Making Your Way

The early followers of the Way (as Christians were known in the book of Acts) were considered an esoteric sect among Jews and Romans alike. Persecution was commonplace until the 4th century when Constantine I took the seat of Emperor. He later experienced a conversion which was the precursor to the Edict of Milan (313 AD), a treatise of tolerance towards Christians which essentially put an end to the persecutions. Christianity had become the lay of the land. It also ushered in the beginnings of the monastic movement led by St. Benedict of Nursia, as those who were seeking a more ascetic life apart from what had become a kind of societal spiritual complacency, made their way to the desert.

This "retreat from the world" by the early monastics is revisited in Rod Dreher's recent book The Benedict Option. It builds on the work of philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre who believed we have reached a point in Western society in which we are on the verge of collapse in the manner of the fall of the Roman Empire. Dreher expounds on this in an interview in which he states that "the country (the U.S.) is not ours anymore. This is not our culture anymore. Maybe it never was our real home, but we have got to prepare ourselves and our families and our churches through intentional living, through disciplined living, and through an awareness of the cultural moment to deal with perhaps even persecution."

With more Americans googling "how to move to Canada" if Donald Trump is elected president than ever before, I think even the secular world feels like we are the verge of some kind of collapse as a country or, if you will, an empire. Whether or not this will happen remains to be seen, but the nervous tension of where we are headed as a country is palpable. While some people are feeling 'this is not my America' anymore, others are leading the charge to reclaim it, through political process.

Now, I haven't read The Benedict Option, but the question of how to live as a Christian in America today is one I find personally relevant. The erosion of religious liberty and the giving way of the relative position of comfortable privilege Christians have found themselves living in for the past century forces one, if they are serious about their faith, to consider options and ask the question, "How am I to live?"

Theologian Richard Niehbur's signature work "Christ and Culture" approaches the question of how Christians are to interact with contemporary culture. He lays out five "types" or paradigms of how a Christian might view himself in relation to the culture in which he or she lives:

1) Christ Against Culture
The first type, Christ Against Culture, is the sectarian/separatist approach. The culture is lost, so you better jump ship and circle the wagons with your own people. Think society within a society.

2) Christ of Culture
At the other end of the spectrum is Christ of Culture. You might think of this in the American context as those who conflate Americanism with Christianity. Our nation is Christian, and God and country go hand in hand.

3) Christ Above Culture
All good comes from God, whether that good is explicitly Christian or not. One can recognize what is good in, say, Greek philosophy, but which reaches its ultimate fulfillment in the Christian context.

4) Christ Transforming Culture
In this type, society is to be evangelized and reformed. Everything in society is to be reclaimed for Christ.

5) Christ and Culture in Paradox
This final type, the most nuanced, recognizes that Christians live in a state of tension in the world. It recognizes that the world is fallen, yet legitimate authority (even if it is less-than-godly), for example, is to be honored. It is the kingdom not yet fully realized.


What does Niehbur's work have to do with anything? Well, it's as relevant today as it was during Jesus' time, which was pluralistic, albeit in a different cultural context. Zealots wanted to restore the Kingdom of Israel by rooting out the Romans through political revolution. Essenes sought to prepare for the coming of the Messiah by separating themselves and living in strict sectarian communities. Early Christians like Augustine adopted neoplatonist philosophy to a Christian context, while the evangelists sought to win over the world to Christ.

Things are not so different today. People are wresting with this question and it plays out in different says.
When I am in Lancaster county I see the Christ against Culture type in Amish communities. When I visit the Midwest, the Christ of Culture type was more prevalent. Strong evangelical pockets can be found everywhere with Christ Transforming Culture, while my own faith tradition seems to have adopted the Thomistic Christ Above Culture typology.

Personally, I find paradox to be a confounding central theme in my life and approaches at reconciling sometimes seemingly diametrically opposed realities and values to be constantly challenged. I'm suspicious of utopias (whether religious, political, or secular), and am relatively apolitical. I inhabit both Christian and non Christians circles. I don't know if I necessarily want to live in a "Christian country." I find myself supporting environmental causes (a liberal ideal) while opposing abortion (a generally conservative cause). Sometimes I feel like my entire life is one big freaking paradox, and that I'm not really standing anywhere while simultaneously standing everywhere at the same time.

I guess that is because I've found that, generally speaking, life doesn't always fall into neat binary categories, and holding things in tension is difficult. It really is easier, I think, to fall into a camp, whether that's a Us vs Them camp, an Us and Them camp, an Us Over Them camp, or whatever. The tension dissipates, and you devote yourself to the cause. Maybe I'll get there one of these days, but I have a feeling this tension--of being in the world and not of it, of waiting for the Kingdom and still having to cook dinner, of getting up and falling down--is how I am meant to answer the question, "How am I to live?"