Christ and Culture

H. Richard Niebuhr
 Christ Against Culture
 Relationship one of antagonism
 Rejection
 Stance
– Church and culture are in opposition to one
another
 Examples
– Monasticism
– Radical Reformation (Mennonites, Hutterites,
Amish)
– Sects
– Fundamentalism
 Christ of Culture
 Assimilation

 Church represents what the world

values most dearly.
 Aim: Adjust and accommodate
Christianity to be in tune with
culture.
 Examples

– Liberal Protestantism
 Christ Above Culture
 Synthesis

 Both continuity and discontinuity

between church and culture
 Attempts to values of culture to
Christian concerns
 Examples

– The Catholic tradition

– Paul Tillich
 Christ and Culture in Paradox
 Dualism

 Paradoxicaltension between church

and the world; the Christian exists in
both—a temporal and spiritual
existence.
 Example

– Luther’s Two Kingdoms

 Christ the Transformer of Culture
 Conversion
 Church converts culture: “convert the
values and goals of secular culture into the
service of the kingdom of God.”
 Culture is sinful, yet it can be turned to
Christian purposes.
 Examples

– Augustine
– Calvin
– Puritans