Quotes

Richard S. Taylor, The Disciplined Life-Style

Preface

This book is written in the conviction that as Christians we have suffered immeasurable loss because we have almost ignored the matter of culture. We have failed to see it as a large and significant factor in personal spiritual growth and have been only half awake to its extremely important role in evangelism

In addition, we have shared with our contemporaries an insufficient awareness of the part culture plays in many current social tensions. It is very likely, for instance, that the race problem is more a matter of culture than of color. The “generation gap” also, is not so much chronological as cultural. And most certainly culture is a huge factor in the persistence of poverty.

As far as the Church is concerned, the problem of difficult congregations could be in many cases more a matter of culture than of carnality. Highly cultured people are more apt to temper their strong notions with understanding and fair play. They are more appreciative and less crotchety. Other things being equal, the lower the culture, the greater the pettiness and obstinacy. (But by no means should culture be confused with wealth).

And the shoe fits the pastoral foot too. Why do preachers fail? Some never in a whole lifetime of valiant effort quite measure up to their potential, and come to the end with a deep hurt and bewilderment. We might be astonished if we knew how many times this almost-made-it king of failure could be traced, not to a spiritual lack, or to indolence or insincerity, but to glaring cultural defects.

If culture is so important, is it not time that we attempted to do some serious thinking about it? The purpose of this little volume is to introduce some of the issues which are directly related to Christian growth on the one hand, and Christian stewardship on the other. Perhaps together we can begin to give this vital dimension of Christian life and service the serious attention it warrants. For too long culture has been the Cinderella of the household.

At the heart of this book is an examination of the relation of culture to the holy life. Many suppose there is no organic relation at all; that holiness has nothing authoritative to say about culture; and that, while holiness is essential, culture is inconsequential. The author sincerely hopes that these discussions will disabuse our minds completely and permanently of this fiction.

The strong conviction expressed so far demands that the question no longer be deferred; What is culture? While the answer will be  developed in different ways throughout the following chapters, a brief preliminary statement is necessary. The term has a technical meaning as used by the scientific anthropologist. In this sense culture “is the work of men’s minds and hands”, writes H. Richard Niebuhr. It is what men have done with the raw material of their earthly setting. As nature is the gift of God, culture is the work of man. As such, the culture of a society may be primitive or advanced and highly technological. In either case, the term includes the totality of the life pattern – language, religion, literature (if any), machines and inventions, arts and crafts, architecture and decor, dress, laws, customs, marriage and family structures, government and institutions, plus the peculiar and characteristic ways of thinking and acting.

Obviously in this broad sense everyone is in a culture. It may be Western of Eastern, American or Japanese, or whatever. There are many ways cultures can be divided and classified. And often within a general culture are various subcultures, perhaps even counter culture, such as “hippieism” or “Afroism”

But the term “culture” also has a specialized and quite personal meaning, more particularly relevant to the individual. On this level everyone not only is in a culture but has a culture. This is the life-style and accomplishments which he has acquired. It may be typical of the culture of his environment; if so, he will have no problem in identifying and relating. Or it may be atypical, and as such disjoined and disoriented. To the extent that one’s personal culture is irregular will one have difficulty in relating comfortably to his immediate social environment.

At this point we must introduce two new adjectives: poor and good. While everyone has a culture it may be poor by the standards of one’s contemporaries. In this case they are apt to see him as crude and inept, a misfit, and perhaps give him a wide berth. He does not represent them well. He is an enigma to them – probably an embarrassment.

It is only when a person has gone to the trouble of acquiring the traits and life-style most acceptable to his society that he can be said to be cultured. Thus, when “culture” is turned into and adjective it means highly developed. One of Websters; definitions includes tastes: “enlightenment and excellence of taste acquired by intellectual and aesthetic training”. The word “acquired” reminds us of Niebuhr’s distinction: “The gifts of nature are received as they are communicated without any human intent or conscious effort; but the gifts of culture cannot be possessed without striving on the part of the recipient”.

It becomes clear then that any discussion of culture must always keep in mind two levels, societal and personal. Similarly there are two kinds of approach – the descriptive and the prescriptive. The anthropologist merely describes a culture as he finds it; he does not prescribe what it ought to be. But the Christian must prescribe, like it or not, for he cannot be content with poor culture, and he refuses to accept the premise that one culture is as good as another (whether in a society or in an individual). He is a “Christian horticulturist” in the garden of the human soul.

One day while in Japan, we watched some gardeners working on small roadside pine trees. Upon inquiry we were told, “They are trimming them so as to improve their personalities”. If trees need better “personalities”, people do too! Therefore the Christian had better go to work, if not on others, at least on himself. There may be a lot of trimming to do.