Toward a Christian definition of culture

by Paul Hartog

In 1951, the neoorthodox theologian H. Richard Niebuhr authored the highly influential Christ and Culture, in which he proposed five basic models: “Christ against Culture,” “Christ of Culture,” “Christ above Culture,” “Christ Transforming Culture,” and “Christ and Culture in Paradox.” A perusal of modern literature reveals the enduring quality of these classifications as applied to the tensions of “Christianity and culture.”[1]

Most often, two of these alternatives are summarily dismissed (at least in their “reductionist” forms). An isolationist “Christ against Culture” model leads to complete seclusion, with the resulting inability to fulfill the church’s Great Commission. The “Christ of culture” model so equates Christianity with reigning culture that it lends no external point from which to critique society. This leaves the three alternatives of “Christ above Culture” (the nature-grace synthesis of Thomas Aquinas), “Christ Transforming Culture” (the Augustinian/Reformed conversion of culture), and “Christ and Culture in Paradox” (Luther’s doctrine of the two kingdoms). Dennis Hollinger writes, “The relationship between Christ and culture is one of the most significant elements in Christian moral discernment. How we must answer the Christ-culture question will invariably affect the way we seek to implement and live out the Christian ethic within society.”[2]

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