Christ and Culture: A Biblical and Historical Introduction

Christ and Culture by Richard Niebuhr is a book that is built upon a series of several lectures offered at Austin Presbyterian Seminary in 1949. The Christ and Culture is an ideal-typical link that tries to address the persistent problem that associates with Christianity and civilization. At first, Niebuhr begins by defining Christ, and according to him, Christ represents a New Testament figure, who died through crucifixion and rose from the dead. He is the one whom Christians believe in and are under His authority (Niebuhr, 2003 ) . Again, he defines culture as the social manner and activities that concern human life, that is, the surroundings within a given group of people that focus on their customs, beliefs, structural leadership, family lineage and ethics (Niebuhr, 2003) . The book discusses several ways in which Christians have struggled to ensure they live faithfully and develop loyalty to their authority, who is Jesus Christ, as well as trying to fit the culture surrounding them. In the process, human beings have few choices, that is, either to oppose culture, accept that Christ agrees with culture or a combination that associates both culture and Christ. Niebuhr breaks down the association of the two into more distinct variations. They i nclude a synthetic type where they see Christ as a fulfillment of culture, and a dualistic kind where there is a view that there exists tension between the two, plus a “controversy” type that depicts Christ as a bridge that converts culture and society. This paper summarizes Richard Niebuhr’s Christ and Culture which l ays out quite some options which can be examined regarding this topic . 

Christ against Culture 

Niebuhr uses Tertullian, Leo Tolstoy, the Mennonites and several monastic traditions to expound on this position. In this case, these traditions have a common thing that unites them. They include the view of being loyal to Christ and the church, thus leading to rejection of the culture regarding lifestyle, norms, and ethics. The gap between the church and culture is so broad with the two sides having strong stands on their beliefs and authority. The sharp differences are as a result of the culture side believing that they are right whereas the church believes that their existence is the evidence of world’s judgment. Niebuhr’s work exhibits the loyalty and sincerity from both sides, which to him is very impressive, but he does not agree with the way the church cannot be able to alienate itself from the culture that it vehemently condemns. 

Christ of Culture 

In this position, Niebuhr reflects on ancient Gnostics, Abelard, Albrecht and a significant population of Protestant liberals. In this case, men and women consider Jesus as the Messiah of their lives, the one they have their hopes on, an accurate depiction of faith, and a source of holy life (Niebuhr, 2003) . The people aim at ensuring a perfect relationship with both the believers and the non-believers. In this position, there is minimal tension and differences between church and culture, the social ethics and gospel, and the theme of salvation versus the cultural conservation. These people as well interpret culture through Jesus and treating those aspects that relate to Christ with honor. As well, on the other hand, Christ is understood through a culture where there is a selection of those teachings that agree well with civilization (Niebuhr, 2003). The fact that people have a firm belief that those who oppose culture make an impact on culture yet, from history, people had a close attachment to Jesus. It is because there was some harmony in the Christian message with the way the religious leaders behaved and therefore the people in this group can fit any part of the society and can make an impact on other’s lives (Niebuhr, 2003). However, Niebuhr raises a limitation which involves the distortion of Christ in the process of making the Christian message conform to the culture leading to viewing Jesus in a non-authentic manner. 

Christ above Culture 

The Christ above culture does not bring out between Christian beliefs and culture, but instead, it depicts a different battle between a Holy God and a sinful man (Niebuhr, 2003) . Those who believe in Christ believe that God has power over culture and thus culture cannot be rated as good or bad. In this position, when one sins, his or her act of rebelliousness to God can be expressed in real terms, that is culture. However, it does not imply that culture is terrible. Culture, according to them, is under the Control of God and view that the best way to address any concern is to synthesize the two. There are no means of separating the grace of God and culture because some human culture are inseparable from grace (Niebuhr, 2003) . As well, Niebuhr notes that there is no way of separating cultural activities from experience of grace. This position attempts to develop some balance from the perspective in which people see Christ as being part of the culture. This includes incarnation as well, being the one who brings sustainability in the culture. Developing this form of understanding, as in Niebuhr’s work, is fundamental in reaching those morals that society deserves, including Christians who take part in societal activities. It is clear that God created man as a social being hence it is not possible to alienate man form these activities (Niebuhr, 2003) . However, the negative concern from Niebuhr is that he believes that this position may lead to the institutionalization of churches and Christ if pushed to limits. The book demonstrates this through the way this can take away the attention from focusing on that eternal hope. 

Christ and Culture in Paradox 

In this group, the members might want to be loyal to the culture and Christ at the same time. There tends to be a belief that this association is not fit. There is stress on a dangerous “paradox” where there is a conflict between Christ and culture because of the sinful nature of culture. That is, culture involves sins and, on another side, being a Christian involves living under the grace of Christ. Niebuhr exhibits the positive side of this issue since it expresses the real tension in the world currently. In this case, human beings are under laws as well as grace, but nature is a sinful creature who should seek righteousness (Niebuhr, 2003) . The cynical part of this group, however, is that it is static. In a sense, Christians may find it challenging to address culture hence leading to the development of conservatism because both sides involve seriousness, wrath, and mercy. Since these issues are there, people find it dangerous to take action favoring neither. 

Christ the Transformer of Culture 

This position involves “coercionists” who have higher hopes towards culture. They have potent beliefs in God and believe that He is the creator. As well, they have a view that the fall of man was for the better (Niebuhr, 2003). Furthermore, they agree that God can transform human culture and be able to achieve the glory of the creator. In a real sense, it implies that the work in culture aims for the better because God had a reason for social creativity and can be good. Culture may involve sins, but it is a transformation process that may lead to humans achieving glory at the end. This is because of it only through Christ that humans can receive redemption. There is no way in which one can be able to avert himself or herself from sin but through having his mind on Jesus and focusing on Him. 

A Concluding Postscript 

The book concludes with Niebuhr making a decision. He makes his stand that the solution to these issues is far from the conclusion and is inconclusive (Niebuhr, 2003) . He makes a suggestion where human beings should act from insight to a decision. From there, the solution to the issue can result from engaging in free decisions. This conclusion is not traditional-oriented. Niebuhr brings out various issues that may be a guiding factor in handling the matter. These include creating awareness on relativism of any activity humans undertake because no one has extensive knowledge of culture involvement and its relationship to God. He also stresses on the need for humans to act and behave as believers as well as act in the present history, which has implications to every action and the rewards that come with eternity. Niebuhr states that the only way humans can get out of this relativity is by having faith. That is through making confessions and decisions without fear of anything at the same time being ready for corrections. It is because “faith in the Absolute, as known in and through Christ, makes evident that nothing I do or can do in my relative ignorance and knowledge, right without the completion, correction, and forgiveness of activity of grace working in all creation and the redemption” (Niebuhr, 2003). 

He finally concludes that another human being should not guide the process of decision making, or the history of the church participation but instead believe that Christ rose from the dead and thus, He is the redemption point of the world. 

Reference

Niebuhr, H. (2003). Christ & culture . New York: HarperCollins World.