Niebuhr’s categorization of Christian’s response to culture: “against”, “of”, “above”, and “paradoxical”, indicates that most see culture in stark terms: it is either “good”, “bad”, or “irrelevant”, with little nuance. This is not to fault Niebuhr’s categorizations: rather it is the fault of humans for reducing things to simple categories. Interestingly, it is the “paradoxical” response (which Niebuhr also terms “dualist”, and which to borrow a phrase from modern reactionaries I will call “blackpilled”), that is the most subtle even as it is the most stark. In this category, human reason and religion are both fallen, and even what we consider to be “the good” is so potentially tainted that we may be (and probably are) elevating that which should be marginalized, both within the Church and as a society as a whole. In this sense the “paradoxical” category is somewhat postmodern, doubting the very foundation on which knowledge and truth can be discovered, albeit with an important carveout for revelation.
Christianity and Culture, continued
Christianity and Culture, continued
Christianity and Culture, continued
Niebuhr’s categorization of Christian’s response to culture: “against”, “of”, “above”, and “paradoxical”, indicates that most see culture in stark terms: it is either “good”, “bad”, or “irrelevant”, with little nuance. This is not to fault Niebuhr’s categorizations: rather it is the fault of humans for reducing things to simple categories. Interestingly, it is the “paradoxical” response (which Niebuhr also terms “dualist”, and which to borrow a phrase from modern reactionaries I will call “blackpilled”), that is the most subtle even as it is the most stark. In this category, human reason and religion are both fallen, and even what we consider to be “the good” is so potentially tainted that we may be (and probably are) elevating that which should be marginalized, both within the Church and as a society as a whole. In this sense the “paradoxical” category is somewhat postmodern, doubting the very foundation on which knowledge and truth can be discovered, albeit with an important carveout for revelation.