Deuteronomy 32:7
Remember the days of old;
consider the generations long past.
Ask your father and he will tell you,
your elders, and they will explain to you.
When one thinks about the history of Christianity in terms of its relationship to culture and its redemption (and not just the salvation of individuals as primary as that is) there are a number of things we wish to highlight. In this introduction it seems good to touch on the topics of: 1) the normative teaching and influence of the New Testament writers, 2) the beginnings of cultural reflection by the Church Fathers, 3) the influential work of Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas who responded to and attempted to think through Christian doctrine using elements of neo-Platonic thought and Aristotle’s work respectively. And, 4) finally, we wish to highlight the development Christian humanism with its roots as far back as the patristics, because it has played an extremely important role as it emerged later in the writings of Petrarch at the beginning of the Renaissance and in the reformation figure Erasmus. We could say more about many other things, but this will get you started.
That influence has continued into at least, the contemporary work of Niebuhr and Bonnhoffer. This tendency to value classical education and to eventually embrace the methods and deliverances of modern science led to a subtle rift among Christians who for various reasons tended to either emphasize the teachings of the Bible alone or for the sake of greater coherence tried make sense of both the Bible and “secular knowledge.” How this played out and is playing out in the evangelical culture can hardly be over-emphasized if one wishes to understand cultural critique from a Christian point of view.
New Testament Writers
An important place (really THE important place) to start would be with the New Testament writers for the express purpose of trying to understand their intentions regarding Christianity’s relationship with culture. It’s an obvious fact that the emerging Christian community did not grow in a vacuum, but rather in a particular historical and religous culture. There are many ways these writers might have communicated appropriate and inappropriate relations with these influences.
In all four canonical gospels we see Jesus described as interacting with individuals and groups, preaching the good news of the coming of the Kingdom of God and doing good--that is, in the latter case, including physical healing and helping those he encountered in various ways. He also associated particularly with people he would eventually select and train as disciples, who were to become future leaders in the movement. Thus, we see through the supreme example of the life of Jesus--also His teachings by various means including parables, sermons, practical lessons, etc.--the influence He has had on how Christians live out their lives. Thus, it is fair to say that He has remarkably affected culture in the broadest sense.
Relevant to Jesus’ teachings, methods and motivation we also see the consequences of his ministry: Jesus is widely regarded as the most known person in history, Christianity has more than 2 billion followers, and the Bible is one of the most widely circulated and printed books in history since it was first printed on Gutenberg’s press in the 15th century. Therefore, it seems obviously important for Christian apologists to understand Jesus’ teachings, methods and motivations regarding relating and influencing culture and to therefore pay attention to the normative nature of His life and teachings and how that historically impacted culture.
Secondarily to Jesus’ life and ministry, though important even when considered alone is the ministry of the Apostle Paul, the other Apostles and other NT writers. Paul is sometimes incorrectly credited as “creating” Christianity, however because of his understanding of Hebrew culture, having grown up in it and because of his knowledge of Greek culture by virtue of acquaintance, his language skills and traveling, and by virtue of his de facto early leadership position, made a profound contribution. All that positioned him to be an important figure in the history of Christianity for shaping Christian thought about culture, especially through his writings. Through his various kinds of letters (epistles)--some written to specific people but also for wider circulation and some to specific churches for reading and circulation--we find Paul helping the early Church come to grips with its relationship to pagan culture. Romans 13 is widely considered a very important text for understanding that.
The best way to understand what the NT writers wrote, believing as we do that what was written was ultimately guided by the Holy Spirit, is to read the scriptures themselves, attempting to understand as best we can what they were trying to say to their primary and immediate audience and culture. Cultural translation in application comes after that. So we encourage you to take up its repeated reading giving attention to understanding the cultural milieu in which it was written and how they would have understood what was said and written—that doesn’t end the challenge of good hermeneutics, but it begins there. With that and His illumination we would seek to see how these truths can properly cross culturally apply in our contemporary situations.
Church Fathers
Later, in the second century AD, there were subsequent church leaders like Tertullian, Polycarb and Origen who contributed to the conversation and there were the Cappadocian fathers who lived in modern day Turkey. These fathers were also educated in Greek thought and culture. Again, there were other early apologists who were thinking and working on the problem of understanding culture and how Christians fit into it—"being in the world, but not of it.” In some cases they did so in order to defend themselves against the accusations of pagan culture to the powers that were. Be sure to look at the resources we are accumulating regarding this period to get a sense of their views of culture.
Augustine and Aquinas
Virtually at the end of the classical period in the fifth century, we see the pivotal figure Augustine responding to the cultural questions of his day, especially as they related to the fall of Rome and the end of the Pax Romana. Augustine was one of the great minds of the ancient world who used the work of the neo-Platonist Plotinus as a means of addressing important Christian doctrines. Some of this contribution was “lost” except in pockets during the period of the so-called Dark Ages. But there was also some important awakenings, not the least of which was the Carolingian Renaissance at the end of the 8th century AD and the beginning of the 9th.
As western Europe emerged from its dismal economic and political woes from the 11th century on, we see an upsurge in interest in how Christianity and culture related. The 13th century figure Thomas Aquinas played a prominent role through several of his books in working through Christian doctrine through the lenses of a baptized Aristotelian empiricism. And because of widespread network of Christianity in Europe at that time, its influence began to have impact, although much of his influence came much later, after Aquinas fell into a period of reduced impact in Christian thought.
The Development of a Christian Humanism
Finally, by way of introduction to this, it would be a colossal blunder in terms of understanding Christian’s relationship to thought and action in culture if one would miss the impact of a growing Christian humanism that had its roots early in Church history. The crux of the problem amounts to whether and if so to what degree do the Bible’s revealed knowledge and “secular knowledge” integrate. What is at stake is authority.
The geographical proximity of the Middle East to Greek and Roman imperial culture contributed greatly to this development, especially as Roman culture conquered the Middle East and instituted its reign and influence. Greek culture was a dominant influence in Athens and in nearby (modern day) Turkey and in Alexandria, Egypt and even Italy. Over time as travelers, merchants and those of the Jewish diasporas traveled to and from Jerusalem, they brought along with them the influences from those cultures. We see in the book of Acts that some of this cultural influence was resisted, probably contributing to some of the early difficulties of converted Hellenistic Jews (cf Acts 4:32 & 6:1 ff) and Hebraic Jews.
However, Greek and Roman literature (especially Aristotle) was sophisticated and rife with a secular humanism. It could be argued that some of Plato’s work could be effectively adopted by Christians, others are not so sure. But their literary work and influence can be hardly overstated in classical Europe. Greek philosophers like Plato and Aristotle and their systematic work and the achievements of Roman culture (again: roads, architecture and art, etc.) made it hard for religious folk in the Middle East to think of themselves as having the corner on the market on all of the truth—perhaps only if they lived in a cultural bubble or silo and were not acquainted with these cultures.
Those Jews who would become Christians and who were culturally Hellenized were a part of Christianity from the beginning. So, the question was to become, how did all this fit together?
As you go through the resources on this site you will see people like the Cappadocian Fathers, Petrarch and Erasmus and policies like the Gregorian reforms that play a role in just what this relationship might look like. In many ways we are still working out this relationship even today with present day cultural authorities like modern science.
In so noting the phenomena of Christian Humanism we don’t intend to endorse any particular form it took by any of the people or movements mentioned on this site. Rather, we want you to critically think through these issues yourself, as you access our resources.
See also:
Wikipedia Christian Humanism