Scriptural Lenses for Cultural Viewing

Note: The following post is my rambling of an answer to the question below. It is for a class I am taking called Intercultural Communication. God's Word is the only concrete absolute in our universe; it informs all cultures and can be changed by none. We should be biblical absolutists. Yet, we should always strive toward being cultural relativists. How? Why? Can something be right in one culture and wrong in another? Is there a purely Christian culture in the world today that all others should seek to imitate? Scriptural Lenses for Cultural Viewing Here is the obvious: cultures are different and varying, but Scripture is unchanging and perfect. Scripture then is to be the glasses which culture is viewed through. In order to determine right and wrong within any given culture we must go to the word of God. The Bible is to be the light upon our path as we walk along the diversity of today’s cultures. Yet, somewhat ironically, the Bible is never alone. We interpret Scripture and because we exist in a specific context our interpretations will be tainted by that context. This is not a denial of Sola Scriptura but an affirmation of our (and the Bible’s) historical situated-ness. We do not exist in a vacuum and we must also affirm that Scripture was written in history. Indeed, even the Word made flesh was born into history, born into a specific cultural context. Galatians 4:4-5 “But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” Are we trapped then, drowning in the pit of postmodern relativistic despair? By no means! Let’s rehash first: Scripture is to inform and stand over culture, yet inescapably culture informs and helps define our understanding of Scripture. Thankfully, we are not left doing hermeneutical donuts in the snowy mix of postmodern flakiness. I believe Grant Osborne has offered an immensely helpful way out. Instead of the never-ending hermeneutical circle, Osborne argues for a model, which he calls, The Hermeneutical Spiral. Given this approach you are able to move from text to context (culture in our case). A spiral is a better metaphor than a circle, “because it is not a closed circle but rather an open-ended movement from the horizon of the text to the horizon of the reader” (Osborne, 6). There is marked progress. He continues: I am not going round and round a closed circle that can never detect the true meaning but am spiraling nearer and nearer to the text’s intending meaning as I refine my hypotheses and allow the text to continue to challenge and correct those alternative interpretations, then to guide my delineation of its significance for my situation today. So why is this important for understanding the relationship of culture to Scripture? Culture and Scripture exist in a symbiotic relationship each informing and interpreting the other. Scripture interprets culture and we are able to view the cultural worldview through scriptural lenses. Likewise, our culture helps us understand Scripture. As Scripture and culture interplay off of each other they do not go back and forth in a circle, but both of them spiral together toward the truth of Scripture’s intended meaning and its specific cultural application. The more Scripture and culture mesh together the closer to the truth they will come in applying Scripture to culture. After all, theology is just simply “applying scripture to life” (John Frame). Thinking about the incarnation is helpful in providing a deeper-rooted understanding of culture in relation to Scripture. Here, at the point of the incarnation, the Word and culture met. Christ, in taking human form, entered into our cultural-historical context. He did not just assume the body of a man, but entered and became involved within culture. Christ, the Lord of the universe partook in many aspects of the culture at that time (washing of feet, feasting at weddings, reading and debate in the synagogues, etc.). He even died through a means of cultural torture and death. At that time it was a cultural means of death for a crucifixion to be carried out. Yet, he also stood out against culture. He condemned many practices of the Pharisees, which conflicted against Scripture. He even talked with a Samaritan woman. He dined with tax collectors and sinners. For Christ, the foundation and lens of viewing culture is the Word of God. In using the language of Grunlan and Mayers, it is in Christ where "Biblical Absolutism" and "Cultural Relativism" meet.