Authentic Transformation (AT), Stassen, Yeager and Yoder offer a critique and an affirmation of H. Richard Niebuhr's influential book, Christ and Culture (C&C). The authors argue that C&C needs to be looked at more carefully because of its widespread influence over our understanding of the "enduring problem" of the relationship between Christ and Culture. This influence is demonstrated in the overwhelming use of C&C's five-type language and the fact that after reading the book everyone wants to be a transformationist (Niebuhr's fifth type). Stassen, Yeager and Yoder want to affirm the need for a faith that is authentically transformational in society, but they question whether Niebuhr's work is adequate or ample enough to provide the framework for that kind of faith. In
Yoder states that, "what H. Richard Niebuhr meant by 'transformation' is so inadequately defined that its popularity with the readers seems to correlate with an assumption that it is more or less indistinguishable from our western doctrine of progress" (AT, p 53). Yoder maintains that the mission of the church in society is to be a unique community that follows the Lordship of Christ and demonstrates that Lordship in its participation and/or withdrawal in cultural practices (AT, p 70). For this kind of participation, Yoder argues that the believing community must develop a community process of discernment whereby cultural practices are affirmed or denied according to their faithfulness to the Lordship of Jesus Christ (AT, p 74).
Yeager argues for a three-fold mission of the church in society. The church is to have an apostolic role, a pastoral role and a pioneering role. As apostle, the believing community announces the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the world. As pastor, the believing community concerns itself with the social structures in a direct and in an indirect way. Directly, the believing community offers relief to those who need it most. Indirectly, the believing community speaks to the social structures that obscure the good in the world and influence the individual’s ability to experience that good. Finally, as pioneer, the believing community moves into the culture and offers alternative solutions to the problems that they are facing.
Stassen argues that Niebuhr was onto something important in his historical research on the characteristics of an authentically transformative faith (p 189). Stassen calls Niebuhr's project "historical realism" and argues that it is a concrete method for validating ethics in a postmodern world -- a world that recognizes and appreciates our historical context. He argues for a Hebraic rather than a Kantian perspective on knowledge -- that true knowledge starts with our experiences in community (particulars) and moves outward and not on rationally agreed upon universal principles. Thus, Stassen argues that, "Niebuhr's logic calls for concrete disclosure of God's character in Israel's history and in Jesus Christ as normative for Christian ethics" (p 151). Stassen wants "historically situated, historically particular, concrete ethical norms disclosed in the particular history of Jesus Christ, continuous with the tradition of the Hebrew prophets and especially the prophet Isaiah" (p 128). This is the starting point for Christian ethics.
This is one of those books that, sadly, gets overlooked as a direct challenge to Niebuhr's C&C. And it's so important to work through closely and carefully.