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Saving Evangelical Cultural Engagement

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Saving Evangelical Cultural Engagement Concordia Seminary - Saint Louis Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation Concordia Seminary Scholarship 5-1-2018 Grammars of Transformation: Saving Evangelical Cultural Engagement William Watts Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.csl.edu/phd Part of the Practical Theology Commons Recommended Citation Watts, William, "Grammars of Transformation: Saving Evangelical Cultural Engagement" (2018). Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation. 61. https://scholar.csl.edu/phd/61 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Concordia Seminary Scholarship at Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. For more information, please contact [email protected]. GRAMMARS OF TRANSFORMATION: SAVING EVANGELICAL CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Department of Practical Theology in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy By William Jackson Watts May, 2018 Approved by Joel D. Biermann Advisor Glenn A. Nielsen Reader Mark A. Seifrid Reader © 2018 by William Jackson Watts. All rights reserved. ii The completion of the dissertation signals the Lord’s faithfulness in providing me with the time, resources, and especially people necessary to see this through. For His provision of these, as well as a supportive and patient wife, I remain humble and grateful. iii “Grammar tells what kind of object anything is. (Theology as grammar.)” Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical Investigations “The great contemporary problems are moral and spiritual. They demand more than a formula.” Carl F.H. Henry, The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism. iv PREFACE .................................................................................................................................... vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................ viii SELECT CHRONOLOGY OF KEY EVENTS IN NEO-EVANGELICAL HISTORY ............. ix ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... x CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................................ 1 CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT: A THEOLOGICAL-LINGUISTIC ENTERPRISE .......... 1 How Words Shape the Discussion ............................................................................... 2 Christianity and Culture as a Historic Challenge ........................................................ 9 Christianity and Culture in Modern American Christianity ...................................... 13 The National Association of Free Will Baptists: A Time of Transition? .................. 15 Christianity and Culture as a Theological and Practical Challenge .......................... 21 Grammars of Cultural Engagement ........................................................................... 24 CHRIST AND CULTURE AS A LINGUISTIC ENTERPRISE ....................................... 28 Language as a Fundamental to Mission and Discipleship ......................................... 29 Theological Legitimacy of the Concept .................................................................... 34 Language, Practice, and Theology: Moving Forward ............................................... 51 Toward a Definition and Critique of Transformation................................................ 53 CHAPTER TWO ......................................................................................................................... 55 THE EVANGELICAL STORY: FOUNDATIONS OF TRANSFORMATIONALISM .. 55 CARL HENRY AND NEO-EVANGELICALISM ........................................................... 57 CHARLES COLSON: EMBODYING THE NEO-EVANGELICAL VISION................. 69 ALBERT WOLTERS AND CREATION REGAINED ..................................................... 76 WORKING DEFINITIONS AND CRITIQUES ................................................................ 79 v CHAPTER THREE ..................................................................................................................... 83 SAVING EVANGELICAL CULTURAL ENGAGEMENT ............................................. 83 JAMES DAVISON HUNTER AND “FAITHFUL PRESENCE” ..................................... 83 ANDY CROUCH AND CULTURE MAKING ................................................................. 92 THE COLSON HEIRS AND OTHER RESTORERS ....................................................... 96 EVALUATION ................................................................................................................ 104 CHAPTER FOUR ...................................................................................................................... 109 GRAMMARS OF TRANSFORMATION? ..................................................................... 109 CHARTING A PATH FOR CONFESSIONAL EVANGELICALS ............................... 113 TIMOTHY KELLER AND BLENDED INSIGHTS ....................................................... 114 D.A. CARSON AND BIBLICAL TURNING POINTS .................................................. 119 RECOGNIZING LIMITS ................................................................................................. 122 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................... 126 VITA .......................................................................................................................................... 137 vi PREFACE Sociologist James Davison Hunter’s 2010 publication To Change the World has become one of the most widely discussed books on the topic of Christian cultural engagement. He describes, analyzes, and criticizes the primary ways American Christians, especially Protestants, have understood and exercised a role in public life, or what is commonly referred to as “culture.” He especially focuses on how efforts to change or transform society have failed to yield their intended results for both theological and sociological reasons. However, the analysis that has seldom been provided which helps account for the apparent failures to impact the culture is a critical analysis of evangelical views of culture, and especially the unique language associated with those views. Such an analysis will best position the contemporary church to understand and approach cultural pursuits in a manner consistent with its theology and practical aims in specific cultural contexts. This dissertation shows that language is a profoundly formative dimension of cultural engagement. The shifting “grammars” of cultural engagement within evangelical thought substantiate and illustrate this claim, even though not all of these proposals are exclusively or explicitly focused on the rhetorical aspects of this subject. Attention to the language used in explaining cultural engagement will help identify the potential theological and practical ambiguities associated with various models of engagement. Such models can be described as grammars, a linguistic concept for explaining and directing the role of Christians in the world. While the transformationalist approach to cultural engagement is still espoused by many evangelicals, new grammars of engagement have emerged, indicating that older grammars have been found to be inadequate. Studying these developments reveals the limits of any single, comprehensive grammar of cultural engagement in a post-Christian context. vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Having arrived at the completion of this dissertation is humbling in many respects. It is the product of many days, weeks, and months of reading, conversation, reflection, writing, and rewriting. Moreover, it is the byproduct of many years of reflection on the topic of cultural engagement. I have marveled to discover how God has a way of weaving together conversation partners and intellectual curiosities, both of which have given profound shape to the material presented here. Drs. Biermann, Schmitt, and Cook have been my main conversation partners on all matters “Christianity and culture.” Each has provided helpful and significant insights. I have also enjoyed extensive and fruitful conversations about this subject with colleagues at Concordia Seminary, namely Samuel Fuhrmann, Ryan Laughlin, and Ted Hopkins. Dr. Beth Hoeltke has also been a great advocate and encourager in terms of doing what needed to be done to press forward when progress was often slow or stalled. Finally, my great friend Matthew Bracey has pushed me to greater degrees of precision on this topic, and helped me formulate my specific concerns. For him and many more brothers and sisters, I am thankful. Much attention has been given to evangelical cultural engagement over the last few decades. While this project is partially a critique of some of this thought, I am indebted to those who have preceded me and tried to address the thorny questions that comprise this topic. I have been benefited from others who have labored to minister well in their cultural contexts, and communicate their ideas with the written word. The focus of this project is on the vocabulary or language employed in this realm, an emphasis inculcated in me by two former professors, Drs. Darrell Holley and Stanley Hauerwas.
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