Christ and Culture Revisited |
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Manufacturer: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
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PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 261
EAN: 9780802831743
ISBN: 0802831745
Label: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Manufacturer: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 243
Publication Date: 2008-04
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Studio: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
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Editorial Reviews:
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Called to live in the world, but not to be of it, Christians must maintain a balancing act that becomes more precarious the further our culture departs from its Judeo-Christian roots. How should members of the church interact with such a culture, especially as deeply enmeshed as most of us have become? D. A. Carson applies his masterful touch to this problem. He begins by exploring the classic typology of H. Richard Niebuhr and his five options for understanding culture. Carson proposes that these disparate options are in reality one still larger vision. Using the Bible's own story line and the categories of biblical theology, he attempts to work out what that unifying vision is. Carson acknowledges the helpfulness of Niebuhr's grid and other similar matrices but warns against giving them canonical force. More than just theoretical, Christ and Culture Revisited is also designed practically to help Christians untangle current messy debates on living in the world. Carson emphasizes that the relation between Christ and culture is not limited to an either/or cultural paradigm -- Christ against culture or Christ transforming culture. Instead Carson offers his own paradigm in which all the categories of biblical theology must be kept in mind simultaneously to inform the Christian worldview. Though several other books on culture interact with Niebuhr, none of them takes anything like the biblical-theological approach adopted here. Ground-breaking and challenging, Christ and Culture Revisited is a tour de force.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Summary: A New Take on Christ and Culture
Comment: For more than fifty years now, H. Richard Niebuhr's classic work Christ and Culture has influenced the evangelical understanding of how to relate the Christian faith to the cultures we live in. D.A. Carson's new book, Christ and Culture Revisited takes a critical look at Niebuhr's work. He summarizes Niebuhr's book, offers a timely critique, and then uses the book as a springboard into contemporary issues.
Carson's book is as much a new Christ and Culture as it is a critique of Niebuhr's work. By studying the dominant cultural forces of our time and speaking to the debates about "culture" and "postmodernism," Carson updates, changes, and arguably replaces Neibuhr's work, at least in terms of its contemporary relevance.
In chapter 1, Carson lays out Niebuhr's five paradigms for understanding the relationship between Christ and culture: Christ against Culture, Christ of Culture, and Christ above Culture (a paradigm which includes the last two as subsets: Christ and Culture in Paradox and Christ the Transformer of Culture).
In chapter 2, Carson critiques Niebuhr's proposal, mainly by showing how those in the Christ of Culture paradigm (Gnostics, Classic Liberals, etc.) have largely abandoned Christianity altogether. He also critiques Niebuhr's handling of Scripture, specifically - his defense of the Christ the Transformer of Culture paradigm. Carson argues against a "one size fits all" mentality, and instead believes that the Scriptures may advocate some elements in one situation and other elements in another.
But Carson does not merely critique Niebuhr. He lays out the major historical moments that form the heart of the Christian understanding of the world, arguing that these are non-negotiables of biblical theology.
In chapter 3, Carson defines "culture" and then refines our understanding of "postmodernism." Towards the end of the chapter, the gloves come off. In discussing epistemology, Carson debates vigorously against the epistemology of James Smith that is now surfacing in the Emerging Church.
Chapters 4 and 5 deal with contemporary issues in today's society. What are Christians to make of secularization? Why is it important that we not equate our democratic government with the Kingdom? Why is freedom dangerous? Carson devotes an entire chapter to issues of church and state, managing to appreciate and still strongly criticize our Western ideals of freedom and prosperity, all from a biblical perspective.
In the final chapter, Carson lays out some of specific models of thinking through issues of Christ and culture. He calls these models "options," while appreciating and warning against certain aspects of each.
Christ and Culture Revisited is a worthy addition to the thoughtful pastor's library. Carson helpfully summarizes and critiques Niebuhr's work. But more than that, he offers solid counsel on navigating the murky waters of a fading cultural Christianity in the West.
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Summary: The Best I've Read on These Issues - A Must Read, but a Challenging Read
Comment: Oustanding, helpful, Biblical tour-de-force by Carson. He clearly shows the inadequacies of many 'Christian' approaches to cutlure (with particular focus on Niehbur) while he also attempts to lay out a broader understanding of the issue from a wholistic Biblical framework. He does not de-emphasize the tensions and struggles of faithful living in a fallen world and in particular contexts. It bogs down a little in his discussions on post-modernism, but overall, an outstanding book that probably needs to be read more than once for it to truly sink in and percolate. A must read in these polarizing days of culture wars and 'win at all costs' political campaigns!
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Summary: One of the Best Christian Books of 2008!
Comment: This is a rich, revealing, and satisfying survey of how believers relate to the culture in which they live. In the first chapter, Carson adopts Clifford Geertz's definition of culture, which is "an historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols ...by means of which men communicate, perpetuate, and develop their knowledge about and attitudes toward life (p. 2)."
He also revisits Richard Niebuhr's five constructs which he finds in scripture: Christ against Culture, the Christ of culture, Christ Above Culture, Christ and Culture in paradox, and Christ the Transformer of culture. In chapter two, Carson concludes that the second option is probably unbiblical and that the other four constructs can be true in different times and places, and that it is better to see these as working together rather than four buffet style pick and choose options.
Carson also mentions some non-negotiable teachings in the biblical storyline that must be the foundation of any understanding of how the Christian relates to culture: 1. God made everything good, but that this is a fallen world because of original sin inherited through Adam and Eve 2. Jesus came to inaugerate the New Covenant and to die for our sins and rise again to be the king of the universe 3. There is a heaven to be gained and a hell to be feared.
Chapter three discusses Christ, culture and postmodernism. While Carson acknowledges that culture colors the way we perceive truth, this does not support the postmodern idea that we cannot know truth as truth. We can acknowledge with emergent church leaders that all of our knowledge is interpreted, and also agree with scripture that truth is important and reliable.
There is also a chapter about the Christian and secularism, power, democracy, and freedom. Carson notes that Jesus himself taught us that some sort of distinction between Christ and Caesar (government) must be maintained (Mark 12 - Give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's). He also notes that not all democracies are created equal - the democracies in Iraq and Afghanistan, for example, are still very fragile.
Carson also mentions that the radical left would like to force groups like the Boy Scouts to subscribe to their liberal egalitarian vision for America.
He mentions the tension between majority rule and the drive to preserve the rights of the minority. He concludes by noting that secularism, freedom, power, and democracy cannot be properly labeled good or evil. They can be either, depending on the context. He observes that Christian communities who desire to live out the Word of God will invariably encounter and confront aspects of culture that are not in line with the
Word. We must sacrifically serve and minister to people within this complex culture.
There is also a long chapter on the church and state. Carson discusses the origin of the idea of the "wall of separation" between the two, and that it originates within a letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Adams in 1802, and that it has been applied in many different ways other than what Jefferson had in mind.
Carson recommends that Christians live out their faith together in community, become more bold in their witness, and do ministries that others would rather leave to government agencies, such as mentoring kids without dads, teaching kids to read, looking after the sick and the elderly, feeding the poor, etc.
This is an exciting and intellectually stimulating book. Thinking Christians won't want to miss it.
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Summary: A great contribution by Carson
Comment: In 1951 H. Richard Niebuhr penned his now classic volume, Christ and Culture. In it he sought to explore the "enduring problem" of the "many-sided debate about Christianity and civilization". In an attempt to come to terms with this complex and important issue, he presented various models of this relationship.
The result was his famous fivefold reply: Christ against Culture; Christ of Culture; Christ above Culture; Christ and Culture in Paradox; and Christ the Transformer of Culture. Each of these models he describes in detail, and he notes both strengths and weaknesses to the five options. He suggests that believers will have to make up their own minds as to which is the preferred option.
In Carson's new volume he seeks to carry on from where Niebuhr left off. He begins by assessing his work and the five models. He rightly notes that for Niebuhr the real issue is not so much how Christianity relates to culture, but "two sources of authority as they compete within society, namely Christ ... and every other source of authority divested of Christ". And Niebuhr is especially thinking of secular or civil authority here, Carson reminds us.
Carson also notes some weaknesses in Niebuhr's important volume. He did a good job of aligning various historical figures with the five models, but sometimes the fit is far from precise. For example, while Augustine or Calvin may well fit in the transformationist model, they do so only partially. And Tertullian cannot consistently be seen as fitting in the opposition ("against") model. And so on.
Carson then discusses the biblical plotline, and what are some nonnegotiable elements of the biblical worldview. He rightly notes that we do very much have a responsibility to our surrounding culture. Believers have a relationship with God "in the context of embodied existence". Indeed, as image bearers of God, we have "responsibilities toward the rest of the created order - responsibilities of governance and care".
He discusses the fall and sin, and the call of Israel. But he notes that with the arrival of Christ, something new entered human affairs: "up to that point in history, religion and state were everywhere intertwined". This was just as true of Israel as with the surrounding pagan nations.
But when Jesus announced that we should "give back to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's" he initiated a whole new paradigm. Prior to Jesus there were no genuinely secular states. All nations were involved with gods. Jesus was the first to highlight that there are two separate and distinct realms here. They of course overlap, but are not identical.
Thus there has always being - even if imperfectly - church-state divisions within Christendom. Islam of course has never known this dichotomy, nor does it want to. And Carson reminds us that in the words of Jesus we have real differentiation between Caesar and God. However, Jesus intended that God should have the pre-eminence.
Of course how all that fleshes itself out in the daily life of both individuals and nations is the big question - the sort of question that Niebuhr sought to address. And that is what Carson seeks to further explore in this book.
Other theological givens must inform our thinking on this issue. For example, the now commonly accepted understanding of believers "living between the times" comes into play here. We live between the inauguration of Christ's kingdom, and its consummation. Thus we live in both the old age and the new age, and tensions abound.
In the light of this biblical truth, believers should neither expect utopia on earth, nor settle for corrupt and unjust rule. We can fight for justice, although realising that perfection can never be achieved in a fallen world. Our ideals must be tempered by realism.
Carson examines other issues, such as the postmodern understanding of culture. In contrast to the cultural relativism that characterises postmodern thought, Carson argues that biblical motifs regarding culture must be adhered to. These include the awareness that there is a mixture of good and evil in every culture, and that all cultures ultimately stand under the judgment of God.
Of course the biblical belief in, and understanding of, absolute and universal moral truth makes it possible for us to evaluate and assess every culture. We can determine, albeit imperfectly, how close to, or how far away from, a culture is in relation to God's moral standards.
Carson also devotes substantial chapters to the concepts of freedom, democracy, secularism, church and state relationships, and power. Democracy, for example, is a great good, but it is not the Kingdom of God, and is limited in many ways. A healthy democracy depends upon a shared set of values and beliefs. But when this unity is frayed, then democracies tend to unravel. And as democracies disintegrate, stronger and more intrusive state powers are needed to hold things together.
With the West quickly abandoning its Judeo-Christian roots, there seems to be little on the horizon to takes its place in terms of holding a nation together with a common core of beliefs and values. As people in a democracy increasingly disagree on what is the good or what it means to be free, the state steps in more and more, and people become less free.
The only real check to unrestrained statism and state power is the biblical notion that God alone is the ultimate authority, and no man-made authority should overstep it bounds. "The doctrine of God reminds us that we are not ultimate: God is" says Carson. And the "doctrine of creation tells us that we are not our own: we are responsible to the One who made us".
In the end, says Carson, Christianity cannot be reduced to merely privatised religion, and we have obligations to both the state and the surrounding culture. But a Christian's ultimate loyalties are with God, and he must be preeminent in everything.
Customer Rating:
Summary: I just started reading it, but it looks good so far.
Comment: I just started reading this, but it is classic Carson. I expect the rest will be pretty good too.
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