Essay On Christian Culture And Culture

Introduction

In human existence culture and spirituality and two separate subjects yet they overlap. Culture belongs to the human sphere while spirituality has its place in the divine. Culture has either good or bad features; and can only be measured by a standard objective. Spirituality has to do with a person’s position before God. The aim of this essay is to discuss the relationship a Christian is to have with his culture and the standard to judge culture.

Definition of culture

The word culture is used to describe anything that human beings work to achieve. Thus culture is both what we grow and we make, both with our hands and with our minds. It includes our houses, our tools, our cities and towns, our arts, crafts, customs, our games, sports, entertainment, music,

This is so because of the New Testament’s concurrent warnings against worldliness and its exhortation to the Christian to have impact upon the world for the gospel. Concerning warnings about worldliness, consider these admonitions in Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 6:14, 17; Colossians 2:8; James 1:27; and 1 John 2:15. Nevertheless, the New Testament is full of counsel to the Christian to be involved in culture. Note the following verses: Matthew 5:13-16; 28:19, 20; John 17:15, 16; 2 Corinthians 5:20; and Colossians 4:5.

All these texts put Christians in a quandary on how to avoid spiritual contamination and moral impurity while at the same time carrying out the commission Jesus has given. Richard Niebuhr struggled with this dilemma and examined how the Church historically has understood her relationship to culture. He gave his findings in a popular book titled Christ and Culture where discusses five basic ways Christians relate to culture. They are either (1) against culture, or (2) of culture, or (3) above culture, or (4) in tension with culture, or (5) transformers of