Culture Club

I've been thinking about culture recently. By this I don't mean that I've been ruminating over the latest exhibition at the Tate Modern or been immersing myself in Marlovian tragedies at the Barbican, but more from a theological perspective - to what extent should contemporary culture influence the church?

At this point many good evangelicals (and probably high-churchers for that matter) would begin to cry 'heresy!' at the top of their voices while reaching for their pitchforks, but it's a serious question. For those not au fait with Christian understandings of the church's relationship with contemporary culture, for many it's very simple - we've got it right, they've got it wrong. We should try to influence culture, but we can NEVER let culture influence us.

From the start there are some obvious problems with this position, the main one being that it's rubbish. Most of those much loved bulwarks of 'church life' that many don't want to get rid of (e.g. hymn singing, pews, preaching, flower rotas etc) were at one point in time culturally relevant, and that is why they were introduced (William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, once famously said in regard to contemporising church music, 'why should the devil have all the best tunes?'). It goes back even further though. In the Bible we have examples of St. Paul unapologetically using contemporary Greek mythology to explain about Jesus at the Areopagus (place where philosophers came to discuss stuff in Athens), and even some of our most treasured traditions (Christmas/Easter) are based on ancient pagan birth/death/rebirth rituals.

Now I'm not saying that the Church does not have something unique and incredible important to show the world because it does, but as a wise woman once said let's keep the main thing the main thing! We don't need to be afraid of culture or in some way protect God from it, as though he can't look after himself. Christianity is about a gospel of hope, redemption and forgiveness and has always been most powerful when enriched by the culture in which it finds itself. Churches cannot keep Jesus locked up in a comfortable box of Victorian ecclesiology. Let's find ways of doing church that are authentic and honest to the place where God has put us.