5 Views: Justice & Government
| 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* | Theonomic Reformed View | View of God as Gracious Guide to Holiness | Non-Theonomic Reformed View | Modified Lutheran View | Dispensational View |
* Five views of justice are summarized in the book pictured below (with its table of contents pictured to the right of the book cover image). This webpage is to be updated with summaries of how the 5 views fits into Nieburh's paradigm.
