Cultural Fundamentalism or Cultural Evangelicalism?
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From Theologically Driven. Posted with permission.
Over the past decade it has been popular to distinguish between “cultural fundamentalism” and “historic fundamentalism.” Cultural fundamentalism is regarded by its critics as very, very bad. It consists of folksy/outdated traditionalism that has drifted from its quaint, innocuous origins and has entered a bitter, skeptical stage of life—complete with theological errors of a sort that typically attend aging, countercultural movements. Historic fundamentalism, which focuses more on basic theological issues, fares a little bit better, but only a very little bit. Critics puzzle over those who accept this label, marveling that anyone would risk associative guilt by lingering near those nasty cultural fundamentalists: “Why not get with the program,” they ask, “and become a conservative evangelical?”
Part of the reason, I would venture, is that conservative evangelicalism itself appears, to all but those blinded by its euphoria, to be yet another cultural phenomenon—a new iteration of a broader movement (evangelicalism) that, let’s face it, has a track record easily as jaded as that of fundamentalism. True, the conservative evangelicals of today are a bit more conscious of theology and mission (that’s how the life cycle of ecclesiological “movements” begins), and their culture is more up-to-date; but it’s just a matter of time until the present iteration of evangelicalism grows old, propped up only by the same nostalgia that today keeps Billy Graham crusades and Bill and Gloria Gaither homecomings on cable TV (except that these will be replaced, for a new generation of elderly evangelicals, with John Piper recordings and Keith and Kristyn Getty sing-alongs that allow folks to relive the glory days).
Recently Darryl Hart, a notable critic of conservative evangelicalism (a.k.a. the “New Calvinism” and “Young, Restless, and Reformed” movements), wrote a scathing exposé of today’s culture-heavy evangelicalism. Speaking specifically to his own confessional concerns, he made the obvious point that the major attraction of the “New Calvinism” and the “Young, Restless and Reformed” movements wasn’t primarily theological (the “Calvinism” and “Reformed” part) but cultural (the “New, Young, and Restless” part). Calvinism, he observed, has been faithfully preserved for centuries in confessional churches (like the OPC of which Hart is a part) that guarded it far more carefully than the confessionally unconstrained evangelicals ever could. No, the major attraction of the “New Calvinism,” Hart opined, was that it offered something that the Old Calvinism didn’t, viz., “the sorts of celebrity, technology, mass crowds, and enthusiasm upon which the young sovereigntists thrive.” The “Gospel Allies” (a derogatory label Hart uses for the conservative evangelical movement) deliberately denigrate the Old Calvinists for one prevailing reason: They’re not new. And since they’re not new, they have little appeal for the young and restless crowd. The “Gospel Allies,” on the other hand, stay new by brokering alliances with cool, edgy, avant-garde, and (mostly) Reformedish celebrities like Driscoll, McDonald, and Mahaney, who, granted, might fall over the edge with which they flirt—but it’s worth the risk.
So what comes next? Well, if history is our guide, the generational cycle of cultural ecclesiology will soon move to its next phase, what I call ecclesiastical “niche-making.” The fundamentalist version of this is well documented. The 1940s and 50s revivalist culture (the best snapshot of which is found in its music) was all new and fresh and culturally edgy in its day. But now it is the realm of churches populated by 80-year-olds who can’t figure out why there are no “young people.” It’s happening again with the Patch the Pirate generation. Patch and Company were all the rage in the 1980s and early 1990s, but now they’re old news. Still, by publishing their magnum opus, Majesty Hymns, a coalition of Patch-culture churches lives on, populated mostly by those who were parents of small children during the 1980s. Now they’re beginning to wonder why the “youth group” is so small.
But evangelicalism is no different. Visit the various evangelical churches in your neighborhood and you’ll find Gaither churches, romantic but theologically vacuous churches from the golden age of CCM, and now Getty/Townend/SG churches (hint: this is where that missing generation has gone). I have little doubt that this cycle will repeat, because there is little in place to break the cycle. The pattern for all of these groups has been to push the cultural envelope until they create their niche, then settle down to enjoy it.
The possible conclusions, then, appear to be twofold: some churches will (1) do nothing and become culturally backward, ingrown congregations that reminisce together until they eventually die of old age, while others will (2) transition to the next cultural cycle and thrive for another 25 years or so. But is this the way it’s supposed to be? I think not.
The answer
The answer, I would suggest, is faithful ministry in confessionally bounded churches committed more to the spirituality of the church than they are to the socio-political and cultural relevancy of the church. By striving, self-consciously, to be as culturally transcendent as possible, I would argue, we can cultivate timeless, transgenerational bodies that do not need to reinvent themselves every quarter century to remain solvent. It will not be easy—after all, culture has told us for a hundred years that this is not the way church is done. But it’s definitely worth the effort.
Mark Snoeberger Bio
Mark Snoeberger is Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary and has served as Director of Library Services since 1997. He received his M.Div. and Th.M. from DBTS and earned a Ph.D. in systematic theology from Baptist Bible Seminary in Clarks Summit, PA. Prior to joining the DBTS staff, he served for three years as an assistant pastor.
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“By striving, self-consciously, to be as culturally transcendent as possible, I would argue, we can cultivate timeless, transgenerational bodies that do not need to reinvent themselves every quarter century to remain solvent.”
Here’s my question. Assuming the ecclesiology of the NT is sufficient for how churches are to understand themselves and how to relate to this world, where does all the analysis and hand-wringing effort to be culturally relevant (or in this case, “culturally transcendent”) come from?
I like what I read. I think his analysis is right on, and his conclusion clear and true:
The answer, I would suggest, is faithful ministry in confessionally bounded churches committed more to the spirituality of the church than they are to the socio-political and cultural relevancy of the church.
True, I would prefer the word “doctrinally” rather than “confessionally,” which, to me, is another fad-term from the new “reformed” movement, at least for those of us who are fundamentalists and not reformed (as a whole).
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[Ted Bigelow]“By striving, self-consciously, to be as culturally transcendent as possible, I would argue, we can cultivate timeless, transgenerational bodies that do not need to reinvent themselves every quarter century to remain solvent.”
Here’s my question. Assuming the ecclesiology of the NT is sufficient for how churches are to understand themselves and how to relate to this world, where does all the analysis and hand-wringing effort to be culturally relevant (or in this case, “culturally transcendent”) come from?
Ted, I think there is some mandate for this in I Corinthians 9:19-23
19 For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. 21 To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. 23 I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.
I Corinthians 11:16 suggests that there may have been differing customs in differing churches:
16 If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.
In addition, we see the innovative nature of the church in the Book of Acts (e.g., Acts 6:1-7). Any foreign missionary will discuss the need to adapt to the culture. The question is how far? The neutral things of a culture (language, to some degree, dress, etc.) are one category, but the term “culture” often refers to what the Bible calls the “world.” And therein lies the difficulty, making a distinction. IMO fundamentalists have been too stubborn and hidebound about cultural matters while many “hep” evangelicals cave in even where the Bible speaks (e.g., the role of women). This is not an exact science, but being fad-driven is a sure sign of a wrong foundation.
PS— Ted, the link to your website is misspelled. I think you want “church.” It reads: www.gracecurchministry.org . Please add an “h.”
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http://stuffoutloud.blogspot.com/2010/11/cultural-fundamentalism.html
In other words, when people think “fundamentalist,” they don’t think “defending the gospel” or “partnering for ministry.” They think cultural issues.
Of course there are exceptions. I had dinner this week with a well-known and highly-respected man, whose name every reader here would know (and would say, “How did you get hooked up with him?”). He actually did reference fundamentalists as separatists. But in my experience, he is the exception.
But what most people ask about is cultural issues, because that is what people think fundamentalism is. Now, one might attempt to make the case that the Bible version is not cultural, but theological. I think that is partially true and partially not true, but I don’t want to deal with that argument here.
You see, they know exactly what a cultural fundamentalist is … It is a fundamentalist who is known first for his stands on cultural issues. He is not known for loving the gospel, sound doctrine, theology, and the church, though he may do all those things. He is known for cultural standards.
Is that fair? Complain away, but that impression did not come from nowhere.
You see, cultural fundamentalism exists, and in it, people care less about what you believe and more about what you do and don’t do. Again, complain away, but that impression does not come from nowhere.
https://web.archive.org/web/20120112074042/http://systematicsmatters.bl…
Comment: Having been born in the 40’s … it’s always fun to go back (wayback)Fundamentalism and Cultural Conservatism
Fundamentalists have a reputation for being culturally conservative. I’ll let others quibble over whether cultural conservatism is a sine qua non of fundamentalism. It’s a worthy discussion, but that’s not my point today. What I want to discuss today is the meaning of cultural conservatism. In my experience, when the label “cultural conservatism” is raised, the specter that most often comes to hearers’ minds is the absurdity of conserving a peculiar culture, usually American culture from somewhere between the Great Depression and the immediate aftermath of World War II. That this vision of cultural conservatism has thrived in fundamentalist circles is an unfortunate reality: you can still visit the 1940s in many fundamentalist churches today. And that is a tragedy.
This vision of cultural conservatism, however, is not the kind of cultural conservatism that fundamentalism has always practiced. George Marsden makes this point clearly in his Fundamentalism and American Culture and especially his Reforming Fundamentalism. In many cases, he observes, early fundamentalist culture was more folksy and populist than their modernist rivals because, as a grass-roots movement, the fundamentalists had lost much of their high-culture machinery to the modernists (after all, when they lost the church builiding, they also lost the pipe organ—which in some cases was worth more than the building!). Marsden further observes that the early new evangelicals were sometimes more straight-laced and staid than their fundamentalist brothers precisely because they were pursuing acceptance among modernists who had retained a rather “high” culture.
The early fundamentalists did, however, develop a certain reserve about culture based on robust concerns about depravity and true worldliness. Where the new evangelicals had adopted something of a non-critical “Christ of culture” mindset that pragmatically assumed neutrality in culture for the sake of re-engaging it, the fundamentalists began to be more critical of culture. The early fundamentalist response, however, was not (and still is not) monolithic. Some adopted a simplistic “Christ against culture” stance, dug their heels into 1947, and resisted all cultural advance from that point forward. But others adopted something of a “Christ and Culture in Paradox” stance that viewed culture with measured distance, anticipating and abhorring what was evil in culture, but clinging to what was good. Now there were (and still are) practical similarities between the cultures reflected in these two visions of fundamentalist culture, but not identity.
What concerns me about the “conservative evangelical” tent is a tendency to abandon both kinds of cultural conservatism and to embrace a sort of non-critical cultural ambivalence reminiscent of the new evangelical model. In their haste to jettison the simplistic and unhealthy cultural conservatism of “Christ against Culture” fundamentalism, there has also developed among conservative evangelicals a certain repugnance for the critical cultural conservatism of “Christ and Culture in Paradox” fundamentalism. And I fear that the result of this tendency is the loss of some of the practical antithesis that the Gospel anticipates.
It is for this reason that I continue rather stubbornly to plead for cultural conservatism in the church today.
Larry talked about the questions posed to him about fundamentalism over pizza and beer (not Larry’s beer!)
Out away from the ghetto of fundamentalism (the schools, seminaries and churches) … out in the neighborhood where I live or where I work , the term itself is nearly universally negatively perceived. The questions about whether someone went to a Bible College (I know NONE at my employer), whether a woman wears pants (hello … it gets to -20 here!), and drinking (almost everyone I know drinks in moderation), and Bible versions and inane and irrelevant.
Meaningful questions (all have come up in the last several weeks):
- Robin Williams and suicide. Was he insane? (I didn’t watch the Emmy’s last night but I did see the Billy Crystal tribute clip on the AM news. “But while some of the brightest of our celestial bodies actually are extinct now, their energy long since cooled, but miraculously because they float in the heavens so far away from us now, their beautiful light will continue to shine on us forever and the glow will be so bright it’ll warm your heart, make your eyes glisten and you’ll think to yourselves, Robin Williams, what a concept”. (Comment: just yesterday over coffee a co-worker asked if I believed in ghosts! Last Tuesday at dinner at Red Lobster a relative asked me about suicide)
- Work life balance
- Marriage issues
- Issues with aging parents
- Ferguson (spoken quietly but people are talking about this!) & race related issues
- ISIS and radical Islam (here’s a real conversation starter that enabled me to provide a Catholic co-worker the book “Delighting in the Trinity” (b/c answers the Muslim view of God)
Point is that if we want to engage people and have an entrance into their lives, we need to have answers to the questions they are asking.
I thought that this was article was interesting. There is a segment of the YRR that seems to always want something new, to the point where they seem to have no stability in how they worship. To some the style of worship is in a constant state of flux. Changes in lighting, staging, worship team composition, and liturgy are prone to create uneasiness. The continual introduction of new music results in congregations that are unable to keep up with the repertoire and thus turn into audiences rather than participants. On the other hand, we have segments of Christianity who are stuck in their favorite culture of worship. Some like the hymns and worship of the Victorian Era, some of the Revivalist Era, some of the Gaither Era, and some of the Garlock/Hamilton/Wilds genre. When I visit churches, I can often predict their culture by their hymnal. (The worst one being “Soul Stirring Songs and Hymns” which suffers from a dearth of the latter. A church needs a repertoire of hymnody, not just for the musicians but especially for the congregation. While a rut is just a grave with the ends knocked out, familiarity is not all bad. It’s been my experience that people, while needing to be stretched, also find comfort in the familiar. Some fundamentalists resist change. Some of the YRR are addicted to it. We need to embrace change but without letting go of what is good. Corporate worship is all about participation! We want people singing and praying with us not listening to us. We also want them participating with their heads. There are people who worship the same way week after week and have no idea what they’re doing or what they’re singing.
"Some things are of that nature as to make one's fancy chuckle, while his heart doth ache." John Bunyan
Jim quotes above from one of Mark Snoeberger’s earlier articles:
“you can still visit the 1940s in many fundamentalist churches today. And that is a tragedy.”
Snoeberger’s assertion may apply in many aspects, but one that particularly strikes me is that fundamentalism often seems to lag behind evangelicalism in adopting new technologies.
Consider the vitriol that commonly came from fundamentalism a few years ago against the use of “screens” (i.e. video screens) in church auditoriums. Churches that have them use them for powerpoint projection, song lyrics, and video announcements, among other things. I haven’t seen any recent opposition to video screens, and in fact I’ve seen numerous instances in which fundamentalist churches are now using them. (At my church, during a remodel about three years ago, we installed twin 14 X 7-foot rear-projection screens.)
How about lavalier microphones? (The small, wearable, wireless ones that give a speaker freedom of movement.) When these were first gaining in popularity in churches, I remember my own pastor (at that time) once disparage them as if they were a sign of apostasy.
This one may sting: what about people using their iPads or iPhones to look up Scripture during services, instead of carrying a Bible to church? I know fundamentalists today who become indignant at the very thought. Yet bound Bibles were themselves once the height of technological innovation (in the mid-15th century, that is, after Gutenberg invented the printing press).
Passing the plate during the offering? At numbers of churches, that’s becoming anachronistic. An increasing percentage of regular church attendees today give electronically, in various forms.
Teaching elementary Sunday School can also be an eye-opener. I know 10 year-olds who carry smart phones. A 1st grader last year excitedly told me about all of the books she had recently read–on her Kindle. Kids today are very tech-savvy, and teaching them using methods that may have been helpful in the past (flannel graph, anyone?) would now likely elicit yawns.
What’s my point? The younger the church attendee, the more a technologically-lagging church may look like the 1940s to them. And the more that the means of delivery seems out-of-date to them, the harder it may become for churches to get them to connect with the message.
Hi Ed,
Even if 1 Cor. 9:19ff were teaching cultural adaptation, it would be teaching personal adaptation - i.e., Paul alone, instead of ecclesial adaptation. That is why 1 Cor. 11:16 is more promising, referring to the practice of churches. But even here Paul rebukes a practice that may have been culturally relevant to Corinth but is out of keeping with “the churches of God” - a phrase referring to churches spread across several culturally diverse realms. And since the head covering matter was not a practice in keeping with the churches, it was rejected even if a culturally relevant issue (cf. 1 Cor. 14:33-40).
As for 1 Cor. 9:19ff, if we hold to a ‘cultural adaptation’ understanding of that passage rather than a ‘permissible religious’ adaptation (of Jewish practices), what could Paul mean by “I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified” (1Co 9:27) but that he remains qualified for ministry based on the success of his cultural adaptation?
As for Acts 6, I’ve not heard that discussed in terms of cultural adaptation before.
The neutral things of a culture (language, to some degree, dress, etc.) are one category, but the term “culture” often refers to what the Bible calls the “world.”
Wouldn’t the Corinthians have likely argued that the length of hair, or the wearing of veils, was all culturally neutral (1 Cor. 11:1-16)? Are tattoos neutral? How about Facebook, or television? Singing? And if you don’t have an apostolic word on how to differentiate between worldly and culturally, who decides for the churches? Each one decides for itself? Paul would have rebuked that as per 1 Cor. 14:33-36.
The larger issue is what we say we believe, and what we actually believe regarding the sufficiency of Scripture for ecclesiology, as it is also for our personal lives (Mat. 4:4). If (since) the New Testament is sufficient to teach us in both precept and example the doctrine and duties of all churches of all times and in all cultures, why are we trying to figure out how our churches should or should not adopt culture apart from it, in the hopes of making longer lasting churches?
Thanks for picking up on my misspelling.
I actually forgot what was perhaps the most glaring techno phobia of fundamentalism for quite a while: the internet.
I’m thinking of a famous quote from a prominent (hyper)fundamentalist that carried a lot of weight in a particular segment of the movement for many years. He essentially said that the internet was evil, and that Christians had no business ever using it. (I’m not going to bother to try & Google his exact words.)
Fundamentalism (to some degree) chose to pass on utilizing a medium by which young, tech-savvy fundamentalists were gaining increasing exposure to the writing & sermons of conservative evangelicals (who by and large were not averse to utilizing it).
Might this have contributed to the exodus of many young fundamentalists?
While on vacation last spring I attended an evangelical Anglican church. I loved the service and thought they did every thing by the book. Great hymns sung by a congregation of all ages and backgrounds united to take a stand for the Lord. They had various and extended readings of scripture which I find lacking in many churches today (I do not believe that since everyone now has a copy of the bible that it means the command to “read” has been abrogated. Faith comes from hearing and hearing of the word of the Lord. Of course this is not a mechanical thing).
The message was spot on, informed and relevant. The special music was violin and organ duet performed brilliantly (not that it has to be brilliant but this was).
My beef with historic fundamentalism is that it is mostly ignorant ranting confidently stated. Also, the institutions of Fundamentalism harbors control freaks by my personal experience and observation. The worst is the Hyles crowd but they are not exclusive. Whenever this fact of overlording is brought up, the response typically is: oh, you just want to sin. Again, this is ignorance and a faulty understanding along with a sort of mysticism of ‘private revelation’ that they are the few ‘pure ones’. This promise of ‘purity’ has become a gimmick which lures and traps the unsuspecting.
Evangelicalism to me is more biblically informed. This fact transcends any cultural considerations.
Though some of the “Fundamentals” (as I remember the articles) were o.k., some were lacking. To me, the problem started when this universal movement began to be institutionalized. At the very beginning it was characterized by racism and legalism (alcohol prohibition initially that soon snowballed to include more and more things). Institutions might be necessary along some lines but the standards were drawn far too tightly. It is better not to cooperate institutionally if it is more restrictive than the bible.
I am almost against music in the assembly. Where is it in the scriptures? One verse! “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart.”(ESV). One would be hard pressed to see this imperative directed toward the assembly. The context certainly does not speak of meeting together to exercise this command. This may be speaking about admonishing one another in an indirect manner using established psalms and hymns. Paul gave Timothy explicit commands what to do when meeting together: reading, exhortation, and teaching. Yes, prayer, Lord’ Supper observance, koinonia is spoken about also. Where is concerts? For all the scholars out there: please examine this area of the church’s practice.
Being a Baptist, I want to find support in the bible for how to assemble together with other believers and not just go along with the crowd. That English Reformed Church was more baptistic than any Baptist church I have found.
"Our faith itself... is not our saviour. We have but one Saviour; and that one Saviour is Jesus Christ our Lord. B.B. Warfield
That English Reformed Church was more baptistic than any Baptist church I have found.
!
I am very conservative with worship music and am a member of a church that is as conservative as I.
What I see is a “our worship is better than their worship” among some in our circles.
We attended a fine Bible church while on vacation - pastored by a grad of TMS (MacArthur). What we found:
- Casual dress
- A small combo band ( guy on a guitar, another guy with a small drumset, and a pianist). The lyrics were displayed on screen
- The worship was absolutely Christ glorifying - the lyrics were theologically rich
- The message was over 50 min long (I’m used to about 30 min)
My wife remarked that there would be some in our circle who would find the music abhorrent … but only because of their closed-mindedness and prejudices.
This small church didn’t have the depth of music ability and # of attendees to field a choir. But it was worship
http://www.philchristensen.com/subpage30.html
A Response to Dr. Frank Garlock’s Teaching About Praise
Garlock puts all his theological eggs in one basket. The premise would make Francis Schaeffer spin in his grave: Garlock teaches plainly that music is not a-moral. Its character is moral.
What’s the difference? A knife is a-moral. It’s neither good, nor bad. Depending on who’s holding that knife, it can do things that are either good or evil. It can accomplish good things by freeing the bonds of a captive, or slicing a tomato for a sandwich. But - in the hands of a fiend - a knife can also murder the innocent. It’s a tool.
In Frank Garlock’s world, however, music is NOT just a tool. Music is a powerful entity that - in itself - is either holy or evil. He teaches that music is moral or immoral by its very nature, and cannot be neutral. The sound itself is here to either help you or to hurt you. There’s no middle ground.
He attempts to support this truth by associating it with the character of God Himself. Garlock reasons that since (a) God is musical, and (b) God is moral, therefore (c) music is moral by nature. That’s Frank’s Theorem.
(Note: for fun, try Frank’s Theorem with any other two random attributes of God, and see how it works. Here’s one to get you started: (a) God is kind, and (b) God is unchangeable. Therefore (c) kindness is unchangeable. Kids, you can try Frank’s Theorum at home: (a) Rudolph is a reindeer, and (b) Rudolph has a red nose. Therefore, (c) all reindeers have red noses! Donner and Prancer might disagree, but I digress.)
Frank’s Theorem gives birth to Frank’s Bottom Line: There are only two styles of music: (a) the style which is is moral and “acceptable to the Lord” and (b) the style which is immoral and “unacceptable to the Lord.” It’s a simple binary system. His personal mission statement is found in Eph. 5:10: “Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.” For those who don’t agree with what he’s proven, he’s obviously adopted the next verse in context: “And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.”
So the battle’s on; we’ll either accept what Garlock’s “proven” or be “reproved.” With no middle ground, his definition of unacceptable music is any style that smacks of “worldliness.” He will also define this.
To avoid being reproved by Frank Garlock, we’ll have to:
1) agree with his premise about the morality of music,
2) accept his definition of “worldliness,” and finally we’ll
3) penitently adopt the styles of music he authorizes
[Ted Bigelow]Hi Ed,
Even if 1 Cor. 9:19ff were teaching cultural adaptation, it would be teaching personal adaptation - i.e., Paul alone, instead of ecclesial adaptation. That is why 1 Cor. 11:16 is more promising, referring to the practice of churches. But even here Paul rebukes a practice that may have been culturally relevant to Corinth but is out of keeping with “the churches of God” - a phrase referring to churches spread across several culturally diverse realms. And since the head covering matter was not a practice in keeping with the churches, it was rejected even if a culturally relevant issue (cf. 1 Cor. 14:33-40).
As for 1 Cor. 9:19ff, if we hold to a ‘cultural adaptation’ understanding of that passage rather than a ‘permissible religious’ adaptation (of Jewish practices), what could Paul mean by “I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified” (1Co 9:27) but that he remains qualified for ministry based on the success of his cultural adaptation?
As for Acts 6, I’ve not heard that discussed in terms of cultural adaptation before.
The neutral things of a culture (language, to some degree, dress, etc.) are one category, but the term “culture” often refers to what the Bible calls the “world.”
Wouldn’t the Corinthians have likely argued that the length of hair, or the wearing of veils, was all culturally neutral (1 Cor. 11:1-16)? Are tattoos neutral? How about Facebook, or television? Singing? And if you don’t have an apostolic word on how to differentiate between worldly and culturally, who decides for the churches? Each one decides for itself? Paul would have rebuked that as per 1 Cor. 14:33-36.
The larger issue is what we say we believe, and what we actually believe regarding the sufficiency of Scripture for ecclesiology, as it is also for our personal lives (Mat. 4:4). If (since) the New Testament is sufficient to teach us in both precept and example the doctrine and duties of all churches of all times and in all cultures, why are we trying to figure out how our churches should or should not adopt culture apart from it, in the hopes of making longer lasting churches?
Thanks for picking up on my misspelling.
Ted, I don’t see it that way — at least not as much as you do. The fact that only a few areas of not adapting to the culture in Corinth are mentioned speaks volumes. The church, for example, spoke Greek. The mother church in Jerusalem may have, or perhaps Mishnaic Hebrew (as I believe) or perhaps Aramaic (as many others believe). Language is very much cultural and is in itself a cultural adaption. Styles of dress no doubt varied within boundaries. I am not denying boundaries, but I am denying that we are to imitate the early church. We are to obey the commands God has for the church; prescription yes, description not necessarily.
Whether we admit it or not, all of us embrace adapting to the culture or times. Otherwise how is it that we men wear pants instead of a robe? Why do we sing in 8 note octaves? Why do we sing in 4 time? Why do we have organs, pews, bulletins, church buildings, etc. Church buildings are particularly cultural adaptions.
I think it is fair to say that cultural adaptions that are contrary to Scripture or somehow displace the prescriptions God has given us are suspect. Others simply make ministry more effective in the culture or times. Video projectors are a case in point. They are an adaption to the times and to Western attention deficit issues, but they enhance teaching. We have the boundaries of the Word, but we have much freedom and discretion within those boundaries. That’s why we have elders and learn from others, go to seminars, etc. The Word does not tell us to have AWANA. It doesn’t. It tells us to teach the Word to all. AWANA (as just one example) exists apart from Scriptural precedent, but we are free to adapt to our culture.
I think the real issue (and difference) is MODERATION. Those of us more closely tied to the Bible are more moderate and cautious in our cultural adaptions. But we all do it; it is a continuum.
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