingers those responsible and demands justice. But the more I thought about what had happened, the more I realized that I shared in the blame--that my silence had helped clear the way for Baby Doe's suffering and death. Hearing this song again leaves me feeling empty and a little numb. In our democratic society, the battle for the sanctity of human life is being lost.
And when that window closes, nothing will be sacred. "
The way we each participate in the culture is, of course unique. But we should all have in common that basic participation. I have several friends from my house church that have moved on to Hollywood and are working quite successfully in that mission field. Far better for them, God and the world that they're no longer "in the church". I may not work in the movies but I sure like them, and my redeemed discerning spirit and natural insight into storytelling provides a POV that my unsaved friend would benefit from. But I have to see the movie first!
I simply don't blame the World and it's products for not reflecting God. That's not their job, it's ours. The end result is that we believers, the ones who have a relationship with Living Truth, also have the chance to pass that relationship on in the movie theatres, concert halls, and book stores. Either as participants in a story's creation or it's dissection.
-Surge
Sometimes it is easy to become overwhelmed by the "culture", and then feel as if there is nothing we "can do" about it. I think that is one of the reasons Christians have, for so many years, often abandoned interaction with the world (except maybe in an evangelistic sense and I am not sure the Church has been particularly good at that, at least in the West, in the past few decades).
It feels safer, and easier, to just surround yourself with like-minded folks. But then the "baby doe" situation happens, and one realizes that one MUST interact with the world again.
Incidentally, I remember that song very well. It used to make me cry.
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