In 1994's Beyond Culture Wars, Michael Horton argues that most Christians are getting their approach to cultural engagement wrong. His main thesis: "Theology, not morality, is the first business on the church's agenda of reform, and the church, not society, is the first target of divine criticism."
A summary follows.
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"Do we see the world out there as a mission field, or as a battlefield? The answer makes all the difference in the way we approach the world around us." Too often, the church can look at it as the latter. In our day (like in 1994, when this book was published), the church tends to engage in culture wars, viewing politics as the main battlefield. We focus on policy. We fight or withdraw. We don't create our own culture, just censor or criticize the mainstream. This approach is flawed, as how can we demand societal change from unconvinced people "who are not persuaded that Christianity carries a binding authority to command their lifestyles"? So what can we do "instead of trying to get secularists to embrace the values which run counter to their creed"? First, we need to look at how we got here.
At the time of the Reformation, there were three approaches on how the church related to society: the Roman church confused the kingdom of God and the world (viewing the Pope as head of both). The Anabaptists separated from the world entirely. The Reformers argued that Christians should be involved in the world. "They should neither seek to escape it . . . nor seek to rule it." "Redemption does not change our participation in the culture; rather, it changes us and, therefore, the character of that involvement." And a lot of good things came out of that last approach (including "the flowering of science, democracy, public education, economic progress, and civil liberties wherever it was planted.") But then things changed.
Our current American secular (and all too often, church) culture comes from the Enlightenment. The secular culture believes in the centrality, power, and goodness of humanity. It focuses on feelings, experience, and self-fulfillment. And the church often follows suit, showing how we have been shaped by secularism and adopted patterns of thinking we claim to stand against. We fight in the political sphere, but "the church cannot "save America" from its moral confusion while it is itself operating, at its very core, with secular presuppositions." We need to go back to basics, rejecting secular notions of human nature and the meaning of life. We need to remember that neither Marxism nor Capitalism seeks the spiritual good of society, and "politics is the place where the ideas that have already shaped society find their legislative applications." We need to get to the root. We need to remember who God is and who we are.
After looking at the problem, Horton offers a solution. "The remedy . . . to our crisis of secularism is not a renewal of earth-bound movements (even Christian ones), but a recovery of the vision of God." He offers "a positive strategy for reformation and revival, based on the Lord's Prayer." [Matthew 6:9-13] The second half of the book looks at "each of the petitions, recovering a sense of biblical transcendence, reverence, the kingdom and will of God, daily concerns in this world, redemption; reseulting the lure of secularism; and recovering God's glory, kingdom, and power as the axis upon which our entire thought and life turns." I won't go through all of that here, but a few highlights:
- We need to put first things first. "Renewal does not begin with society, but with me; and not with my actions, but with my mind." We must know and proclaim God's character, Christ's person and work, our fallen nature and need for Him. We must know the Bible and what it says. "Any true reformation or revival in the church or in society today must begin not with a campaign for traditional values, but with a campaign for the knowledge, worship, praise, fear, and service of God." And that campaign is for me (because I need daily reminders, exhortations, and encouragement) as much as for others.
- Remember that "the state exists to restrain evil and defend justice, not to make people less evil or more just." And "even though the City of Rome may have been kind for a while to the City of God, the two were never allies; they could never be allies, for they represent two different sources, goals, allegiances, and kings." So in cultural engagement, we must "recover the distinction between the two kingdoms themselves: their distinct nature, goals, objectives, and mandate."
- How do we live in society? Remember that "it is not separation from the world for which Jesus prays, but separation in the world." (see John 17)
- We must "exercise our cultural mandate as redeemed stewards." Our agenda is "not of dominion (taking over power bases), nor of withdrawal into the new monastery of the evangelical subculture, but of diligence in our calling, care for our families, and concern for our neighbors." "Each one of us, whether a factory worker or an Ivy League professor, is responsible to contribute positively to his or her own sphere of influence which includes one's calling, family, relationships, neighborhood, and nation."
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This is an excellent read. Society feels much different today than 1994, and yet, many challenges (and approaches to cultural engagement) are the same. This book is humbling and convicting, yet ultimately full of hope, not based in who we are (and what we can do through policy/etc.), but who God is and what he has done (and is doing).
Ultimately, the Christian's goal is not to 'win' through policy/etc., but live out the greatest commandments: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:37-39)
Rating: A
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