Categories: uncategorized
Date: 01 September 2005 13:21:02
I've been reading through some of the comments that people have made on Greenbelt. It sounds like everyone had a fantastic time. I wish I'd been there, especially for the Speed Christianity seminar, which does sound very amusing.
What struck me most though was the fusion you get in Greenbelt of Christianity and hippy culture. This probably isn't an original observation. It did occur to me though as I read the accounts that virtually everything there is a Christianisation of hippy ideas.
The main causes promoted at the event are hippy ones, to which we've given a Christian rationale. ‘Save the earth?' - yes of course we should, God made it and asked us to steward it. Trade justice - God has made us all in his image, and we shouldn't exploit people.
As further evidence I would site:
a) The herbal tea tent
b) The organic beer tent
c) World music
d) Folk music
e) How crusty everyone gets
The above list is not exhaustive; your further contributions are welcome!
And there's absolutely nothing wrong with any of that. Christianity has always taken aspects of prevailing culture and ‘baptised' them - made them into Christian ideas. Perhaps a better way of putting it is that some ideas in secular or pagan culture appeal to us, and we look to our faith as to why they appeal. Then we develop a rationale based on certain theological concepts. It's a healthy process, as it keeps us in touch both with God and with our culture.
The only danger of this is letting the culture overtake you. When you take ideas on from another culture, it's easy to begin to believe that all ideas from that culture are Godly. They're not necessarily. If we don't maintain a critical view, we can cease to be counter-cultural, and accept things we shouldn't. Take the missionary movement as an example - instead of using Imperialism as an opportunity to bring the Gospel to people, we let ideas of western supremacy completely get in the way of behaving in a Christian way towards ‘the natives'. The result? - atrocities committed in the name of Christ.
Not that I see Greenbelt in that light, I don't. Greenbelt and its baptising of hippy culture is altogether a Good Thing, and very appealing to me personally, with my moon unit tendencies. But that cultural incorporation needs to make our Christian voice more robust, rather than risk diluting it. At the moment it does - we need to watch to make sure it stays that way.