Page 17 - Christ and Culture Textbook

Study Section 3: Christ and Culture

3.1 Connect

One of the greatest of the problems that has disturbed the Church is the problem of the
relation between culture and Christianity. Should Christians identify themselves with Culture?
Or separate themselves from Culture? How do Christians view and interact with the larger
culture surrounding them? In what ways do Christians allow the larger culture to shape and
define them? Richard Niebuhr gave us a classic account of the relationship between Christ and
culture, in which he proposed five typical answers in church history to the question of the
proper relationship between the two: Christ against culture; the Christ of culture; Christ above culture;
Christ and culture in paradox; and Christ transforming culture. Broadly, Christians have resisted,
accommodated to or sought to convert culture.

3.2 Objectives

1. The student should be able to evaluate Niebuhr’s five ways of understanding Christ and culture

2. The student should be able to discuss a view that is biblical and more effective in this
generation.

3. The student should be able to discover how a person can follow Christ without compromising the
truth.

3.3 Understanding the interaction between Christ and Culture.

Are there many ways in which Christian can respond to Culture? Or there just one way? And if
the is one way, what is it? Unfortunately, Christians differ on the approach to this issue. Richard
Niebuhr summarizes those differences in this way: 1. Christ above culture; 2. Christ of culture;
3. Christ against culture; 4. Christ and culture in paradox; and 5. Christ transforming culture. In
this section will take a close look at each of these views in order to have a clear understand the
interactions. We will try to evaluate these models biblically.

Who is Richard Niebuhr?
Richard Helmut Niebuhr was Protestant theologian. He was Born in Wright City, Missouri in 1894. He
was the youngest son of German immigrant Pastor Gustav and American-born Lydia Niebuhr. Niebuhr
graduated from Elmhurst College (1912) and Eden Theological Seminary (1915). Ordained in the
Evangelical Synod of North America (1916), Niebuhr held a pastorate in St. Louis until 1918 when he
began his academic career by teaching at Eden Theological Seminary (1919–1922). Niebuhr earned the
B.D. (1923) and Ph.D. (1924) degrees from Yale University Divinity School. He was president of Elmhurst
College (1924–1927), dean of Eden Theological Seminary (1927–31) and professor of Christian ethics at
5
Yale Divinity School, where he remained from 1931 until his death.

5 Daniel G. Reid et al., Dictionary of Christianity in America (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1990).

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