Richard Niebuhr wrote a book entitled Christ and Culture in which he introduces five different approaches Christians tend to take to interact with culture. These approaches provide clarity on how Christians engage the world while remaining faithful to Christ.
Christians view the world as evil creating a radical separation between the Christian community and the surrounding culture. While this approach emphasizes holiness and faithfulness to the Lordship of Christ it results in isolationism.
Rather than rejecting culture, Christ is seen as identifying with culture. This is most noticeable in the Protestant Reformation which introduced the “social gospel.” While this approach encourages cultural transformation through Christian ideals, it distorts Christ and reduces him to a cultural symbol rather than Lord and Savior.
Rather than rejecting or becoming part, Christ is seen as completing an incomplete culture, balancing the goodness of creation with the need for divine revelation. While this values harmony between faith and society it can result in an overly optimistic view of culture’s morality while downplaying the need for radical transformation.
Christians are citizens of heaven and the world and they must live faithfully in both even though the two worlds are often in conflict. While this approach addresses the complexities of life, engaging the culture while maintaining a Christian identity in a fallen world, it can lead to a moral passivity that results in tolerating cultural evils.
Rather than rejecting or coexisting with culture, Christians are called to redeem it. This approach views culture as fallen but capable of being renewed by God’s grace. While this approach actively seeks change aligning with God and offering hope of transformation, it can be idealistic underestimating the depth of sin and depravity of culture.
Christ gave to the local church one mission to make disciples of all nations for the transformation of the world [Matthew 28:18-20].
The conflict between Christ and culture is akin to Paul’s admonition in Galatians 5:17 that the flesh and the spirit are always opposed to one another. Christ calls the Christian to be “salt and light” in and to the world [Matthew 5:13 – 16]. Neibuhr certainly gives us something to think about.
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