5 Views: Church and Politics/Culture
| CHRIST AND CULTURE | H. Richard Niebuhr's classic book, Christ and Culture, shows how Christians have 5 different ways of engaging culture. Niebuhr summarizes these as, 1) Christ against culture; 2) Christ of culture; 3) Christ above culture; 4) Christ and culture in paradox; and 5) Christ the transformer of culture. These views apply to each of the 7 cultural mountains summarized at www.Covenant.net/7Mountains. To show how these five views apply to business, please view the following grid: |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 2 | |
| Niebuhr's Order | Christ Against Culture | Christ Above Culture | Christ the Transformer | Christ and Culture Paradox | Christ in Culture |
| Summary | Culture is too corrupt so Christians must withdraw into Christ-centered colonies. | The secular and sacred can be blended when leaders are given authority to seek the highest good. | Sinful man can redeem culture through institutions that affirm the Lordship of Christ, the law of God, and the leading of the Holy Spirit. | Man respects the Kingdom of God on Sunday morning and on the church campus while respecting a pietistic salvation message that gives believers "peace" as they support leaders who deny the Lordship of Christ on 6 of the 7 cultural mountains. | The secular and sacred can be blended with "values neutral" ethics at the core. |
| Proponents | Anabaptists, including Amish, Mennonites, and Hutterites | Aquinas and some of Abraham Kuyper's followers. | Augustine, Calvin, and some Dutch theologians. | Luther and many Baptists | Thomas Jefferson and Roger Williams |
| Typical Justice System* | Anabaptist (Separationist) View | Catholic (Synthetic) View | Reformed (Transformationist) View | Lutheran (Paradoxical) View | |
* Five views of the church are summarized in the book pictured below (with its table of contents pictured to the right of the book cover
