Blog Action Day: Christ and the Environment

Lately in the Christian world there has been an increasing debate over environmentalism. Some would like to include environmentalism among the other political issues Christians feel are important. Others reject environmentalism as an unnecessary distraction- for various and sundry reasons.

As with most opinions on controversial topics the complexity of reasons can only be surpassed by the diversity of opinions. In order to better understand the reasons behind various Christian perspectives towards the environment I would like to filter the opinions through the eyes of H. Richard Niebuhr.

Niebuhr was an American theologian who is perhaps best known for his typology describing the various ways Christians engage their culture. In his seminal book on this subject, Christ and Culture, Niebuhr divides Christianity into five different perspectives based upon how they might approach their culture.

Back to the topic of the day: how would a proponent of one of Niebuhr’s particular categories approach then environment as an issue?

Thy Kingdom Come

I’ve been preaching a series on the Lord’s Prayer lately (with the help of the Simpsons) and was wondering how people from different perspectives on Christ and Culture would mean “thy kingdom come” when they pray this in the Lord’s Prayer.

Frame, Christianity and Culture: What is Culture?

John Frame is one of my favorite living theologians. I was excited to find out that he had lectured on Christ and Culture at the Pensacola Theological Institute, and that the lecture’s manuscript has been published on the internet. For those of you who don’t know, the Pensacola Theological Institute is an annual conference that highlights an important speaker on a theological topic of current interest. Although I have never personaly attended, I have noticed their speakers are always great and topics always interesting.

In his first lecture, Frame addresses an important, foundational question: what is culture? I was glad to see him start here because that is one of the things I have had the hardest time doing. “Culture” is one of those things that we know what it is, but when we have to define it, we have a hard time.

Slate.com: Pop Goes Christianity

Slate.com has an excellent article reviewing a new book by Daniel Radosh, Rapture Ready!: Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture. This article shows how Christians have embraced culture and began creating their own culture to parallel secular pop culture. It asks some engaging questions about what happens to the Christian message when we do this.

Many of the attempts of Christians to use the culture around them reflects a Christ Above Culture outlook. They are using parts of culture to promote Christ. This motive can easily be lost. One day you are producing rock music to attract people to Christ and the next day those same people- who are now Christians- want to purchase your music and only your music. That’s when we begin to sell out to culture and fall into the Christ of Culture perspective.

The Puritans Transforming Culture: The Mayflower Compact

The other day I caught a new show called, Drive Thru History. I don’t watch the Trinity network much (which is an example of Christ Above Culture by the way), but every once in a while they come up with something worth watching. This show is like something you might find on the History network but from a Christian perspective (another example of Christ Above Culture). Although this Christian influence negates any neutrality (as if the History channel is ever neutral) and this limits the scope of the show (for instance, they skipped the entire Protestant Reformation) I enjoy watching it.
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Anyway… the episode I watched talked about the Pilgrims coming to America. Most people know that these people were Puritans- resisting the corruption, in their minds, of the Church of England. In the context of a discussion of Christ and Culture, the Puritans are often quoted as an example of Christ Transforming Culture. The Mayflower Compact is a great example of this.

What Would Jesus Eat?

I am convinced that if Jesus came to the earth today, he would overturn the local Christian bookstore just as he did the Temple in his day. This is because there is so much junk there which does nothing but generate money for someone in Jesus’ name. These include the cheesy household ornaments sprinkled with out-of-context, Hallmark sound-byte Bible verses and the ever-popular Testaments. This kind of stuff really disgusts me- in case you can’t tell.

The other day I was shopping in my local grocery story and I came across another horrible example of this phenomenon- Ezekiel 4:9 cereal. Apparently this cereal uses the ingredients listed in Ezekiel 4:9, somehow claiming that it is good for you.

Christ and U23D

Today a friend and I went to see U23D. Being self-avowed U2 fans we had high expectations yet it was everything we could hope for. The 3D aspect of the movie was great. More than a couple times I found myself leaning over to better see the Edge since his microphone stand was in the way. There were times when I tried to move out of the glare of a spotlight only to remember that this was a movie, and I couldn’t do that. There were times when I wanted to start cheering with the concert audience but then I remembered that Brian and I were the only two people in the theater at 1:30 in the afternoon.

What do Tila Tequila and D. A. Carson have in common?

A friend and I were talking Bible commentaries the other day. Books are one of my favorite topics even before I was the assistant manager at my seminary’s bookstore. I suggested he check out D. A. Carson’s book, New Testament Commentary Survey, as a starting point to know what he should invest in. It is a rarity for anyone to ever take my suggestion, but in this case he did search the internet for the book only to find it available on MTV.com! HUH?!

As if that wasn’t wierd enough, the top suggestion off MTV’s site for people interested in Carson’s book was the “complete unsensored” version of Ms. Tequila’s show- “A Shot of Love with Tila Tequila.” Now we all know how silly these alogrithms can be but this made me ask what Carson and Tila Tequila have in common that MTV would make this connection.

Christ, Football, and Culture

My sister-in-law told me that she recently saw an ESPN interview with Tim Tebow, Heisman winning quarterback for the University of Florida, where he spoke about his faith. It is great to see such a great guy become so successful. It is also neat to see him use his fame as a football player to promote Christ- an example of Christ Above Culture.

This reminds me of a time when I met another famous quarterback. Although he is not famous enough for me to actually remember his name, he played for the Bills (I think) as a backup quarterback. Through a series of coincidences he ended up playing a playoff game and helped his team win, despite the predictions to the contrary. With his success, this quarterback used his moment of glory to point to Christ.

Who is on the Lord’s side?

Sometimes when people describe the interaction between Christ and Culture they use phrases like, “culture wars.” This invokes images of Christians valiantly fighting off the influence of the world or reminds people of Fundamentalists who have belligerently forced their beliefs on other people- depending on which side of the war you find yourself on.