Christ and Culture in the Old Testament (part 1)

If the Bible is our guide for faith and practice, it seems to me that it will serve us in our quest to know how best to interact with our culture as Christians. But when we come to Niebuhr’s book, Christ and Culture, we see only half of the Bible considered- the New Testament. Is there something we can learn from the Old Testament to help us know how to interact with the world around us?

It is Niebuhr’s theological convictions that keep him away from the Scriptures, especially the Old Testament, in his discussion of Christ and Culture. This is why every example he gives in his book are only from the New Testament.

Another reason Niebuhr might shy away from the Old Testament is because it is a discussion of Christ and culture, and Christ doesn’t appear until the New Tesatment. If this is true, the New Testament is the only part of the Scriptures that we can consider in our discussion.

I don’t agree with Niebuhr’s view of Scripture in either case. I consider the entire Bible the inspired, inerrant, and authoritative Word of God, from which we can gleam truth and guidance for how we as God’s people can interact with our culture. On top of that I believe that not only is Jesus found in the Old Testament, but it is about him (Luke 24.13-35) and he is even inherit in it (Genesis 3.15).

If this is true, and we can gleam from the Old Testament guidance for how we as Christians can best interact with the world, then what about the Centerist positions. One of the things that distinguishes the Centrist positions from the Radical position is their higher view of Christ. The Centrist positions believe that Jesus is fully divine something which the Old Testament is, for the most part, silent. Sure, you might be able to find a couple of obscure proof-texts that seem to show that the Christ will be divine, but it is far from explicit. Does the Old Testament, therefore, relegate us to choosing one of the two Radical positions (Christ of Culture and Christ Against Culture)?

No because there are more things that distinguish the Radical from the Centrist positions than just their Christology. The Centrist positions also have stronger views of sin and grace. And this is merely what all the Centrist positions have in common. Christ and Culture in Paradox is different than Christ Against Culture because it compartmentalizes a Christian’s interaction with Culture rather than avoiding it altogether. Christ Above Culture is different than Christ of Culture because, although it accepts some parts of culture, it does so in order to promote Christ rather than culture as an end in itself.

Therefore, not only can we use the Old Testament to know how Christians can best interact with their culture (unlike Niebuhr) but any of the possible solutions could be gleaned from it. To ask what the Old Testament can teach us about how to interact with our culture seems, therefore, to be a fruitful question. I will investigate this more in this blog.