Culture Building

What role do Christians have in building and shaping our culture? The beginnings of the answer to this, at least for the Christian, can be found on the early pages of the Old Testament. Genesis 1 & 2 recount with great literary beauty the origins of the universe. While there has been much debate (particularly over the last 100 years) on the question of literal vs. poetic interpretation, the main message in these early chapters is the carving out of a worldview. Over against many other pagan traditions (Egyptian, Babylonian, Chaldean, to name a few), the Hebrew scriptures detail a different cultural narrative.

It is no small detail that, in the words of Eugene Peterson, "God shows up as a worker" at the outset

of human history. God is the original culture-maker. God is the original engineer, architect, designer, carpenter, decorator, composer, biologist, chemist, and arborist. Centuries after creation, the Psalmist would observe that "the heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim his majesty." (Psalm 19:1). This is a way of saying more than just that creation points to the existence of a Creator -- it's a way of saying that the creation itself is an expression of the character of the Creator. The melody of the songbird, the mathematical intricacies found in the pattern of a sunflower, the palette of colors found in an Arizona sunset -- the grandeur of creation from the largest expanse of ocean to the tiniest particles observable only under a microscope -- all of it tells a story about who God is, what he is like, what matters to Him.

We are told, ten times, that when God examined his creation, he pronounced it "good." The Hebrew word used here carries with it more lexical freight than we might realize. Good -- "TOV"-- biblical scholars will tell us, includes at least three connotations. Something is good if it is true, moral, and beautiful. Truth, morality, and beauty. These are building blocks of a good world. God was not only approving of what he had created, he was setting the standard for what the world was to be.

The crowning touch of the creation was human beings -- image-bearers of God, set in place to steward the authority of the King over all creation. Adam and Eve were commissioned with the task of "filling the earth, and subduing it." That is, they were to draw out creation's potential using the raw material to expand what was into what might be. Build cities. Paint pictures. Design houses. Solve equations. Invest in startups. Impart knowledge. But all to the standard of good. All that human beings were called to do was to reflect truth, morality, and beauty.

Taken this way, we begin to see our role in culture-making. Our work, our play -- it is all meant to tell the story of good. For the Christian, our role in culture is to give a shape to the world around us in a way that reflects what is true, righteous, and beautiful. And so, when we compose a symphony, what matters is not so much that it has a Christian theme (if that were possible), but that it is an expression of beauty. When we design a house, what matters is not that it is stamped with a Christian imprimatur, but that it is safe for a person to live in (an expression of morality), and that it is aesthetically pleasing. Investing in a startup company might well be an expression of the good -- it may be a way to show the value of a product with the potential to serve the needs of the community, even as it avoids exploiting others.

So the question for us to wrestle with, then, is how do we place our daily labors, our daily calling, into the context of shaping the good? What are we doing that contributes and expresses the "good"? How can your work -- even the most mundane, menial, and unenjoyable work -- point to the good of creation? How can you pattern your work after God's work? In many ways, that is what this blog is dedicated to -- teasing out the ways that we, as Christians -- can tell the story of God's good creation through our daily work, and in doing so, give a shape to the cultural narrative.