On Christian Fashion and Inculturation in General

I have been reflecting often that too many in ministry attempt too heartily to blend the Gospel message into the culture of the day.

One obvious example comes to my mind. Driving around out here in Southern California, I have seen the sticker NOTW on cars everywhere. When I first saw it, I wondered what it meant, and after some searching came up on the Web site, "Not of This World", marketing Christian apparel. Let me say before saying anything else that I have no doubt of the good intentions of the proprietors of the NOTW brand. Yet there is great irony in the brand name "Not of This World"--indeed, who would guess it? Looks rather "of this world" to me (and to everyone else). The brand trumpets "an alternative lifestyle brand that goes beyond the norm." And their apparel does feature many, many good messages. But there is something missing, and it is difficult at first glance to perceive.

While I can understand the desire to wear one's faith, there is very little of the transforming, countercultural power of the Gospel to be found in the NOTW line, which is barely distinguishable from the modern secular "emo" fashion, the conformist countercultural movement du jour.

The same kind of cultural phenomenon happens at churches, Catholic and Protestant, across the country--modern rock or rap music, even metal, with Christian lyrics. The message to the young is both clear and false: You can keep the dark music and the dark fashion, as long as it says, "I am the Resurrection and the Life."

On the contrary! The power of the Gospel is transforming, penetrating the light and casting out the darkness. Those who walk in the darkness, as the Lord said, do not know where they are going. This world is passing away, and its ruler is cast out, along with all its darkness, which is overcome with the dawn of the Resurrection. We must emerge from the darkness with Christ. I know that fundamentally this is what NOTW and others like them are attempting: to bring kids out of darkness. And God must be pleased with them for trying. But Christian ministry of any sort does no one any service by selling a version of Christianity that tries to embrace both the Gospel and the darkness. The two are antithetical and such an embrace can only cause confusion.

So what does the Church say about inculturation? There are a couple of key ideas: Christ must be the center of any movement toward inculturation; and the Gospel message enters into cultures where good is to be found but rejects that which is contrary to the Gospel.

In other words, one cannot be both a gladiator and a Christian; only one set of armor can be worn at once.

This from the General Directory for Catechesis:

'Inculturation' of the faith, whereby in a wonderful exchange are comprised, "all the riches of the nations which have been given to Christ as an inheritance", it is a profound and global process and a slow journey. It is not simply an external adaptation designed to make the Christian message more attractive or superficially decorative. On the contrary, it means the penetration of the deepest strata of persons and peoples by the Gospel which touches them deeply, "going to the very centre and roots" of their cultures."In this work of inculturation, however, the Christian community must discern, on the one hand, which riches to "take" up as compatible with the faith; on the other, it must seek to "purify" and "transform" those criteria, modes of thought and lifestyles which are contrary to the Kingdom of God. Such discernment is governed by two basic principles: "compatibility with the Gospel and communion with the universal Church". All of the people of God must be involved in this process which "...needs to take place gradually, in such a way that it really is an expression of the community's Christian experience" (GDC, 109).

There really is a fine balance to be struck. On the one hand, believers must discern what are the riches of the culture and how to bring these riches to the Lord for the sake of evangelization, for the sake of bringing souls to Christ. Yet, believers must perceive what is theologically and metaphysically incompatible with the Gospel message and fear not to renounce it entirely. This is really one of the major fronts for Western Christianity in the coming years, for if the followers of Christ embrace the world too tightly, what will they do when the world more actively rejects Christ and his Church?