Culture is… “the social structure of people where a Christian lives and seeks to influence and transform according to the Word of God.”
Culture is…
“…the social structure of people…”
When we approach the topic of culture, we must start with the social aspect of culture. The word, social, is derived from the Latin word socius, which means companion and relates specifically to human beings interacting together.[1] Thus, humans create, cultivate, and cause a culture that adopts certain norms, patterns, or rhythms that become an acceptable way of living and flourishing together. Practically, we can say then that any culture will have artifacts, practices, beliefs, and ultimately institutions that not only bind them together but also distinguish them from other cultures. Moreover, to the extent the parents and elders of a culture sincerely live out their acceptable cultural values, etc., and as children are born into this culture, they will inherit these aspects of living that shape and ultimate perpetuate their cultural norms. In short, the children become enculturated and pass down the rhythms of lives observed.
As these cultural norms are both transmitted and perpetuated, the culture will ultimately develop structures that support these norms within the culture. The structures are both visible and invisible. The visible structures are things like language, dress, colloquialisms, positions of leadership and delegated authority and governance, etc. The invisible structures are things like authority, power, values, heritage, and stories that normalize and retell the cultural practices. It is the structures then that become the trellis for the culture to grow and expand.
“…where a Christian lives…”
Cultures are formed within geographic constraints. While the internet has certainly led to the infiltration of cultures once constrained by geography, it does not create the culture. To be sure, there are cultural elements to an online community, but they are superficial. Thus, the culture—specifically as it relates to this book—is the location wherein a Christian lives.
Within a geographic location are the spheres to be influenced—as pointed out in Chapter 6.
“…and seeks to influence and transform…”
There are both inherited and intentional components of a culture. As previously pointed out, being born into a culture intrinsically means one has been shaped by that culture. The inherited aspects of culture are things that make us us. We can’t help it. It’s who we are. We’re shaped by our environments, but it’s important to point out that our environments don’t determine our outcomes. Which leads to the second aspect of influencing and transforming culture. As it relates to the intentional component of influencing and transforming culture, the question becomes, “How do I influence the culture in which I reside?” We’ll explore this question more in this chapter.
“…according to the Word of God.”
The Christian looks to the Word of God as the ultimate authority from which to shape culture.
I was part of a leadership teaching team sent to Africa to equip local African pastors in 2009 and was asked a question that was a first for me. The African pastor said, “What would you tell the man whose wife expects him to beat her as a show of love? As the husband beats his wife, he is communicating that he loves her. You are telling me that we are to be gentle and kind?” His culture—or at least the culture of this person he was referring to—was shaped by certain actions that communicated certain aspects of love. Obviously, the response was that the Bible is to shape how we treat our spouses, not culture. It’s a simple answer to a not-so-easy circumstance.
Next time, we’re going to examine three aspects of culture: high, folk, and pop culture.
[1] Micheal Agnes, Jonathan L. Goldman, and Katherine Soltis, eds., Webster’s New Compact Desk Dictionary and Style Guide, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Thesaurus (Cleveland, OH: Wiley Publishing, Inc., 2002), 458.
— January 27, 2022