thank you so much for the opportunity to share this time with you i've spoken on the campus of bandung theological seminary on two other occasions and i'm grateful for my friends there and for the faculty that serves a wonderful ministry at your seminary my only regret today is that i can't be with you in person but i thank god that technology has made it possible to meet together in this way i've been asked to speak briefly with you about the subject the reformed perspective on culture a quick survey of the literature makes it clear that this is a complex topic and my time is very limited so let's start with our first topic the interconnections between culture and religion in our day it's not uncommon for well-meaning christians to separate their cultural endeavors from their religious commitments we have our faith over here and over here we have our jobs our families our recreational activities even our political endeavors but in the reformed tradition culture and religion are inextricably bound together all human culture engagements however great or however small display either loyalty or disloyalty to god now to understand how this is true let me begin by offering just some operating definitions of the terms culture and religion and then we're going to touch on how these two connect to each other on the one side following the outlooks that typically appear in modern sociology and anthropology i'll define culture this way it's the intersecting patterns of concepts behaviors and attitudes that characterize human communities now this definition suggests that culture consists of many more or less intersecting or integrated patterns of human life things like language the arts worship technology interpersonal relationships and social authority these patterns include concepts behaviors and attitudes what we believe what we do and what we feel and cultural patterns characterize human communities whether that community is a family an ethnic group a social organization a religious association maybe a nation or even the region of the world or perhaps the entire human race now that's what we mean when we speak of culture in this lecture that i'm giving but on the other side i need to define religion i'll be defining religion along the lines of the ancient meaning of the latin term religio in this sense the term religio signifies basic beliefs and practices and attitudes that require wholehearted loyalty diligence and devotion now defining religion in this way tells us that i have in mind not only religions that have concepts of god or gods but i also have in mind deeply held secular ideologies in this sense christianity judaism hinduism and the like these are all religions yet agnostic buddhism and secular atheistic ideologies like marxism or neo-marxism or even modern eroticism fall into the category of religion as well they also focus on wholehearted loyalty diligence and devotion to certain beliefs certain practices and certain attitudes now with these two definitions of culture and religion in mind let's turn briefly to the ways that reformed theologians acknowledge that first that cultural endeavors and religion interconnect with each other in a variety of ways now maybe it goes without saying but we should mention that cultures always impact religious commitments we can see this easily when we observe that the same religious beliefs practices and attitudes are fleshed out in different ways in different cultures and in much the same way the core commitments that unify all christians have not led to cultural uniformity among christians in fact even in the reformed tradition we embrace cultural diversity among christians we all know what the apostle paul said in first corinthians chapter 9 verses 22 and 23 as he dealt with the diverse cultures of the mediterranean world in his day this is what he said i have become all things to all people that by all means i might save some in different nations reformed christians have expressed their basic christian commitments differently but for the sake of the gospel we celebrate that variety the varieties of language and music and food family life entertainment political practices all of these characterize christians around the world in different ways now as significant as this is in this conference i've been asked to give the description of reformed outlooks on culture so it's important for me to stress the converse of what we've just said culture does impact religion but religion also impacts culture in fact it's fair to say that reformed theology has emphasized this impact to the point that we may say that all human cultures are actually incarnations of religion the belief that cultures are incarnations of religions lies at the very heart of the reformed outlooks on culture reformed theologians reveal the priority of this perspective by frequently appealing to what we often call the cultural mandate a reference to god's first words to humanity in genesis chapter 1 verse 28 there we read these words and god blessed them and god said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth in this and other portions of the early chapters of genesis we see that ancient israelites believed that culture is the incarnation of religion in genesis chapter 1 verses 26 through 31 we find that the text highlights the religious character of all cultural endeavors by reporting that god spoke to human beings as his images his royal priestly representatives on the earth and that he blessed them with a global cultural mission they were to be fruitful to multiply to fill to subdue and to have dominion over the earth in obedience to god's commands for this reason reformed theologians regularly insist that it is futile to try to divorce cultural endeavors from our faith from the report reform point of view no facet of culture is religiously neutral every facet of every culture from the mundane to the sublime is utterly religious and this means that they display loyalty or disloyalty to god now this brings us to our second topic a comparison of reformed perspectives on culture with other christian traditions one of the most influential and helpful discussions of this variety appears in the book christ and culture written by h richard niebur in 1975. this well-known book has been critiqued in a number of ways but it still offers useful ways of understanding how reformed outlooks compare with other christian approaches to culture niebuhr gathered christian approaches to culture and the christian faith into five major groups on one end of the spectrum christ against culture is niebuhr's label for what we may call separatist movements branches of the church that promote withdrawing as much as possible from engaging the larger culture things like monasticism and modern amish and mennonite communities fall into this category on the other side of the spectrum niebuhr spoke of christ of culture there he referred to intentionally syncretistic branches of the church in one way or another these christians have closely identified the christian faith with the larger communities in which they live and this outlook can be seen in the ideals for example of the holy roman empire under charles the great as well as many modern liberal protestant churches now in re in richard niebur's scheme between these two extremes christ against culture christ of culture stand several different options christ above culture christ and culture and paradox but at the center of his arrangement he placed this point of view christ the transformer of culture the belief that christianity should seek to transform or convert the cultures of the world so that they follow biblical norms niebuhr rightly placed the reformed tradition within this last category christ as the transformer and christians as transformers of culture in service to him the reformed branch of the church has rather consistently emphasized that christ and his followers are given the goal of transforming or changing the cultures of the world in accordance with the teaching of scripture now it's crucial to realize however that positioning the reformed tradition at the center of this range of christian understandings of culture may leave us with a false impression along the lines of aristotle's discussions of the golden mean in ethics reformed christians often assume and sometimes rather smugly that their middle position is a safe place to be a place that's free from the dangers of the extremes of other branches of the church let me confess however that the middle ground has not been protected from extremes reformed christians have not always remained true to their ideals in fact they have always run the risk of falling into two extremes on the one side when reformed christians have been mistreated and persecuted they have tended to withdraw from their broader cultural context even when relatively minor forms of persecution have occurred reformed christians have tended to stop their attempts to transform the larger culture instead they keep their faith private and withdraw from standing as a moral witness in their culture as you can imagine at times this withdrawal has actually gone so far that reformed christians run the risk of losing their commitment to the transformation of the culture and they live in ways that actually closely resemble the extreme practices of christians who openly endorse christ against culture but on the other side there's another danger when reformed christians have enjoyed the favor of the larger cultures in which they live they often compromise with those cultures in these situations even reformed christians engage their cultures and often secure positions of social power but with the passage of time the desire to maintain their cultural status has often led christians to stop challenging their cultures to change even more according to the will of god instead christians compromise with evil cultural patterns because they fear that they may lose their social status in these circumstances reformed christians easily slip into supporting the status quo and they live in ways that closely resemble christians who endorse christ of culture despite our ideal of transforming the cultures of the world reformed christians frequently vacillate between withdrawal and compromise perhaps it's inevitable but it certainly alerts us to the value of constantly evaluating our cultural endeavors we must follow that familiar reformed adage ecclesia simpa referenda asked the church must be always reforming we now turn to a third matter the variety of outlooks that exist within the reformed tradition itself now reformed theologians agree much more than they disagree on these matters but reformed outlooks on how christians are to engage in the transformation of culture are not monolithic there are in fact many disagreements among reformed christians on these matters i'll touch on two critical issues about which there is both unity and diversity of opinions in the first place it would be nearly impossible to find a theologian who claims to be reformed who does not agree with this basic belief about human culture christ will fulfill the transformation of all human cultures when he returns in glory reformed theology has affirmed that god will be most glorified when his perfect rule in the court of heaven extends throughout the earth so that his will is done here as thoroughly as it is in the court of heaven this is why the great voices of heaven celebrate the final transformation of every culture under the rule of christ in revelation chapter 11 verse 15. there we read in the distinctively imperial cultural language of the bible that the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our lord and of his christ and he shall reign forever and ever reformed theologians often highlight that the story of the bible focuses on this full redemption of human culture and the physical creation it begins with the creation and the cultural mandate humanity's call to extend human culture throughout the world according to god's will yet the bible goes on to explain that sin has so deeply corrupted humanity that we will not and cannot fulfill that purpose by god's grace israel the chosen people of god moved forward in some positive ways as their culture developed within the promised land but even israel's national history ended in failure and god sent his people into exile without his appointed king and without the temple still the new testament completes the story by telling us that in the latter days the father remedied the problem of human failure by sending his eternal son to take on flesh to become fully human in his humanity christ died and rose again to begin the final stages of the transformation of the entire earth into god's kingdom christ now continues to reign in heaven until he puts all of his enemies under his feet and when he returns at the consummation of our age christ will fulfill the cultural mandate by filling the earth with perfectly righteous images of god and he will have dominion along with all who believe in him over the entire creation well-informed reformed christians affirmed this understanding of the divinely inspired biblical story of world history still we have significant agreement disagreements over one aspect of this story how much will christ transform human cultures before he returns in glory many reformed theologians have tended to be more pessimistic about this question than others they wonder whether or not christ will make much progress at all in the transformation of culture prior to the consummation of our age in this view christian transformation activity will be frustrated because human cultures will continue further and further into a downward spiral of corruption and this pessimistic outlook is generally characteristic of reformed christians who believe in the premillennial return of christ now other reformed theologians have been much more optimistic they expect that christ will add more and more people to the church throughout the world and that his followers will have a tremendous impact on human cultures by the proclamation of the gospel and by serving the causes of justice and mercy in the power of the holy spirit as a result they believe a golden age of widespread cultural transformation will take place prior to christ's return this optimism is most often associated with reformed post-millennialism but between these two outlooks there are reformed theologians who often describe themselves as a millennialist they generally hold that the transformations of cultures will rise and fall at different times and in different places prior to the return of christ all credible reformed theologians have affirmed that christ will succeed in utterly transforming human culture when he returns but these differences among reformed christians significantly impact their priorities and their strategies as they engage with the broader cultures in which they live just imagine how deflating it is to think of cultural engagement as polishing the brass on a sinking ship this is the challenge that reformed pre-millennialists face but imagine how inspiring it is to think that our culture our cultural engagements will eventually lead to a golden age of peace before the return of christ this is the inspiration of post-millennialism and imagine how all millennialists easily give into fatalistic attitudes as they see christian cultural influence rise and fall in unpredictable ways now this is one of the areas that christians and the reformed branch of the church agree together but have different points of view but now let's turn to a second issue all well-informed reformed christians also affirm this that god gives guidance in the bible and nature for all of our cultural transformational efforts both of these sources of revelation are essential for carrying out our cultural mission now it's not unusual to hear that the scriptures are designed to guide us as followers of christ we're all familiar with paul's well-known declaration in second timothy chapter 3 verse 16 that all scripture is breathed out by god and is profitable for teaching for reproof for correction and for training in righteousness that the man of god may be complete equipped for every good work certainly every good work for which the scriptures equip us includes not only our personal and familial and church activities it also includes every good work to which we are obligated including the cultural mandate the scriptures have given us have been given to us to equip us for the full range of cultural engagement while it's common to believe that about the scriptures it's not so common however to hear and reform circles that natural or general revelation has also been given to us to guide us in our efforts at the transformation of cultures simply put every experience of life displays how god expects us to serve him even in our cultural endeavors in romans chapter 1 verses 18 through 32 we find the most thorough explanation of this biblical teaching there we learn in verses 18 through 20 that human beings understand god's invisible attributes namely his eternal power and divine nature and that these have been made clearly percept perceived ever since the creation of the world in the things that have been made now it's important to note that in romans chapter 1 paul does not limit this claim simply to raw nature raw nature does reveal god and his will but paul also claimed that the patterns of human culture even simple cultural patterns are revelatory reformed theologians have consistently affirmed the value of these two sources of revelation to use calvin's metaphor in his institutes of the christian religion sin hinders our ability to see the revelation of god written in the book of nature so god gives us scriptures as spectacles that enable us to see the book of god's revelation in nature more clearly to modify this metaphor a bit reformed theologians have consistently insisted that we must search for god's revelation both in the book of nature and in the book of scripture as we seek to transform human culture although reformed theologians are united and affirming the value of scripture and nature for discerning how to transform human culture they have promoted a range of strategies for how attention to these two sources of revelation is to be carried out i'll mention three positions among reformed theologians first reconstruction theology second two kingdom theology and what i will call mainstream reformed theology on one end of the spectrum throughout the centuries some reformed christians have followed what we may call the theology of cultural reconstruction now typically these reformed theologians have emphasized the guidance of the bible including the old testament over natural revelation now i should be quick to add two qualifications first reconstruction theology or theonimus insist that followers of christ must accept new testament interpretations of the old testament so they don't call for a simplistic return to the practices of the faithful in old testament days i should also add that theonists have acknowledged that natural revelation helps us assess how we are to apply scriptures to culture we are to learn god's will by considering the full range of life experiences in the light of the bible yet christian reconstructionists tend to minimize the value of natural revelation and highlight at times with remarkable vigor that the scriptures must be applied to culture so that we can avoid endorsing sinful human cultural norms on the other side of the spectrum throughout the centuries at least some reformed theologians have represented what has come to be known today as two kingdoms theology in recent decades this point of view has drawn heavily from the theology of martin luther it asserts that christ is the king over two kingdoms the church and the world and that christian engagement in the church must depend on scripture but christian engagement with the world must depend on natural revelation although these theologians often deny it they still fit within the transformational model that's associated with the reformed branch of the church two kingdom theologians believe that christ has called his followers to improve all of human culture both the culture of the church and the cultures of the world yet they stress that we are to do this in different ways on the one side life in the church is to be led by the scripture on the other side life in areas other areas of culture is to be led primarily by natural revelation natural law and reason as they're prone to describe it but it's important to add this this distinction between the role of scripture and natural revelation into kingdom theology is not absolute we should not miss that these reformed theologians hold these distinctions because they believe that the bible itself teaches them in this sense the scriptures guide them not just in their church life but also as they depend on natural revelation for guidance as they engage the broad cultures in which they live moreover this is important to note as well much of the confidence that two kingdom theologians have in natural law and reason for guiding them in their efforts in cultural transformation stems from the fact that they read the book of nature as people who have been saturated with biblical teaching non-christians look at nature also but they often draw radically different conclusions from natural law and reason in addition to the theology of reconstruction and the theology of two kingdoms within the reformed branch of the church lies a position that we may call the majority reformed outlook a helpful way to characterize the majority reformed approach is to focus on the authority and specificity of biblical teachings these beliefs are summed up well in the first chapter of the westminster confession of faith let's touch first on the authority of scripture in the first place section 10 of chapter 1 explains that the supreme judge by which all controversies of religion are to be determined can be no other but the holy spirit speaking in the scripture this statement is a forthright assertion of the supreme authority of scripture for every matter taken up by christian theologians including theological assessments of our cultural engagement mainstream transformationalism affirms the supremacy of biblical authority or over all of these matters needless to say the majority approach in reformed theology also realizes that the scriptures do not speak specifically they do not address many questions that come up directly as we seek to transform cultures so we need to give attention to the specificity of biblical revelation as the confession of faith says in chapter 1 section 6 there are some circumstances common to human actions and societies which are to be ordered by the light of nature and christian prudence according to the general rules of the word which are always to be observed here we find the acknowledgment that there are many things common to human actions and societies that are not specifically addressed in the bible in these cases our assessments of cultural norms must be ordered by the light of nature and christian prudence in other words natural revelation these passages from the westminster confession of faith represent the majority reformed approach to the transformation of culture the scriptures are our supreme authority and all of life to the degree that careful interpretation of the entire bible discloses relatively specific norms for cultural transformation today christians are to promote their observance not just in the church but in the broader culture as well to the degree that careful interpretation of the entire bible discloses only relatively general norms for cultural transformation today christians are to promote the general rules of the word both in the church and in general culture but with much reliance on the light of nature and christian prudence now allow me to offer a few concluding thoughts i am fully convinced that all christian traditions have much to learn from each other about the approach we should take toward culture faithful followers of christ in every branch of the church have been doing their best for more than two millennia to understand how christians should engage human culture for this reason i've highlighted some of the more positive contribution of reformed outlooks on culture i've pointed to the reformed emphasis on the cultural mandate the reformed commitment to the transformation of culture our confidence that despite our failures christ will conform all human cultures to god's will when he returns and our devotion to relying on god's revelation both in scripture and in nature as we carry out our call to transform human culture all of these reformed emphases have much to offer all branches of the church you