Postmodern Review of Niebuhrs Christ and Culture

Christ and Culture, authored by H. Richard Niebuhr in 1951, is a book which discusses how a Church or a Christian is to interact with ones culture. Niebuhr systematically answers this question by placing the church into the following five categories they have utilized through history to answer this question: "Christ against culture," "the Christ of culture," "Christ above culture (Christ synthesizing with culture)," "Christ and culture in paradox," and "Christ the transformer of culture."

Reading this book more that fifty years since it was penned, I believe Christ and Culture to somewhat dated, yet still highly relevant today. This review will discuss Niebuhr's five categories, his strengths, weaknesses, and what I see as a missing element for contemporary culture.

Niebuhr begins his book with the problem and question of how Christianity is to relate to culture. He indicates that Christ's answer to the problem does