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Recently I heard a speaker issue yet
another impassioned call for Christians to “engage culture.” Part of me
takes some comfort in such pleas. This particular speaker had the zeal
of a convert, coming from a part of the evangelical world in which such
calls to engagement are a rather recent phenomenon. Like many other
evangelicals, he was enthusiastic about what were for him some rather
new theological discoveries: “the cultural mandate,” Christ’s lordship
over all of life, the importance of a comprehensive “biblical
worldview.” These are laudable discoveries. But I also get a little nervous about generic calls to cultural engagement. There are different ways of getting engaged. One obvious way is when a couple goes public with a loving commitment to each other. Another is when a military unit engages an enemy force. Too often Christian calls for cultural engagement are more like the military version than the courtship variety. We are told that we have let “the world” take over the culture, and we need to get out there and take it back. The call to engagement, then, comes across as a recruiting effort for cultural warriors. Not that the courtship model is the proper alternative. The ravages of our shared human fallenness are all too obvious in the various spheres of cultural interaction. We have to be careful that we do not fall in love with that which is displeasing to God. Our shared fallenness is much too obvious in our various spheres of cultural interaction. Fortunately there are several points on the engagement spectrum between military campaigns and preparation for marriage, and this excellent book of essays has located exactly the right point: friendship. To be a friend is to come alongside of the other person. It is to make room in one’s own consciousness for the other person’s hopes and fears. To be a friend is to be committed to an ongoing dialogue, a process of genuine listening and empathetic responding. The writers of these essays have made a commitment to that dialogic—that friendship—process in engaging the larger culture. They are rightly disillusioned with the kind of confrontational approach that demonizes those with whom we see ourselves as being in disagreement on important matters. Calling for a different spirit, the writers have provided us with helpful overviews and guidelines for cultural engagement, as well as stimulating explorations of what it means to pursue that engagement in specific cultural arenas: politics, the environment, film, the academy, sexual relations, courts of law, interreligious encounters, and the like. In all of this, the writers of these essays not only model an appropriate spirit of cultural engagement. They also teach us some important things about the specific areas they address. Even more important, they teach us what it can be like to learn from others—including people with whom we disagree on some basic issues of life. Properly understood, cultural engagement is not simply having an impact on culture, it is also being changed by engaging the complexities we encounter there. A friendly cultural engagement can be a way of growing in the Christ who is the lord over all spheres of cultural life. This book of essays is a rich gift to those of us who are committed to experiencing that kind of Christian growth. —Richard J. Mouw |
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