Pride Month and The Cultural Mandate, Part 1
There is much talk this month about culture. There are agendas, evaluations, plots, critiques, and more.
One particular comment from a famous Christian whom I really respect caught my eye. In this post I am going to redact his name, because I want the argument to be focused on what he said, not who he is.
Lets start with his tweet:
I’ll come back to the tweet for further critique in a bit, but for now let me summarize the main thrust:
Christians should be not be engaged in a culture war, attempting to win back the culture.
I think that is a fair representation of what this brother is saying.
Before we engage that any further, we should consider a few things, such as a definition of culture, and a quick survey of views on the Christian’s ralationship to culture.
In Ashford and Bartholomew’s brilliant book, we read:
“Building on Cicero, Westerners began to employ the word to refer to artistic, architectural, literary, and intellectual accomplishments of society. Today, among anthropologists, culture is used even more expansively, with one influential definition being the ‘more or less integrated systems of feelings, ideas, and values and their associated patterns of behavior and products shared by a group of people who organize and regulate what they feel, think, and do.’
“In line with the more expansive meaning, we define culture theologically as whatever results from God's image bearers interacting with God's good creation. As God's image bearers interact with God's creation, they cultivate the ground, harvesting goods from the natural world such as vegetables or wood; they produce artifacts from creation's raw materials, such as cloth, homes, airplanes; they ponder the relationships of cause and effect and the origins of things, forming worldviews (theism, pantheism, atheism); and they foster ways of life, which include not only belief systems but affective and evaluative grids. Thus, by culture we have in mind the ways in which humans shape their lives together. Culture includes such things as housing; the development of towns, cities, and farms; transport; wilderness areas protected through conservation; education; government; art, music, and crafts; and leisure. This notion of culture conforms with biblical teaching that the image of God is the whole person, not seated in one's intellect or will, but encompassing the cognitive, affective, and evaluative aspects of one's being and including patterns of behavior and products produced. The human person, the imager and culture maker, draws on all of who he or she is to shape culture and, in turn, is shaped by the same thing he or she helped produce. Further, in this shaping and being shaped, one interacts extensively across the entire range of nonhuman creation. The concept of culture, therefore, is intimately related to the doctrine of creation.”
This is a really helpful understanding of “culture.” What becomes clear that every human in involved in culture, not just the unbeliever. Therefore, it is not, “us v. the culture,” as posited in the tweet being critiqued. The issue is, which culture(s) will have influence, dominance, and power.
This idea that all humanity is involved in creating "culture” is thoroughly biblical. In Genesis, God issues what is often referred to as the "cultural mandate:”
And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that creeps on the earth.” - Genesis 1:27-28
Several points need to be drawn out here. First, Adam and Eve are instructed using kingly language: “subdue” and “dominion.” You can do the word studies on your own time.
Second, when God says “fill” the earth, He is not just talking about people. He is talking about culture. Adam and Eve are to, for sure, replicate. But its not just a replication of themselves. They are to replicate and expand the Garden. They are to fill the earth according to the template that God has given them.
He has given them rivers filled with precious mineral and jewels, from which to build canals and irrigation off of:
Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. - Genesis 2:10
and God demonstrated which trees were objectively beautiful, and which ones were good for food :
And out of the ground Yahweh God caused to grow every tree that is desirable in appearance and good for food,” Genesis 2:9
Adam and Even now have the divine template to work off of.
The next time the Bible uses the word translated as “fill” in 1:28, is in Genesis 6:11. At this point mankind has indeed filled the earth:
Now the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. Genesis 6:11
This post has gotten long enough, so I’ll wrap it up here with a quote from D. A. Carson, on common Christian responses to culture. See if you can place the tweet quoted, and the Bavinck quote at the top of the post, within this spectrum.
In the next post I will fill in more biblical details regarding the cultural mandate, and return to examine the quoted tweet in a bit more detail.
“The urgency of thinking afresh about Christ and culture is becoming more acute. Inevitably, Christians respond in various ways. Some advocate one form or another of withdrawal. Others want to gain more access to the media. Still others put forth valiant efforts to influence government and pass appropriate legislation. Some, whether consciously or unconsciously, develop a two-tier mentality, one for Christians and church functions, and one for the broader cultural encounters that take up most of the rest of the week. Still others think little about these matters but simply want to get on with evangelism and church planting.”
Part two has now been published, you can read it here.
You can catch my entire 40-part sermon series on God and Government on the following playlist: