Christian Worldview and Culture Essay

To mean solar days cultural landscape painting has been shaped by the likes of MTV (entertainment), Steve Jobs (technology), and Mark Zuckerberg ( fond networking). Society often prefers accepting the initiationviews of these and early(a) influential people, rather than hearing the message of the Good News of de em formryman christ which offers salvation to a f all in allen world. We smoke non ignore the reality that a vast majority of cultural advancements argon produced by non- the Naz arneian burnish- featurers, who, as they capture more self-conscious and consistent with their anti- delivery boyian stance, will express their unbelief in their artifacts with increasing boldness. saviourians cannot dismiss the impact and relevance these contri thoions have made on society. One of the great challenges believers ar confronted with is developing an understanding of the magnificence of expressing and communion our saviorian worldview in the midst of various competing ideo logies. One of the hidden ideologies that laic elaboration promotes is that we can take c atomic number 18 of ourselves thus, refuting every notion that we be dependent on Christ to meet every kind- mettleed extremity, including the need for salvation. Christian dis dealment from shade is contrary to Christs subject of Incarnation.Christ did not consider valet enculturation unworthy of his trouble and love. He set aside his divinity and put on compassionate flesh so that he could lock away us on a social and cultural level. The great commission is an corroborateation of Christs desire for his followers to go into all the word, engaging culture and preaching the evangel. What is Culture? Culture can be defined utilize three different admissiones agricultural, sociological, and anthropological. The agricultural approach to defining culture is derived from the Latin cultura meaning to plow or till. Culture is understood from a agribusiness or agricultural perspective wh ich entails the practice of cultivating the soil, producing crops, and raising livestock. The reference to someone being cultured is drawn from this farming metaphor. Education in this sense is the cultivation of the mind. The sociological approach to defining culture deals with social correct distinctions of high (elite) and low (mass) culture. This aesthetic standpoint is mainly implicated with the noetic and artistic operations of a society. High culture is associated with the highest ideals of what is (in a subjective sense) neat.A cultured person is one who has been acquainted with and educated in the finer things of art, books, music, etiquette, socialization, as so on. The anthropological perspective regarding culture is concerned with the whole way of life of a group or society, not just its better achievements. Unlike the sociological perspective, this approach does not make distinctions amongst sophisticated and primitive social groups.It simply acknowledges th at all act which is produced by a social group (texts, art, music, food, artifacts, philosophy, ethics, etc. is that groups culture. H. Richard Niebuhr states, Social life is eternally cultural and culture is the product of clement achievement. kind-heartedity Was Created For Good Works Culture, as expressed by the creativity of human activity, is a reflection of matinee idol who Himself is a productive being. Human understanding of order and beauty is only possible because of immortals magnificent earth of the heavens and the earth. paragon validated the beauty of creation when He saw all that he had made was very penny-pinching (Genesis 131). universe and woman were created in the divine image and similarity (imago dei) of God and were entrusted by God to c be for and tend to His creation. Man was apt(p) the responsibility of cultivating the Garden of Eden and in doing so bringing atmosphere to the Creator. Here we should take notice mingled with the similarities o f the word cultura (plow, till) and cultus which is a veneration of the divine. This should give us a greater brain wave regarding how the human race was called to interact deliberately with the earthworking, tilling, cultivatingwhile at the same time lovingly serving his divine Master and righteousnessing his Maker. offer performed his culturative activities in response to and as a reflection of Gods creative acts. Competing Worldviews All of benignitys artistic and creative workings reflect the worldview of those who created them. As a result of the Fall the imago dei has become distorted, causation humanity to shift the focus of their creative and culturative activities away from exclusive worship to God. As a result humanity has developed unholy motives rase though superficially our creative activities may be of some benefit.Mans creative outlet is disorientedseeking to glorify himself by dint of the whole deeds of his own hands. Once we understand that all human creat ive labours are a reflection of the inner beliefs and values of the mind and spirit, we can assess the intention of human activity properly. The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11) was the product of human efforts to succeed, using human ability, self-sufficing of God. Todays pop culture seeks to create a new Babel in which human achievement and expert advancement create the false notion that we can live independent of God, or even worse, have no need of God.Thus, culture al slipway reflects a societys religious and philosophical values, flowing out of the heartas it wereof the society which produces it. A Christian worldview based on Gods Word will discern the the ideological bias of the mean(a) and ideological content of the message of non-Christian (and Christian) artifacts. This is essential for the Christian because there is no neutrality in the message embedded in the whole shebang of man. We are not idle spectators, We must take sides at all multiplication in everything we do. Christian Approach to Culture (Christ and Culture)thither has been much arguing as to the extent in which Christians are to engage the culture that we live and worship in. Should Christians adapt a Monastic approach secluding ourselves from society? Or, are we to engage the world in such manner that our Christian oddity is lost? H. Richard Niebuhr, in his book Christ and Culture, suggests several Christian answers to the business of Christ and culture. Niebuhr offers five approaches Christians have historically interpreted in an effort to understand their position in Christ and involvement with culture.These are Christ against culture, Christ of culture, Christ preceding(prenominal) culture, Christ and culture in paradox, and Christ the transformer of culture. The Christ against culture approach proposes that loyalty to Christ is a rejection of cultural society. He critiques this stance as a radically Christian answer to the problem of culture. Indeed, it is impossible for a Christian, or any person, to totally reject and remove themselves from the influence of and involvement with culture. God has taken the opposite approach.He did not reject the world when Adam sinned, but rather engaged the world and put into motion the plan of redemption through with(predicate) Jesus Christ. Christ stepped into our earthly realm and became subject to the influences and temptations of human culture yet was without sin (Hebrews 415). Christs alliance to culture was to use the elements of culture to reveal God the Father and the terra firma of Heaven to fallen humanity. The second model, Christ of culture, is the opposite of the against culture model. It seeks social and cultural engagement with the world.It attempts to make the creed meaningful to society by extending its reach beyond a selected little band of saints and is able to engage those of high and low social strata. While the effort to make Christ a part of culture may reach those who would remain other than unreached, there is a susceptibility to distort the figure of the New will Jesus in an effort to accommodate a social-gospel agenda. This is done by relegating Jesus into what we need him to be in an attempt to foretell our social and cultural problems.Jesus is a great humanitarian if we are fighting for human rights or a great teacher if we are engaged in philosophical debate. Again, this model can be usable in reaching out to the culture, but we cannot compromise the truthfulness of the gospel for a specific social agenda. The third prototype is Christ above culture. This view proposes that the fundamental issue does not lie between Christ and the world but between God and man. By placing Christ at the center, and not against culture, this approach avoids separating the experience of blessing from cultural activity.There are three distinct groups in this category synthesists, dualists, and conversionists. Synthesists affirm Christ and culture (both/and) rejecting a Chri st or culture (either/or) approach. They confine that Jesus is both God and man, one person with two natures and that the works of human nature cannot be separated from the grace of God, for all those works are possible only by grace. Essentially, Christ cannot be against culture because God created nature.Likewise Christs incarnation allowed him to actively take part nd engage with the culture of his day. One area that could lead to problems in this approach is by synthesizing Christ and culture in such a manner where Christ becomes subservient to culture. If culture assumes the dominant role in this synthesis, the Church will risk becoming more cultural and slight Christ-like because it has elevated culture to the same status as Christ through whom all things were made and exist and without him nothing was made that has been made (John13). The dualist approach sees Christ and culture in paradox.This view makes sharp distinctions between the temporal and the spiritual life, or between what is external and internal, between body and soul, between the reign of Christ and the world of human works and culture. There is a line drawn between God and us. In the dualists view all of human culture is fallen. For dualists the works of Christians at bottom the church and non-Christians outside of the church are equally corrupt. The dualists are in a state of paradox since they cannot reconcile the concept of law and grace.They fail to realize that Christ came to earth to remove the line of breakup between man and God. As Christians we must understand that while the world is in a fallen state and under law, at the same time it is under grace and we are to go into all the world and preach the sizeable news to all creation (Mark 1615). The third group that embraces a Christ above culture paradigm is the conversionists. What distinguishes conversionists from dualists is their more positive and hopeful attitude toward culture. Conversionists see Christ as the transfor mer of culture. They embrace the redemptive work of Christ in the here and now. They are not looking to some eschatological future where one day they all will be restored. The conversionists have a hopeful prognosis regarding culture and look forward to its restoration from a corrupt state. Christ transforms the fallen culture in that he redirects, reinvigorates, and regenerates the life of man from a corrupted state. Once man has been regenerated, he will produce good works.The transformative power of Christ in the life of fallen humanity redeems us For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Eph. 210). It is not our works which cause us to be redeemed but rather, our works are a testimony to the world that we are no longer adjoin by the curse of sin and corruption. Conclusion Because we live in a period of world history that offers the greatest tools and opportunities for cultural engagement, we c annot ignore the importance of understanding Christ role, through the Church, in todays culture. To engage with culture, theology and ecclesiology needs to be both critical and artistic such engagements require theology to be open to the insights of cultural studies and alert to the ways in which contemporary culture is shaping religion. Social networking sites, email, iPhones, cable TV, movies, music, art, and literature are the vehicles that are being used to promote the beliefs and values of our society. ogre has done a great job in using culture to enslave society, tempting us to sin and forfeit our relationship with God our Creator.Our fleshly appetites are satisfied by images of sexuality, greed, power, and self-assertion. The danger of a culturally advanced society is that it seeks to replace God with its achievements. It seeks salvation, joy, peace, and prosperity via its own human efforts and imaginations. Because we have been brought from darkness to light we must shine the light of the gospel of Christ by engaging the culture in which we live, work, play, and worship. For this reason, every Christian must seize the opportunity that the contemporary circumstances present to us and boldly set out to transform the earth.