The Babylon Option
Considerations on Christians in the Culture
As of late there has been no shortage of Christian cultural strategists and strategies. There are the attractional, the winsome, the warriors, the retreatists, the defeatists, the dominionists, and I am sure many more.
In order to address this over abundance of options, I am choosing to do the good Protestant thing and create yet another one.
In my estimation, there are currently two serious camps within Protestantism: the Benedictines and the Bonifacians.
The Benedictines take the business of spiritual formation seriously- and endeavor to create deeply pietistic and devout communities. Taking cues from the monastic tradition; they embrace the ordinary, habited, everyday aspects of the Christian life. They are the philosophers, the mystics, the gentle and lowly.
The Bonifacians take the business of prophetic ministry seriously - and endeavor to dismantle the idols of the surrounding culture for the sake of Christ. Taking cues from the tradition of knights; they embrace the counter-cultural, courageous, adventurous aspects of the Christian life. They are the warriors, the rebels, the table-turning Pharisee-rebukers.
These crowds can be like oil and water, but in reality they are both ineffective without the other.
Without a view to disciple the nations, the Benedictines can become retreatists and elitists - preserving the last remnants of the city on the hill while the world around them has plunged into darkness.
Without a goal to be deeply discipled, the Bonifacians can find after all their dismantling they have nothing to actually build.
My proposed solution (what I am coining “the Babylon option”) shares applications of both and holds the motivations of neither.
To be overly simplistic - Benedictines retreat from the world for the sake of the church. Bonifacians attack the world for the sake of the church. Babylonians better the world for the sake of the church.
The Babylon option is an endeavor to preserve the unique identity of the church, in a hostile world, in such a manner that it conquers the culture for Christ. It is an endeavor to better Babylon for the sake of Israel.
The trite “small ball” thinking of evangelicals regarding cultural strategy has been “the world may not agree with you, but at least they should think you are nice.” The Bonifacians have said inversely “they may not think you are nice, but at least they will respect your integrity.”
The believers enduring the Babylon option say “they may not agree with us, like us, or even respect us, but they can’t live without us.”
This is actual cultural relevance - and I would like to propose a four pronged fork that can accomplish this end.
Points 1 and 2 are deeply intertwined.
Build strong families
Build strong churches
(These are both accomplished by the making of godly and competent men. Men who are capable of leading in their workplace, gaining real influence, thus bettering their family and church communities by extension. Leadership in the workplace matters, as this yields material means to resource the family and the church in accomplishing their mission. Secondarily, it is far easier to make a cultural impact when people care what you have to say. People in the world only care about what you think if they first understand that you are a competent person worth taking seriously.)
Building classical schools
Building resilient communities.
How do these 4 prongs connect with winning the culture and preserving the church?
To put it simply, the emperor has no clothes. The system of Babylon around us, built on the foundation of Christian beliefs, is falling to pieces without its underlying principles in tact.
As entropy increasingly decreases the quality of life of most modern people, competent Christians have an opportunity to make a difference through their labor.
Educational institutions in America are falling apart, kids are not hitting basic markers of previous generations. For the first time in centuries literacy seems to be declining.
If you build strong families, churches, schools and communities, you ultimately make exceptional children. And movements only have cultural power insofar as they have competent and capable children.
This may sound eerily similar to the Benedict option, with it’s heavy emphasis on thick spiritual formation, but it is more than that. This is equally about equipping Christians to be practically effective as a means of cultural sway.
In making deeply formed, devoted, and competent Christians through this four pronged institutional fork, we can now discuss how this formation translates into application.
First, these competent and consistent Christians go into the Babylonian system and seek its betterment. This is directly modeled from the exilic period of Israel’s history, as that period is most analogous to the Christian life in every culture. Daniel, Mordechai, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Esther, and seemingly many more, worked in the court of the Babylonian king, for the good of the Babylonian people. In so doing, when the inevitable clash of values ensued, it was in the context of thick trust and dependence upon these counter-cultural individuals.
This leads us to the way the Babylon option may at times resemble the Bonifacians. Adherents to the Babylon option will do all they are ethically capable of for the betterment of the world, but they will not do what they consider to be unethical. They are not on the attack constantly correcting the culture, nor are they on the retreat constantly condemning the culture. They live in the culture, while giving allegiance to the kingdom. To put it simply: They just don’t do evil things. They don’t compromise when faced with the opportunity.
If the Babylonian system needs you in order to function, people actually care about what you say “no” to. Persecution becomes an act of “chopping of your nose to spite your face” and there is only so much of that the system can take before it gives up.
In other words, the most effective strategy to win the culture for Christ is to build the culture for Christ. It is to love our neighbors. To pray for those who persecute us. To always do good in anyway possible. And when evil is asked of you, simply say no. Don’t try to fight a culture war, or re-brand belief to make it more palette-able. Just be faithful to Christ while becoming practically effective.