Culture & Theology

Culture is something always present and always changing, it is something we create, yet it daily shapes us. People who are made in the image of God interact with the world that God made and culture is what results. So where there are people there is culture and where there are fallen people there is fallen culture. Culture is like the air we breathe, we take it in and we send it out, only sending it out a little different that we received it.

Our culture, then, is a collection of ideals and beliefs, values and assumptions that make up a kind of master plan for living and interpreting the life which we collectively and individually live. We take in culture from past generations, live in it, adapt it and adapt to it, and then pass it on to generations to follow.

It is only natural that this “air we breathe” is going to affect our understanding of, belief in, and practice of theology. This is why in Franke’s definition of theology it is stated that theology is a “contextual discipline”. Not only do we receive God’s inspiration in our cultural context, but we also realize that is was given in a different ancient context. This is the hard work of the task of theology, to provide “critical and constructive reflection” so that we and others can “live as the people of God” in our immediate and global culture.

I do not think that we are ever able to completely separate our thinking or theology from the culture in which we were raised. At the same time I believe that there are some understandings of truth that can be universal to all people. However, we must be very careful to not arrogantly assume that we have the final understanding of those universal truths.

I came across an example of how the gospel so intertwined with rational thought through a modern dependency on technology and science has left many disillusioned in its aftermath. In the book titled God’s Breath: Sacred Scriptures of the World, the authors seek to return people to spiritual thinking instead of religion based on rationality. They observe, “As we arrive at the end of a century dedicated to the external world – when technology and science has made an effort to explain everything and promises to solve our problems – the gaps and weaknesses of this wholly secular endeavor are beginning to show. People are turning with new passion to what they call “spirituality.” (emphasis mine) To make it clear, I reject the philosophy of what this book offers as the answer to the current condition of humanity:

“For millennia seekers of truth have found God in a handful of sacred texts. Now God’s Breath gathers together selections from seven of the world’s major wisdom traditions. The title comes from a Zen saying, “To understand God is to listen. Listen to Jesus and Muhammad and Buddha, but don’t get caught up in the names. Listen beyond them; listen to God’s breath.” (from back cover)

However, I believe they have rightly identified the condition of our culture and are seeking to answer it from a faith voice rather than a humanistic path. I do think that we can show the Bible of the Old and New Testament as a superior document to all the others and preserve it as the document that is truly God breathed. I am not sure that this is the question that many in the emerging culture are asking though.

So here is the critical and constructive task ahead of the church. How do we answer the truth questions which are being asked in our time through the lens of post-modernity instead of the view of modernity?

I must state again that this is no easy task, because theology surrounds us daily; inside and outside of the church, theologies are spoken and lived out and are both accurate and inaccurate. Phyllis Tickle writes in God-Talk in America that “more theology is conveyed in, and probably retained from one hour of popular television, than from all the sermons that are also delivered on any given weekend in America’s synagogues, churches, and mosques.”

We need to make theology something more common in the market places, and train people how to think through a theological process or grid. I am suggesting that the task of learning and doing theology is like developing a filter through which we breathe in the air around us. We don’t live in a vacuum (although many in the church try to live in their own bubble) and we have to come to terms with the fact that our culture affects ALL areas of our life. It shapes our pace of life, our agenda for life, our priorities, our relationships, and our spirituality. This air filter that I am suggesting is a world-view that is grounded in the biblical texts, historical traditions of the church, ever adjusting to the pollutants in the spiritual air around, but allowing one to breathe and live and make a difference in their culture. Bill Romanowski says that “a worldview describes the way the world is, while also providing a model for the way the world ought to be.”(Eyes Wide Open)

I see that there are three options on how to deal with the air around us:

1. Stop breathing, otherwise known as attempting an isolation mentality. This leads to a death of suffocation and a loss of impact on those around you.

2. Breathe deep, poison and all. This also leads to a death, not from suffocation, but from deadly toxins which take your life resulting in a loss of impact on those around you.

3. Breathe deep through a filter. This is called redemptive interaction. To look into my culture, interact with it, and redeem our cultures commonality through the gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe this is what Jesus was speaking about when he taught us to be salt and light to the world.