Contra Mundum
© Contra Mundum 1991-2024
About Contra Mundum, a study of the conditions of Christian culture.

About

Who speaks for Christian culture?

Every strong theological tradition has its view of the relation of Christianity to culture, or of the independence of Christianity from culture. In particular the Reformed branch of theology early evolved a strong view of the topic. Today there are many conflicting schools of thought each claiming to be the Reformed view. The non-Lutheran reformers themselves were trained in and held to the Via Antiqua, most being Aristotelians with Calvin apparently influenced by Duns Scotus. In politics the best claim to represent the Reformed view would be that of Johannes Althusius in his Politics, or some British Puritans. The problem is that almost no one holds the view today; even the Confessions have been altered to remove it. Probably the closest would be the perspectives at Wordbridge Publishing. Instead we have: 1) The older form of the two kingdom doctrine, emphasizing the separation of the institutions of church and state that Philip Schaff called “the American idea of religious liberty”. “It is a free church in a free state, or a self-supporting and self-governing Christianity in independent but friendly relation to civil government.” 2) Dutch neocalvinism, or Kuyperianism, that sees all the social order, even culture, as composed of independent spheres each with its own norms and authority. It also has a different, and probably contradictory, idea of a common covenant that administers matters not related to salvation. 3) Late neocalvinism or the Reformational philosophy, that introduces a radical disjunction between the created order, including culture, and God, who is beyond being, logic, meaning, etc. 4) The theonomic-presuppositional view, evolving out of neocalvinism, which preserves one side of the original Reformed position with its emphasis on divine norms and even theonomy in some cases, while falsifying the philosophical foundation of Reformed theology in favor of Karl Barth’s anti- Thomist version of history. Presuppositional foundationalism becomes the Reformed philosophy. 5) The Radical Two Kingdom theology with natural law, which highlights the Reformers’ Aristotelianism, but falsifies their their view of the social order and the role of God’s law. While the Radical Two Kingdom theology coming out of the seminaries seems to be dominant in the Reformed church establishment, there are outsiders, increasingly Baptists, who are attracted by the theonomic-presuppositional view, though the limitations imposed by their theology and ecclesiology prevents them taking this too far toward the position of Althusius. A good way to see this is to contrast two recent, massive Biblical theologies. Kingdom Through Covenant, by Peter J. Gentry and Stephen J. Wellum take the Baptists view, which is to separate the covenants as much as possible to minimize the amount of content, and therefore of obligation that carries forward to today’s church. In contrast is A New Testament Biblical Theology by G. K. Beale, which officially takes a creation/new creation model, but it turns out that new creation is moved as much as possible into a future pie in the sky thing, and is not so much about Christians as the new creation now. With this comes a certain amount of Presbyterian judaising; they like their institutions, clergy, and sabbatarianism. It’s the old model: the less salvation for us the more power to the clergy. The ecclesiastical-institution model of Christianity has failed. The more institutional structure there is the more more it dedicates itself to pumping money from the people and from kingdom work to officials, and these in turn devote themselves to betraying the beliefs and values of the people as fast as they can get away with it. The focus has to go back to Christianity as something that is lived, and if it is lived, culture cannot be ignored. Contra Mundum is not related to any institution, foundation, church or commercial entity. Opinions expressed by the writers are solely their own and may be and sometimes are contrary those of the editors. contramundum@contra-mundum.org
The problem of the relation between Christ and culture immediately concerns the fundamental questions of Christian thought and action. Therefore a Christian must continually contend with it. The one who does not touch it neglects his direct calling. — Klaas Schilder To say that culture is man's calling in the covenant is only another way of saying that culture is religiously determined. — Henry R. Van Til
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About

Who speaks for Christian culture?

Every strong theological tradition has its view of the relation of Christianity to culture, or of the independence of Christianity from culture. In particular the Reformed branch of theology early evolved a strong view of the topic. Today there are many conflicting schools of thought each claiming to be the Reformed view. The non-Lutheran reformers themselves were trained in and held to the Via Antiqua, most being Aristotelians with Calvin apparently influenced by Duns Scotus. In politics the best claim to represent the Reformed view would be that of Johannes Althusius in his Politics, or some British Puritans. The problem is that almost no one holds the view today; even the Confessions have been altered to remove it. Probably the closest would be the perspectives at Wordbridge Publishing. Instead we have: 1) The older form of the two kingdom doctrine, emphasizing the separation of the institutions of church and state that Philip Schaff called “the American idea of religious liberty”. “It is a free church in a free state, or a self-supporting and self- governing Christianity in independent but friendly relation to civil government.” 2) Dutch neocalvinism, or Kuyperianism, that sees all the social order, even culture, as composed of independent spheres each with its own norms and authority. It also has a different, and probably contradictory, idea of a common covenant that administers matters not related to salvation. 3) Late neocalvinism or the Reformational philosophy, that introduces a radical disjunction between the created order, including culture, and God, who is beyond being, logic, meaning, etc. 4) The theonomic-presuppositional view, evolving out of neocalvinism, which preserves one side of the original Reformed position with its emphasis on divine norms and even theonomy in some cases, while falsifying the philosophical foundation of Reformed theology in favor of Karl Barth’s anti- Thomist version of history. Presuppositional foundationalism becomes the Reformed philosophy. 5) The Radical Two Kingdom theology with natural law, which highlights the Reformers’ Aristotelianism, but falsifies their their view of the social order and the role of God’s law. While the Radical Two Kingdom theology coming out of the seminaries seems to be dominant in the Reformed church establishment, there are outsiders, increasingly Baptists, who are attracted by the theonomic-presuppositional view, though the limitations imposed by their theology and ecclesiology prevents them taking this too far toward the position of Althusius. A good way to see this is to contrast two recent, massive Biblical theologies. Kingdom Through Covenant, by Peter J. Gentry and Stephen J. Wellum take the Baptists view, which is to separate the covenants as much as possible to minimize the amount of content, and therefore of obligation that carries forward to today’s church. In contrast is A New Testament Biblical Theology by G. K. Beale, which officially takes a creation/new creation model, but it turns out that new creation is moved as much as possible into a future pie in the sky thing, and is not so much about Christians as the new creation now. With this comes a certain amount of Presbyterian judaising; they like their institutions, clergy, and sabbatarianism. It’s the old model: the less salvation for us the more power to the clergy. The ecclesiastical-institution model of Christianity has failed. The more institutional structure there is the more more it dedicates itself to pumping money from the people and from kingdom work to officials, and these in turn devote themselves to betraying the beliefs and values of the people as fast as they can get away with it. The focus has to go back to Christianity as something that is lived, and if it is lived, culture cannot be ignored. Contra Mundum is not related to any institution, foundation, church or commercial entity. Opinions expressed by the writers are solely their own and may be and sometimes are contrary those of the editors. contramundum@contra-mundum.org
About Contra Mundum, a study of the conditions of Christian culture.