Unit 6 How do Culture and Christianity relate?

Overview

In this unit, we turn our attention to the third big question of our course, How do culture and Christianity relate to each other? The influence of Christianity on western culture is undeniable and can be seen in a number of ways. One is simply the many common expressions and terms in western culture which originate in the Christian scriptures, the Bible. Here are a few:

The blind leading the blind:
A broken heart
Cast the first stone
An eye for an eye
A fly in the ointment
The good Samaritan
Go the extra mile
Pride comes before a fall
A wolf in sheep’s clothing
The writing on the wall

These expressions, and many others like them, are so common and widely used in western culture that we may not realize where they come from, i.e., the Bible. Expressions like these are not just words, they convey ideas and, as such, influence the way we think. When we learn a language, we are not only learning how to speak, but are being provided with a set of concepts to use in all our thinking, reasoning, and discussions with others. If you influence a language spoken by a group of people, you also influence the way that group thinks. This is just one of the ways Christianity has influenced the thinking of western culture.

When we ask how culture and Christianity relate, the first order of business is to ask what we are asking (Maybe you’re getting used to this by now.). As you can imagine, people can be thinking of different things when they ask about the relationship of culture to Christianity. Here are a few possibilities and perhaps you can think of others:

We could be thinking of influence, i.e., how one of these has influenced the other. As we have already noted, both culture and Christianity have had serious influence on each other.
We could be thinking of the viewpoints Christians have toward culture. If Christians desire to be true to the teachings of Christianity, are there ways they should, or should not, view the cultures around them?
Or we could be thinking of the question of compatibility. Is Christianity compatible with a particular culture or are they in opposition to each other?

In topic one of this unit, we will focus on the third of these, the ‘compatibility question’, since that is the one that many people instinctively seem to think of when considering the relationship of culture to Christianity.

As we consider this compatibility question, we must also bear in mind that the cultures of the world are so diverse that, unless we focus on particular cultures, this question will be so broad as to be nearly meaningless. Our question will never be, is culture compatible with Christianity, but rather, is this or that particular culture compatible with it.

Topics

This unit is divided into two topics:

The Compatibility Question
A Few Christian Teachings About Relating to our Cultures

Learning Outcomes

When you have completed this unit, you should be able to:

Identify at least five common cultural expressions which have a Christian origin.
Articulate what is meant by the question: are culture and Christianity compatible?
Explain why forgiveness in the Christian sense is harder than it may first appear.
Define the following terms: forgiveness, pride, humility, love, hope, and faith.
Name one practice in your culture which is compatible with the Christian teachings addressed in the reading for this topic, one that is not, and what you see in both practices which guides your classifications.

Activity Checklist

Here is a checklist of learning activities you will benefit from in completing this unit. You may find it useful for planning your work.

Learning Activities

Read Book III, Chapter 7-12, of our course text, Mere Christianity, by C. S. Lewis. Watch the video related to the topic and reflect on the questions provided.
Reflect on the question provided and write out one example which illustrates your answer.

Assessment

Unit 6 Student forum presentations (20%) and forum interaction (20%).
Reflective Learning Journal (20%) – due at the end of the course
Final project: This project will be handed in to the professor on the final day of class. You should be working with your group through the steps of the project as set out in the course syllabus. (40%)

Resources

Here are the resources you will need to complete this unit.

Lewis, C. S. (1952). Mere Christianity. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company.

All other online resources will be provided in the unit.

6.1 The Compatibility Question

As stated above, when many people ask how a given culture relates to Christianity, what they are wondering is if the two are compatible with each other. In this topic, we will focus on this compatibility question and, again, the first order of business is to ask what, precisely, we are asking with this question.

Normally we have some idea of what it means for two entities to be compatible. If two people are compatible, it means they get along and could happily spend time together. If they are incompatible, not so much. If two ideas are compatible, it means both could be true. If they are incompatible, at least one must be false. But what does it mean to be compatible when the two entities are large and complex, like culture and Christianity? Here are some possibilities.

We could be thinking of cultural values versus Christian values and wondering if these two sets of values are in agreement. It’s a fair question and the answer will likely depend upon which culture we have in mind. For many cultures of the world, the answer would probably be that sometimes Christian values are in agreement with those of the culture and sometimes they are not. Many cultures would claim to value actions like helping the poor, needy, and vulnerable, telling the truth, and keeping one’s promises, which are clearly in agreement with Christian values. However, culture may promote other values which do not align with Christian ones. In many cultures, it will be a mixed bag.
Perhaps we’re not thinking about values but instead about whether a particular culture actually supports or encourages Christian values and practices. For many cultures, again, this will be a mixed bag. Some cultural or governmental policies encourage Christians and other religious groups (tax relief for religious properties), while others do not. There is rarely 100% full-on encouragement, and this may cause some who are thinking this way to answer the compatibility question negatively. How would you answer it for your own culture?
When we ask whether culture is compatible with Christianity, however, we may not be thinking of values or cultural encouragement. Instead, we may be asking about the level of freedom a particular culture gives people to live out and express Christian values and beliefs. In other words, whether or not a culture supports or encourages Christians or Christianity, the question is, do they let Christians, and people of other faiths, practice and express what they believe?

In many western societies, the right to freedom of religion is a bedrock foundational legal principle and we can see its relevance for this question. If this is what we are thinking when we ask the compatibility question, then we may conclude that even though Christian values do conflict with those of the broader cultures, sometimes deeply, so long as Christians have a high level of freedom to practice and express their beliefs and values, there is no meaningful incompatibility between culture and Christianity. The point is, much depends upon what someone is thinking when they ask the compatibility question.

Activity: Read, View and Reflect

Watch the video, “Christianity and Culture Collide”, where Professor John Stackhouse of Crandall University in Moncton, New Brunswick, talks about how to follow Jesus in the real world working with our neighbours to make the best of it.

Questions to Consider

Next, read chapter 7-12 and think about the following questions:

Can you think of cultural values, beliefs, and activities in your own culture which are contrary to Christian beliefs and values, and which could entice Christians away from their devotion to their faith? If so, does this mean your culture is incompatible with Christianity?
In your own culture, are Christians forced or pressured to engage in activities, or endorse beliefs and values, which they find contrary to their faith? Or are they free to believe and practice the teachings of Christianity? Does your answer to this question affect your answer to the previous one?
Can you think of ways in which the prevailing values or commitments of your culture actually support Christianity, or even other religious traditions?
In your culture, is religious liberty regarded as an important right, legally or morally? How does this affect your own answer to the compatibility question?

6.2 A Few Christian Teachings About Relating to our Cultures

At this point we come to an important step in addressing the relationship of culture to Christianity, namely, what Christianity itself has to say about it. We’ve been reading and thinking about certain teachings of Christianity and it’s time for us now to ask whether any of these teachings provide guidance for how Christians should relate to their cultures, whichever ones they may be.

It’s a fascinating question especially as we drill down into them. As you work through the readings for this topic, we encourage you to try not only to understand the teachings you will read, but to go further and consider how these ideas, if taken seriously, would affect the way people relate to their cultures. It’s a fascinating and instructive way to think about them.

For example, one essential teaching of Christianity about which we will read is the call to forgive others when they wrong us. It’s easy to see how this simple but profound act would impact the way people relate to others around them.

Of course, the immediate question is what forgiveness actually means or entails. Does it mean we no longer pursue justice for the one we forgive? Or could we pursue justice even as we forgive? Does forgiveness mean we must like the person we forgive? Does it mean somehow minimizing the wrong they have done? Clearly, we can’t follow the instruction to forgive without a clear idea of what it means so we encourage you to take special note how our author, C. S. Lewis, explains it in our reading for this topic.

Here is a heads-up. He starts right out by acknowledging how unpopular this teaching is, especially when the offence involved is severe. It’s a lovely idea, he says, until we have something hard to forgive. Then forgiving can become hateful and contemptible. It’s worth asking ourselves how we would feel about forgiving someone who had seriously hurt us, or our children, or parents, or country? You’ll want to watch for two specific suggestions by the author of things we can do to help when forgiving is hard.

Our reading for this topic also sets out a number of other important Christian teachings relating to issues such as pride, humility, love, hope, and a few others. As you read about them, ask yourself how Christian teaching on these key points would guide the way people relate to others in your own culture. We hope this will be a productive and interesting exercise for you.

Activity: Reflect

Based on your text reading for this unit, how do you think Christian teaching on these key points actually guides or influences the way people relate to others in your own culture?

Take a minute and ask yourself why you answer the way you do. Write out one example which illustrates your answer.

Assessment

Unit 6 Student Forum presentations and Forum Interaction

See the Assessment section for instructions on the discussion forum for this unit.

Reflective Journal

Continue to take notes on your learning as read the course texts. See the Assessment section for instructions, including tips on reading and engagement strategies.

Final project: Responding to Popular Culture - Group Project

For this project, you work in groups of 3 or 4 to produce a 4-6 page document dealing with the reading and critical assessment of culture. See the Assessment section for more details and instructions.

Checking your Learning

Before you move on to the next unit, you may want to check to make sure that you are able to:

Identify at least five common cultural expressions which have a Christian origin.
Articulate what is meant by the question: are culture and Christianity compatible?
Explain why forgiveness in the Christian sense is harder than it may first appear.
Define the following terms: forgiveness, pride, humility, love, hope, and faith.
Name one practice in your culture which is compatible with the Christian teachings addressed in the reading for this topic, one that is not, and what you see in both practices which guides your classifications.