Taking every thought captive for obedience to Christ (2 Cor. 10.5)

Outcomes
Culture
I noticed recently that the film, Monuments Men, is running on one of our cable movie channels. This is a film worth viewing, which tells the story of a squad of American and British soldiers who, toward the end of the Second World War, were charged with recovering and preserving as many as they could of the great monuments of Western culture, stolen by the Nazis and destined for destruction.

The “monuments men” risked their lives – and some actually lost them – for the sake of recovering many of the great, permanent glories of the Western art tradition. That governments, armies, and courageous individuals appreciated the value of these treasures, and committed time, resources, and lives to securing them, shows how far our attitudes toward culture have changed since 1945.

One of the characteristics of contemporary culture, especially pop culture, is to emphasize whatever is fleeting and temporary, and, at the same time, to suspect anything that seems to have deep historical roots. The result is that permanence is no longer a standard to be admired when it comes to cultural life, or so argues Roger Kimball (“The Cultural Roots of Conservatism,” pjmedia.com). And with the downgrading of permanence, those cultural qualities that make for permanence – beauty, goodness, and truth – have also been largely set aside.

Mr. Kimball explains, “Culture thrives and develops under the aegis of permanence. And yet instantaneity – the enemy of permanence – is one of the chief imperatives of our time. It renders anything lasting, anything inherited, suspicious by definition.”

Since culture relates to all aspects of life, the threat of impermanence is real, not only in the arts, film, television, or fashion, but in morality, institutions, and even language. We have already seen how long-standing institutions like marriage and civil government have been transformed in the name of changing times, immediate needs, and pragmatic agendas.

Culture relates to cultivation, and describes the things people do, and the ways they do them, in order to make sense out of their lives. Without a trajectory within which to position our cultural lives, we are in danger of becoming an “anything goes” society.

We live in a time of cultural pluralism, which dictates the practice of a kind of cultural symbiosis in order to get by. Because of this, people have to work hard and continuously if they want their particular forms of culture to achieve any degree of permanence. These days all inherited forms of culture seem destined for the dustbin of history, and this is the tragedy of contemporary culture, in which even Christians are complicit.

Christians who abandon long-standing traditions of worship, singing, theologizing, and the like, for the sake of appearing “relevant” or “contemporary,” move their experience of following Jesus out of the long-standing mainstream of Christian experience into the gullies, swamps, and wadis of whatever is culturally acceptable for the moment. At the same time, when Christians neglect their vast and glorious cultural heritage – monuments of culture across a broad spectrum of human endeavors – we virtually ensure that such accomplishments will not inform our cultural lives in the present or future. In this regard, how is what we’re doing to ourselves any different than what ISIS is doing to monuments of Christian culture in Syria and Iraq?

“The point is,” Mr. Kimball explains, “culture has roots. It limns the future through its implications with the past. Moving the reader or spectator over the centuries, the monuments of culture transcend the local imperatives of the present. They escape the obsolescence that fashion demands, the predictability that planning requires. They speak of love and hatred, honor and shame, beauty and courage and cowardice – permanent realities of the human situation insofar as it remains human.” He notes that “the attack on permanence is an attack on the idea that anything has inherent value.”

Where are the “monuments men” who will work to preserve the glories of the Christian cultural tradition? If we don’t want to lose our great hymns, works of theology, art, and literature, and venerable traditions of Christian life and ministry, then we need to re-evaluate our reckless devotion to all things new and cool, and rediscover the roots that have sustained our faith for nearly 2000 years.

For reflection
1.  When you think of the “monuments” of the Christian cultural tradition, what comes to mind?

2.  Does it matter whether we lose these “monuments” and the norms of beauty, goodness, and truth they represent? Explain.

3.  How should a local church contribute to the preservation and advancement of distinctly Christian forms of culture?

Talk with a pastor or church leader about your thoughts on these questions.

The Week features insights from a wide range of topics and issues, with a view to equipping the followers of Christ to take every thought captive for Jesus. Please prayerfully consider supporting The Fellowship of Ailbe by sending a gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Drive, Essex Junction, VT 05452.