"Christ and Culture"

Richard Niebuhr’s monumental work lays out the various approaches to Christ and culture. How are Christians to interact with the culture? There are a number of possibilities that have been played out throughout history.

First, there is the radical approach that involves complete isolation from the culture. Niebuhr traces this trend throughout history with the monks and others and gives the reader the arguments these persons and movements gave for their approach to the Christ-culture debate. He then moves on and discusses both the benefits and the problems with this argument.

From there, he points out the other extreme. The acommodators, as he calls them, argue that Christians must be very much involved in culture. Like the previous chapter, he traces the historical record of this worldview. He looks at specific persons and movements that approach culture in this way. The Emerging Church, I believe is guilty of this approach. They too, like those that Niebuhr mentions, are accommodating themselves to the culture. The author shows both the benefits and the problems with this approach.

Then there is a middle ground. This is perhaps the most practiced approach. Many throughout history have come to this conclusion and the author traces that historical record. It too has benefits and problems with it. Though these are the big three, there are other approaches, and Niebuhr deals with them.

Niebuhr’s conclusion to the pivotal question of how Christians are to approach the culture? There is no Christian answer. Niebuhr concludes that though there are many approaches, not a one of them can be said to be the Christian answered handed down to us by God.