The Cultural Perspective
Understanding Culture in Cross Cultural Missions, can the Gospel
Change Culture and What Difference Does it Make Anyways?
FBCD BFL
1.22.2012
1. Questions
a. Do Christians or should Christians intentionally go into any place to change its
culture?
b. What is culture anyways?
c. If Christians change a culture does it make a difference anyways?
2. What is Culture?
a. Webster’s- as you see there are many definitions of culture (see appendix 1 at
the end of this paper)
b. The broad range of Culture and the Missionary Endeavor (see the portion of the
table of contents from ‘Perspectives on the World Christian Movement; table of
contents under ‘The Cultural Perspective’ to appreciate the scope of this topic.
See appendix 2 at the end of this paper).
c. People (Society)
1) Surface Level Behavior- what we do, think, say or feel either consciously,
mostly habitually but also creatively
2) Deep-Level Behavior- assuming, evaluating and committing mostly habitually
but also creatively:
a) Concerning choosing, feeling, reasoning, interpreting and valuing.
b) Concerning the assigning of meaning.
c) Concerning explaining, relating to others, committing ourselves, and
adapting to or deciding to try to change things that go on around us.
d. Culture
1) Surface Level Structure- the cultural patterns in terms of which we habitually
do, think, say or feel
2) Deep Level Structure (Worldview)- the patterns in terms of which we carry
out the assumptions, evaluations and commitments of deep-level behavior.
Patterns of choosing, feeling, reasoning, interpreting, valuing, explaining,
relating to others, committing ourselves and adapting to or deciding to try to
change things that go on around us.
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3. Bible Overview of Culture- Old Testament
a. Creation- God gave man rule to take care of the earth. Genesis 1.26-29
b. Exodus and start of a new Nation- Exodus 1-18 is leaving to create a new nation
and culture; Exodus 19-40 is the Covenant to create a new culture.
c. Separation and Holiness, which finalized the creation of a new nation and
culture- Leviticus 1-17, offerings, priesthood, cleanliness, Atonement and blood;
18-27, what does this different culture look like in terms of difference from the
pagan nations around then, ie in terms of being different or holy, feasts, vows
d. Nation builder with a distinct biblical culture- David in the creation of the unified
nation of Israel, I Chronicles 23-29.
4. Jesus and Culture- recall that opposed the number 3 just above, in which all that
was written was written to the nation of Israel in a theocratic type of government,
Jesus was speaking in a pluralistic pagan Roman and Greek saturated culture, which
totally surrounded them and had ultimate political influence over them.
a. A Christian’s character: the beatitudes 5:3-12
b. A Christian’s influence: salt and light 5.13-16
c. A Christian’s righteousness: Christ, the Christian and the law 5.17-20
d. A Christian’s righteousness: avoiding anger and lust 5.21-30
e. A Christian’s righteousness: fidelity in marriage and honesty in speech 5: 31-37
f. A Christian’s righteousness: non-retaliation and active love 5: 38-48
g. A Christian’s religion: no hypocritical but real 6:1-6, 16-18
h. A Christian’s prayer: not mechanical but thoughtful 6:7-15
i. A Christian’s ambition: not material security but God’s rule 6:19-34
j. A Christian’s relationships: to his brothers and his father 7: 1-12
k. A Christian’s relationships: to false prophets 7.13-20
5. City of God- Augustine- probably no book has done as much to clarify what in terms
of man, his relation to the world and its government and culture and the Bible and
Jesus. See appendix 3 below for the table of contents.
6. Contextualized Christianity
a. Strengths
1) Bring the truth of Scripture, which alone is able to change bankrupt and lost
lives and give meaning and hope to life
2) Brings the truth of Scripture in how to live life (Francis Schaeffer’s works
relate to this topic very clearly).
b. Weakness
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1) Syncretism can emerge- syncretism is the mixing of Christian assumptions
with those worldview assumptions tat are incompatible with Christianity so
that the result is not biblical Christianity.
a) Jesus in paying taxes (Luke 20. 20-26) was able to keep these from being
intertwined (and still an issue till today), but Jesus overturned the temple
markets because the issue of corruption and being simply a market had
been lost (Matthew 21. 12-16).
b) When people practice so-called Christian ‘rituals’ and ‘terminology,’ those
behaviors have the meaning the missionaries ascribe to them. For example
baptism or Easter or Christmas but the locals don’t really appreciate these as
presented by the missionary. The former being in a formal church with a
formal baptismal or the Lord’s supper with a formal plate and cups, which the
locals cannot afford.
7. Understanding Culture helps to Understand Contextualization
a. God loves people as they are culturally (Acts 17.24-28)
b. The cultures and languages of the Bible are God-made cultures and languages
(Acts 17.24-28, Genesis 11.8,9).
c. The Bible shows that God worked with his people in culturally appropriate ways
(Jeremiah 29.1-23, especially 4-7. This is the passage for the people of Judah to
settle in Babylon as this is God’s purpose for them but also to seek the prosperity
of the city).
d. God’s work within a culture never leaves the culture unchanged. God changes
people first and then the cultural structures (Ephesians 19.1-19; Paul spent two
years teaching (Ephesus 19.9,10) and as a result the business of sorcery was
significantly changed (Ephesians 19.18-20).
e. We are to follow scripture and risk the use of receptor-culture forms. Though
contextualization within a new culture risks a nativistic kind of syncretism, a
Christianity that is dominated by foreign cultural forms with imported meanings
is anti-scriptural and just as syncretistic. The continual balance of being in but
not off the world.
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