Clarifying culture

In common evangelical parlance the term culture means art and politics. This is a mistake. Culture is not a social construct, but a power. It is the ability to form and shape society. It is not an afterthought of what is happening at the moment, but deliberate planning to shape the future. It is not sociology, but informs social interactions. The church, the arts, business, and politics are spheres of society, spheres that function on their own. Culture is an aspect of our experience. It entails the drawing of blueprints for each sphere of society as distinct arenas of Christ’s Lordship. The church has its own blueprint, the arts has its own blueprint, and the state has its own blueprint. 

The confusion arises when Christians fail to distinguish between the spheres, and reduce them to an aspect. In this case, the arts are reduced to culture, which is further reduced to a branch of ministry in the church. The church begins to dictate to the other spheres. This is wrong. Well intentioned but ill-fated attempts are made at synthesizing two spheres, the church and the arts, or the church and politics. Each sphere ends up losing it’s essential power. This idea of culture comes to nothing because it is founded in a misguided and reactionary notion, even a non-Biblical ground motive. Scripture distinguishes kind from kind, in the unfolding of the Creation. In our temporal experience we need to the same.