Toby Lucas

This is the first in a three-part series on Culture in the Christian Worldview, outlining the framework for what I hope this blog will do; connecting faith and art, and engaging critically with what we read and watch. Part I: The Creation of Culture  turns to Genesis, looking at where culture has come from. Part II: The Current State of Culture   considers the place of culture after the Fall, in our own day. Part III: The Christian and Culture   unpacks why and how Christians might engage with culture.

  Part II: The Current State of Culture This is Part II in a three-part series on Culture in the Christian Worldview. Click here to read Part I . Cast out of Eden The Christian worldview would be incomplete if it didn’t incorporate the Fall. After all, we are not still living in Eden. To understand the current state of culture, then, we must consider Adam and Eve’s rebellion in Genesis 3. Adam and Eve reject God’s order in favour of their own constructions of good and evil. They sin and introduce shame and barriers in their relationship between each other and with God. This is symbolized in the first thing man makes apart from God: ‘Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.’ (Gen. 3:7) This is a paltry and feeble construction, but it demonstrates how we may turn to culture (the things we’ve made) to put distance between each other and God. This separation caused by sin is consolida

  Part III: The Christian and Culture This is Part III in a three-part series on Culture in the Christian Worldview.  Click here to read Part I and here to read Part II . So far, we’ve looked at where culture comes from and a framework we could use to consider it. What remains is to answer the questions of why and how Christians should engage with culture. Daniel Strange’s book Plugged In (see Resources ) makes similar points (and in a much more persuasive way), so I thoroughly recommend that to any Christian reader. The Why It’s Everywhere Culture is everywhere. The reason I have used the word ‘culture’ in these articles is because it is so broad, encompassing what we read (on paper or online), what we watch (big screen or small), what we listen to (music or words) and more. All human efforts communicate something of our values, either explicitly or implicitly, and we are wired to understand these messages, sometimes without realizing. Culture is so inescapable it’s easy