2. Contextualizing the Gospel Attempting to live out the biblical command to be “In the world, but not of it.” Maximizing the church’s redemptive influence…

3. Christ against culture (sectarian)- tends to escape the tension by withdrawing from the world, and occasionally lobbing grenades over the wall

4. Christ above culture (Roman Catholic)- aims to manage the tension by forging Christ and culture into a grand synthesis presided over by the church.

5. Christ transforming culture (Reformed)- handles the tension by seeking to convert the culture toward the will of God as it is discerned by the church and carried out by its members.

6. The Christ of culture (liberal religion)- escapes the tension by absorbing Christ into the enlightened culture of the day- ignores the tension

7. Christ and culture in paradox (Lutheran, emerging church)- Accepts the tension. Lives as a contributing member of society in his or her time and place, yet recognizes the need occasionally to be counter-cultural

8. Christ Against Culture: Not of the world and not even in the world- Antagonism- separating from culture like a Pharisee Or… ignoring culture like an Essene Christ Of Culture: In the world and of the world- Capitulation- Blending into culture like a Sadducee Christ Transforming Culture: In the world and over the world- Arrogance- ruling over culture like a zealot Christ and Culture in Paradox- In the world but not of the world- Humility- living in constant dynamic tension like the early Christians.

9. Espouses an active engagement with and participation in culture Prefers dialogue, rather than monologue Recognizes the authority of both Christ and culture, Christian revelation and secular knowledge, but see them as in significant -- perhaps humanly unresolvable -- tension with each other. The Christian in this world is subject to both, and this dual obedience is never achieved without difficulty and without sin. Refuses either to reject culture or to confuse it with Christianity

10. Relevance- an active engagement with the culture Sees the Christian as a stranger and alien in this world, yet seeks an incarnational approach Recognizes that the universal sinfulness of man could be manifested in the most pious behaviour. Building a new Christian culture is in vain, for it will become another tool for us to establish our self-righteousness.

11. Humility- non imperialism Lausanne Covenant of 1974 "Missions have all too frequently exported with the gospel an alien culture, and churches have sometimes been in bondage to culture rather than to Scripture.”

12. Historically somewhat pessimistic, but recently developing into an more hopeful outlook. Past: Content to let state and economic life continue relatively unchanged. Law, state, and other institutions are thought as only restraining forces against sin, not positive agencies to realize the Lord's commandment of loving one's neighbours. The temporal world is dying, and all proactive involvement in cultural activities are meaningless. Now: a real attempt to engage culture in a positive manner, and to seek balance between relevance and being counter-cultural where needed Historically somewhat pessimistic, but recently developing into an more hopeful outlook. Past: Content to let state and economic life continue relatively unchanged. Law, state, and other institutions are thought as only restraining forces against sin, not positive agencies to realize the Lord's commandment of loving one's neighbours. The temporal world is dying, and all proactive involvement in cultural activities are meaningless. Now: a real attempt to engage culture in a positive manner, and to seek balance between relevance and being counter-cultural where needed

13. In its most radical formulation, sees “Two Kingdoms”- two spheres which really don’t overlap and don’t have a whole lot to do with one another- dualistic In its more moderate formulation it is a highly dialectical and paradoxical view of God’s Two-fold Rule. God rules in both the spiritual and the secular- albeit in somewhat different ways.

14. Marcion Luther Kierkegaard Roger Williams (founder of Rhode Island- separation of Church and State) Reinhold Niebuhr the emerging church

15. “How should we relate to culture? We should astonish it.”- Erwin McManus Not- Ignore it… Hate it… Love it and marry it… Conquer it…

16. Gives a foundation for properly contextualizing the Gospel. Remains relevant- the church continues to find new expressions for new times Keeps the Gospel pure and yet readily accessible to all

17. May unknowingly slip into Christ of Culture model (e.g. Lutheranism in early 20th Century Germany) As Niebuhr points out (1975: 184), paradoxical "dualism may be the refuge of worldly-minded persons who wish to make a slight obeisance in the direction of Christ, or of pious spiritualists who feel that they owe some reverence to culture."

18. Why do we come to this view? Because we must… Leslie Newbingin in a book called: Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture says this:

21. We have to understand that we cannot stand against or above culture and neither can we allow the Gospel to be absorbed into it- we must have a dialectical stand- respecting, using and even enjoying the tension. Seeking those redemptive windows

22. “To be a disciple of Jesus means to live life not standing against, or closing in, or shutting out, but walking alongside.”- Leonard Sweet The paradoxical view avoids self-righteous separatism on the one side and double-minded irresponsibility on the other, Newbingen’s diagram This gives us a great theological basis for change. “If you want to honor the Reformers, don’t say what they said, do what they did.”