H. Richard Niebuhr’s piece “Christ and Culture,” is a piece that takes an in depth look at relationship between Christ and society. What Niebuhr thinks the major problem is how can Jesus interconnect with human-made culture? He points out that Christ is sinless and we are imperfect, and since we created culture it is imperfect, so how can a being that is perfect connect with something that is at its roots, fundamentally imperfect. He goes on to show five different ways that Christians attempt to bridge the gap between Christ and culture: Christ against culture, Christ of culture, Christ above culture, a Christ and culture paradox and Christ transforming culture. Before Niebuhr can go about these five views he sets out to define what Christ means and what culture means. He points out that we do not have an adequate definition of Jesus because they are all forged through a lens of culture but he thinks that they are adequate enough for us to meet him. Culture, he defines as “the total process of human activity.” He says that this culture results in a secondary environment in which man superimposes on the natural.
The first view that Niebuhr looks at is Christ against culture. Niebuhr believes that this view “affirms the sole authority of Christ over culture and resolutely rejects culture’s claim to loyalty.” This view claims that the counterpoint of loyalty to Christ is the rejection of a cultural society. They believe that there is a clear separation between God and the world. Niebuhr says that this view is often come across after an individual has felt much suffering. He says that these people have been forced to endure physical or emotional pain and to cope with it they give up all of their earthly possessions for Jesus. This v...
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...e of in order to guide our society. The first is that we must not go at it alone. Niebuhr thinks tat we must act, in the present moment, with the worldly consequences and rewards in mind but also the knowledge that there is an eternal rewards waiting for us. Next he suggests that we must remember to be aware of the culturally conditioned nature of our actions. He thinks that we must have a measured opinion of our ability to be involved in a culture for Jesus instead of a partial, incomplete knowledge of what our ability is. This partial limit is what limits us in this world. Finally Niebuhr notes that the only way out of relativity is through faith. He says that in the light of Christ we make our “confessions and decisions both with confidence and humility which accepts completion and correction and even conflict from and with others who stand in the same relation.”
Reinhold Niebuhr’s Christian Realism has many components to it. Post World War I, he moved away from his usual liberal/pacifist way of thinking after seeing that the war was based on power control and economical concerns, and this was something he did not want to support. He wanted to follow a more proactive way of doing things instead of just waiting for something to happen. Liberal’s pacifist way of thinking utilizing non-intervention ways to deal with evil in the world was naive and could not be used anymore. By doing nothing would allow evil to continue to control everything. According to Niebuhr, humans in this world are self-glorifying, sinful in nature, and will never be equal to God, but should strive through God to be just and do what is moral.
In the essay "Worldviews in Conflict," Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcey compare and contrast the ideas of Christianity and the views of today's society. Throughout the essay they provide information about how the changes in society affect views regarding Christianity. Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcy's essay was written to contribute information so others could understand their views about the shifting cultural context and how it affects society's beliefs.
The church has a problem. The eternally relevant message with which she has been entrusted no longer readily finds a willing ear. According to Henderson, the solution lies in first understanding how our world thinks and then, beginning where people are at, bring them to see "the functional relevance for their lives of the actual relevance of our message". In high school speech classes, we were taught to "know your audience." As a careless high schooler, I didn't really care what she meant, but it eventually made sense (once I actually decided to think about it). You wouldn't use sock puppets to explain math to accountants; you wouldn't use in-depth power-point presentations to explain math to first graders. With this in mind, why do many Americans still try to talk about Jesus using the methods used thirty years ago? Why do we use Christian "jargon" to explain Christianity to those outside the faith? Henderson contends that modern American Christians must change their approach to sharing the faith in order to fit modern America. The pattern of Henderson's book is straightforward: he examines a particular aspect/mindset/value of modern Americans; he then gives ideas about how a Christian might share Words of Eternal Life with such an American. Henderson's writing is both straightforward and enjoyable. He gets right to the heart of the American mindset, then illustrates it with descriptions from scenes from popular movies, personal anecdotes, jokes, etc. In all, Henderson does the modern Christian a great service in writing "Culture Shift." Jesus told Christians to tell others about him ("Go, therefore, and baptize all nations...") and Henderson can help us along the way through this book
Niebuhr indicated his overriding interest in what has been called theological anthropology, a concern with the nature of man as a contact point for religion and society, in such major works as Moral Man and Immoral Society (1932), Interpretation of
The novelist with Christian concerns will find in modern life distortions which are repugnant to him, and his problem will be to make them appear as distortions to an audience which is used to seeing them as natural; and he may be forced to take ever more violent means to get his vision across to this hostile audience. When you can assume that your audience holds the same beliefs you do, you can relax a little and use more normal ways of talking to it; when you have to assume that it does not, then you have to make your vision apparent by shock to the hard of hearing you shout, and for the blind you draw large and
In I.17.1 of John Calvin’s work, Calvin argues that people do not need to worry about anything they do not understand because God takes care of everything. It is important to understand that this is not the beginning of Calvin’s Institutes of Christian Religion, because his points in chapter sixteen set the basis for his argument in this next section. Chapter sixteen on providence gives the foundation of
The book has ten chapters and is divided into two parts. The first part deals with "A Positive Theology of Culture" and the second deals with "Culture and Redemption." Culturative history (the history of the process of culture) and redemptive history (the history of human salvation wrought by God) are two strands of history which are decreed and ruled by God, in which Hegeman thinks are helpful to see culture operating within.
In the face of conflict and evil, it is often difficult to know what path to take. Yet, it is exactly during these moments when one is confronted with the most important questions and decisions in life, those which will eventually influence not only oneself but the rest of the world. In the documentary film Bonhoeffer, we learn about the life of German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer who, witnessing the injustice against humanity, courageously opposed Adolf Hitler. With strong morals, Bonhoeffer became a conspirator against the crimes of the Nazi regime as he was able to understand the world through the eyes of Christ. His passion and commitment to God grew out of a personal struggle when his brother died in World War I. As he found himself in contact with the reality of death, he grappled with questions which encouraged him to explore God and religion in a deeper way so he decided to study theology at the University of Berlin. It was here that Bonhoeffer started to discover axiology and epistemology and looked for answers to questions about the nature of human knowledge and the moral dilemmas of right and wrong. As he built a stronger sense of faith, God became the answer to his questions and the fuel of his actions. By integrating aesthetic elements, illustrating political realities, and challenging ideas of justice and ethics, this movie takes the viewer on a journey to explore Bonhoeffer’s life and the powerful influence he had on the world.
I listen mostly to Christian radio, this is especially true when I am in my car driving to and from work. Today I just so happened to get a little clip of a show on Moody radio called “The land and the book by Dr. Charlie Dyer.” They were talking to a couple who are ministering in the Middle East to Muslims and Christians. They talk about the fear that Christians have in preaching the “Good New” outside of the church in Syria, and how much persecution/genocide is happening there. (Moody Radio, 2014) Although I knew that the world was having trouble it didn’t quite sink in until this point. Becoming a Christian has changed my view on the world; I would have never thought twice about these issues until I opened my heart to Jesus Christ. In this essay I will talk about the Apostle Paul’s writings to the people in Rome on the matters the natural world (Adams sin, the evidence of God’s power, etc.), human identity (Our identity through Christ), human relationship (Paul’s relationship with the people, and God), and culture (Jewish circumcision, the Abrahamic covenant)
The teaching of Jesus Christ is hard for some cultures to grasp. Humanity is prone to question everything. How people use their worldview plays a key role. Most Christian accept the Gospel message at it full value and yet with teaching from a church they only accept part of the message. Now it seems like progressively that people are turning away from God. Since people cannot see Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God they just suppress prier teaching from the Bible. In some cultures the Bible is looked at as a taboo.
Goheen, Michael, and Craig Bartholomew. Living at the Crossroads: An Introduction to Christian Worldview. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008. Print.
It is not only the goodness of man which, according to traditional Christian concepts ,is not germane to himself. His very being, and his ultimate destiny stems alike from a principle that is infinitely beyond him (Morris 143).
Christianity has its challenges. It places demands on us that set us apart from the rest of our world. The bible calls us a peculiar people, who navigate the challenge of living IN the world, without being OF the world. When we say ‘no’ to temptations that are enjoyed by the masses, we are labeled as self-righteous snobs, religious weirdoes, or worse. But we persevere, and we press toward that invisible line the Apostle Paul drew in the sands of time…for the high calling in Christ Jesus.
Thus, giving Timothy Montbriant secure grounds for exploring his faith and attitude in his article entitled “An overview of “The Minister’s Black Veil”. Montbriant believes that Hooper is “struggling with doubts about his own salvation” (Montbriant n.p.) once he realizes the meaning of what he preaches. According to predestination, or Calvinist Theology, “confessing one’s sins does not affect one’s predestined course”(n.p.). To Montbriant, Hooper’s veil represents his isolation, but does not actually cause it. On the contrary, the veil causes Hooper to experience his isolation in agony while he still remains with his congregation. Even though all his efforts to save their souls from damnation will be in vain, Hooper diligently carries
To examine the impact of culture upon identity, we must first define what identity is. There is the age-old trend to view identity as the classical question of “who am I?”, when in reality, the common definition of identity is “...[the] individual's perception of self in relation to others” rather than the personality of the individual in question (Woodward). While personality is a way that we characterize ourselves by the traits that we posses, the identities that we claim are inherently a part of the groups that we assign ourselves. When I was young and in Sunday school, I was taught that the answer to the question of “who are you” is that I am a child of God, and I belong to the group of Christians. Now, some would reject that response almost immediately on the basis of that this answer does not define them, and in doing that, we have already segregated our identity based upon a group that we are a part of. Our identity is necessarily a product of our society and our relationships and the groups assignments that we give ourselves...