Christ Transforming Culture through W.E.B. Du Bois

Thanks to Christ My Righteousness Blog for bringing this great example of Christ Transforming Culture out, especially on Black History Month.

Give us in our day,
O God, to see the fulfillment
of Thy vision of Peace.
May these young people
grow to despise false ideals
of conquest and empire
and all the tinsel of war.
May we strive to replace
force with justice
and armies of murder
with armies of relief.
May we believe in Peace
among all nations
as a present practical need
and count love for our country
as love and not hate
for our fellow men.
Amen.

Woody Guthrie and Christ of Culture

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This is a prime example of Christ of Culture because of Guthrie’s retelling of Jesus in terms of his own political ideology.

But wait, you might say, this seems an accurate description of what Jesus taught. I agree- to an extent. I appreciate Guthrie’s focus, especially when I think of all the terrible health-wealth, prosperity gospel preachers out there. These “preachers” are equally guilty of recasting Jesus in terms of their own (uniquely American) perspective that you will prosper if you have enough faith.

Voting in Light of Christ and Culture

I voted already today. It was fairly painless despite the long lines- which I was able to skip because of a confusing decision by the local poll workers (an ungrateful job today). As I already endorsed in this blog, I voted for McCain/Palin.

Even though I voted this way, this is by no means the only “Christian” way to vote. One of my favorite modern authors, Don Miller, voted for Obama. In his rationale, he explains why his faith has moved him to vote for a different candidate than I did.

The Dog is Back!

One of my most popular posts has been the article I wrote on how Dog the Bounty Hunter fits within the Christ Transforming Culture paradigm. Since then I lost touch with the Dog until the Wittenburg Door recently published an interview with him. In this article they explain his absence and his return to TV this month.

Christ, Culture, and Obama’s More Perfect Union

Although the questions have been brewing over the last couple of months about Obama’s church and his relationship with it (even Snopes already had an article about it), it has come to a head over the last week. As someone who is writing about how different Christians engage their culture in light of Christ, I cannot avoid commenting on this topic.

There are five basic ways that Christians engage their culture, as delineated by H. Richard Niebuhr. The question I am interested in is which way describes Obama as his faith in Christ leads him to engage his culture. Rather than stereotype Obama into any one of these categories, it is more helpful to take a specific example and describe how Obama engages culture in it. Although Obama has been mentioning his faith throughout his campaign, his “More Perfect Union” speech most directly talks about it. So how does Obama engage culture in light of this speech?

User-Friendly Niebuhr?

http://journeyinghome.org…olitics-part-1/

According to Steve at Journeying Home:

Gerry Breshears, Professor of Theology at Western Seminary, translated Niebuhr into more user-friendly English. Breshears suggests the following windows for viewing the relationship between Christ and culture:

I’d like to comment on this summary in a hope to better explain Niebuhr’s categories. I think that Breshears (even if he is a Prof and I am mere pastor) shows some common misunderstandings of the categories.

Black History Transforming Culture- Harriet Tubman

Here is a look at how Harriet Tubman’s faith in Christ led her to transform culture.

Black History Transforming Culture- George Washington Carver

In continuing the theme of how African American Christians have transformed culture I found a podcast wtih Jerry Bower (although I have no idea who he is) interviewing a man who recently completed a book about George Washington Carver (George Washington Carver: His Life & Faith in His Own Words). In this interview I learned about how Carver’s faith in Christ influenced his contribution to transforming culture.

Black History Transforming Culture- Martin Luther King

My own perspectives taint the examples I use to illustrate Christ and Culture. Most of the examples I give are white male evangelicals from the United States like me. I have recently noticed that women are conspicuously missing from my examples, for example, even though women have in the past and continue to play an important role in the interaction between Christ and Culture.

That’s why I am taking time during Black History Month to illustrate the contribution of African Americans to our culture- especially where Christ has motivated that change.

The Connection Between Justification and Christ and Culture

Recently my church has been studying Outflow. It’s been a good series in that it shook us up a little. We were forced out of our comfort zones and encouraged to re-think outreach into something more than just talking.

It seems to be that this book best sums up the connection between the two major topics of my blog: justification by faith and Christ and Culture. Only when we are convinced that we have been justified by faith in Christ and completely forgiven and accepted by God will we ever begin to overflow into the community around us. Such an outflow isn’t just limited to sharing the gospel with words or even deeds, but it means taking chances with that faith to serve people who aren’t like us or don’t make us feel particularly comfortable. That is what Niebuhr is thinking of when he talks about Christ Transforming Culture.