Thursday, January 08, 2015

Countercultural

Converting to the God of the Christians was not merely an adjustment of this or that aspect of an otherwise unaltered basic cultural pattern; rather, worshipping the God of the Christians simultaneously involved (1) an extraction or removal from constitutive aspect of pagan culture (e.g., sacrifice to the gods), and (2) a concomitant cultural profile that rendered Christians identifiable as a group by outsiders. Yet the practices that created this cultural profile were themselves dependent upon the identity of God. Christian ecclesial life, in other words, was the cultural explication of God’s identity.—World Upside Down, page 18

<idle musing>
I would venture to say that Christianity is still countercultural—in different ways maybe, but if we think about the implications of the gospel...Don't go there! You might have to change some of your long-held and cherished beliefs and attitudes (to say nothing of actions!).
</idle musing>

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