Christ and Culture: What Kind of Relationship?
The United States has committed itself to a policy of separation between church and state. At the least, this means that no one religion is allowed to exist and flourish. Each faith has the resources to form good, responsible, and committed citizens. Each promotes the virtues that are needed in a democracy. Since the state neither endorses nor favors any one religious body over another, the question arises: What is the relationship of the gospel to culture in America? What is the mission of the church in a pluralistic society?
The first option is one of unity between the gospel and the culture. They blend together, intersect, and become one. They become the flip sides of same coin. Christ becomes an American, accompanying those who are fashioning the new and final order of the ages. Christ is a modern version of Aeneas, the hero of ancient Rome. Both are noble, pious, virtuous, and loyal to the nation.
The second possibility is that the gospel and the culture exist side by side. Each functions in its own space. Gospel and culture are aware of each other’s presence and spheres of influence. But they do not directly interact or engage one another. Religion becomes a personal choice, a private ethic. Each person practices the faith of her or his choice. It engages, nourishes, and enriches their inner life, offers fellowship and belonging, and sustains their quest for meaning and holiness. Religion neither interferes with nor influences the noble and loft goals of the culture. Culture is left alone to function in the secular realm. The split of gospel and culture is the great drama of our time.
The third possibility is that the gospel becomes counter-cultural. Religion plays the prophet. It challenges the culture, witnesses to communal values deeply embedded in its religious ethos, and offers an alternative to the status quo. The gospel supports every utopian community that seeks first the kingdom, that models what society could and should become. The Shakers, the Amish, the back-to-nature and the return-to-the-land groups offer an alternative for people working in factories and farms, in the marketplace and the village green.
The final possibility is that the gospel clearly and adamantly opposes the culture. It deliberately sets out to challenge, change, correct, and convert the culture and opposes the individualism of the modern liberal state. It militantly promotes moral and spiritual righteousness. It upholds gospel values and works to defeat the presence of Satan and all his hosts. Religious fundamentalism finds a home here.
What relationship should the church have to culture? What is the church’s mission in America? Should the state be wed to one religion and present this union as the official pathway for one and for all? Should the state and religion abide in mutual, (ordinarily) amiable, and separate relationship? Should the state go its own way while religion provides a utopian alternative to the secular age? Should religion convert the culture to the mind and purpose of Christ?
John J. O’Brien, C.,P.