Christ and Culture

So like I mentioned, it’s finals week, I’m pretty busy. So I’m just going to toss some of the stuff I’m writing for class up here, just excerpts. If you want to see the whole thing just email me.

Following are Excerpts from a reflection paper I did for a class entitled Christ and Culture taught by Richard Mouw

The past year has taken me from a place of questioning world views, to a place of mild confidence, yet that confidence is not necessarily with out risk. I am like a skydiver in free fall, believing that I am safe, yet absent the evidence. (sounds a bit like a certain unknown author, if you know what I mean) I suppose this is a good analogy for all who have faith of whatever kind, but I would like to use it as an analogy of my growing state of comfort with the postmodern world. Having said this, I am not myself a full fledged supporter of postmodernity, I believe it is simply one of many world views complete with pros and cons. Rather, I am a Christian who lives in a world which is daily becoming increasingly postmodern. Separating me from other Christians who agree with this analysis, is the fact that I believe that the change is often a change for the better.

This class, which has sought to analyze both culture, and Christ’s relationship to culture, has been a key contributor to my growing state of comfort in the postmodern world. Primarily we have interacted with two people, Niebuhr and Kuyper; both approached their topics from the modern world view they lived in. For me, our analysis of these men served not only to teach me about Christ and culture, and “sphere sovereignty”, but also about the failures of modernity; failures which have spawned postmodernity, or whatever comes as a result of postmodernity. Consequently, I will reflect on my journey from the modernism of my youth and my Christian tradition, and into the coming world of postmodernism. I will do so by analyzing both the strengths and the failures of Niebuhr’s perspectives in his book Christ and Culture, and Kuyper’s belief in “sphere sovereignty”.