The Role of Culture in Essential Humanity
I wrote that title because it sounds like a dissertation or something. I definitely don't enough to say about culture and humanity to write a thesis. All I have at the moment is a question: How much of our identity (specifically the way we learn, the way we interact with one another, the way we worship) is merely a result of the context we are born into and the way we were raised? How much of our identity is actually written into our "spiritual DNA", meaning when we are in heaven for eternity, how much of our personalities will remain?
Basically I'm putting a new spin on the whole nature versus nurture debate. I'll leave it at that for now and I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Basically I'm putting a new spin on the whole nature versus nurture debate. I'll leave it at that for now and I'd love to hear your thoughts.
posted by hoose at 10:05 PM
9 Comments:
Who I will be one day, That Day, will be different, but it will be more genuinely Cabe than the man I am today.
Does that answer the question? What do you think?
yeah, i think i agree. When all our sin is stripped away from our bodies once and for all, what remains? The question came up from discussing cross cultural ministry and how different cultures affect the presentation of the Gospel, and therefore theology. (A book on the subject that looks interesting is "Globalizing Theology: Belief and Practice in an Era of World Christianity")
I believe God has made us unique, but that many or even most of our inclinations come from our upbringing, even the way we interact with God.
When we are boiled down to our intended state, and become essentially human, what of our personalities will remain?
I like what you said ("genuinely Cabe") and that is probably all that we can say. It's just that so much thought and care goes into retelling the Gospel for each culture. I wonder how much of the earthly relevance is truly eternally relevant.
Its interesting to look at the resurrected Christ examples when talking about this because essentially then he was the most "fully human" we can ever hope to be. He still spoke in the tongue he learned as a boy, ate food that had taste and wasn't protoplasmic goo. He was creative and made a fire using skills he had learned about physics, etc. Well maybe not physics but you get the idea. What if the distinction between cultural press and Spiritual DNA is an unfair one? Jesus cullturaliziszes His gospel to some extent everytime a person gets saved true....?
so I guess the question is: Do are experiences on Earth affect who we will become in Heaven? One example is how we worship when we are around the Throne
I think our experiences on Earth have an effect on who we are. I also think that culture and ethnicity is a very important part of who you are.
“Uchimura insisted that rather than causing him to surrender his Japanese character because he was a Christian, his faith in Jesus Christ had made him more authentically Japanese.” ( William Shenk's Changing Frontiers of Mission, p. 56)
This is an idea that has really stuck with me. I don't think Jesus came to change me from Cabe to someone else, he came for the redemption of Cabe. But I think I will always be someone who is effected by my surroundings. Particularly my parents, my sisters, my childhood friends and enemies, and all the way up until today, where I am still effected by my friends and enemies and other cultural actors.
Not all of these influences are necessarily good, many of these influences have at some level been horribly damaging. But I think even with those things if we are able to truly mourn them and invite Christ into all of that hurt, then even the ways in which horrific experiences have effected me have a chance at redemption. At some level you could even say that this is the Gospel itself.
And returning to our Japanese friend, Uchimura, I think he's onto something. I think Christ comes to renew, not to replace, my self, my culture, my relational styles, my life in general. I think a similar thing could be said of culture. In fact I'll even venture to say that unless you can love your culture, your ethnicity and your self, you cannot truly love Christ or anyone else around you.
Think Incarnation. Christ and his Gospel are incarnated uniquely in each cultural context, and I think by extension the same could be said for each person.
Quick reading: Hunter's The Celtic Way of Evangelism which is about the ways in which St. Patrick and others used these ideas of cultural contextualization to bring the gospel to pagan "barbarian" tribes. Or for quicker, free reading, try my post about that book: Celtic Evangelism: Gospel Contextualized
Great comment, thanks man. Your post on Celtic Evangelism is actually something that got me thinking on this idea of contextualiztion along with some conversations about the Eastern church.
"I don't think Jesus came to change me from Cabe to someone else, he came for the redemption of Cabe." Well put. I assume you're speaking on a spiritual level, but additionally I've heard some speculation that our Resurrection bodies are the fulfillment of the code written in our DNA unencumbered by the limitations of the world. This can only be speculation, but it is an interesting thought. As God is sanctifying us, He is making us the person He created us to be for His glory.
I'm interested in this book especially because it does not appear to be just a historical account, but a case study that can be recontextualized (now that is a good scrabble word) for the West.
I've never given much thought to the DNA side of this. I'll try.
I think people are born with tendencies in certain directions (both good and bad), maybe towards consumerism, sarcasm, or writing ability, or maybe a heart for the poor. But I think our environment serves to either downplay or highlight these tendencies.
I also think that oftentimes a person's sin comes largely from his or her environment. For instance, most sexual abusers were at one time sexually abused them self. Or maybe a kid who was obviously his dad's favorite in the family ends up as a proud stuck up jerk. Or maybe a man who was the product of adultery ends up having a sex addiction later in life (that was Joseph and King Solomon, respectively).
Our hope is that Christ comes in and redeems that. He takes Paul's zeal for the persecution of Christians and points it in a different direction, and he ends up writing a large chunk of the New Testament and taking the gospel to a large chunk of the Roman Empire. Was all that written on Paul's DNA? I don't really think so. I don't think our DNA has the final word on who we are. I think that we are effected way too much by our environment and by our relationships to Christ and other people.
In fact, I think that we will continue to effect and be effected by the people we are with even after the Eschaton. If there is no change (not necessarily improvement) in heaven, then I don't see how we can be in relationship with one another or God. Relationships change us, and if who I am is completely static, then I think heaven might be a bit boring.
I do think that there are aspects of me that are innate and likely won't change, but there will be differences in how that is manifested from time to time. This will at least include emotions. We will worship God with awe and gratitude, and we will laugh, and experience joy, and maybe even grief and sadness. I would imagine there will probably also be fluidity in other aspects of personality, but I've probably written enough for now.
I was thinking along the same lines with Christ redeeming the sinful circumstances that brought about evil character traits, but leaving and magnifying the good character traits(including those that came about from sinful circumstances) because all that is good is from God.
I've had similar thoughts (pertaining to this lifetime) about how i believe that a guy who struggle the most with sexual sins can be redeemed to love his wife more passionately than someone who has not had these struggles. Likewise, maybe someone who has struggled with greed has the most capacity to give it all away after Christ has gone to work on him. Almost like an absolute value, where the greater the sin, the greater the potential for good.
What really got me thinking about your comment was how we almost certainly won't be static in heaven. This is something that I hadn't really considered. As we come to know God (and one another)better and more fully, this relationship must change us to the core. How beautiful will this dynamic relationship be with the Unchanging One!
Hi, well be sensible, well-all described
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