To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World

by James Davison Hunter

As a rule, though, indifference toward the world is quite rare in the history of God’s people. The passion to engage the world, to shape it and finally change it for the better, would seem to be an enduring mark of Christians on the world in which they live. To be Christian is to be obliged to engage the world, pursuing God’s restorative purposes over all of life, individual and corporate, public and private. This is the mandate of creation.

I contend that the dominant ways of thinking about culture and cultural change are flawed, for they are based on both specious social science and problematic theology.

The essence of culture is found in the hearts and minds of individuals—in what are typically called “values.” Values are, simply, moral preferences; inclinations toward or conscious attachment to what is good and right and true. Culture is manifested in the ways these values guide actual decisions we individuals make about how to live—that is, how we spend our time; how we work; how we play; whom we marry, and how and why; how we raise our children; whom or what we worship; and so on. By this view, a culture is made up of the accumulation of values held by the majority of people and the choices made on the basis of those values.1

Christianity is not just a set of doctrines and beliefs and the values based on them but a wide-ranging and inclusive understanding of the world; a worldview in competition with other worldviews.

Bad ideas form the basis of destructive values and these, in turn, lead to bad choices. In the end, these all cumulatively lead to an unhealthy and declining culture. But the same ideas work in the reverse. If we want to change our culture for the better, we need more and more individuals possessing the right values and the right worldview and, therefore, making better choices.

“A virtuous society can be created only by virtuous people, whose individual consciences guard their behavior and hold them accountable.” And so he poses the question directly: “How do we redeem a culture?. . . from the inside out. From the individual to the family to the community, and then outward in ever widening ripples.”

“First, Christians must be good citizens. Second, Christians must carry out their civic duty in every walk of life. Third, Christians must be engaged directly in politics. Fourth, the church must act as the conscience of society, as a restraint against the misuse of governing authority.”

“We need to be reminded that genuine conversion does make profound differences in a person’s life. And it is just those persons the country needs. Laws change nothing. People do.”

“God’s paradigm for cultural change” is modeled in the life of Jesus. “Jesus’ strategy for change [is]: A. Come follow me (Matthew 4:19), B. Come be with me (Matthew 26:38), [and] C. Go! (Matthew 28:19).”27 Abiding in Christ, imitating him, and then modeling his example to others in one’s life is the biblical plan for generating a culture of peace.

Interestingly, this emphasis on values, choice, and spiritual renewal has also predisposed nearly everyone to focus on politics as the central means of changing the world. The reasoning goes like this: bad law is the outcome of bad choices made by individual politicians, judges, and policy makers.34Thus, changing the world requires that individual Christians vote into office those who hold the right values or possess the right worldview and therefore will make the right choices.

The premise of this tactic is the recognition that politics and public policy, while they have their place in the larger scheme of things, are limited in what they can actually accomplish. Don Eberly, perhaps the most eloquent advocate of this tactic, puts it this way: “The most pressing issues of our time are social and cultural in nature, for which easy government solutions are not available.”

In one bipartisan initiative entitled “Renew Our Culture,” seven cultural indicators are listed as “measurable actions” that would be fundamental to the development of a healthy culture. These include: increasing parental involvement, increasing volunteerism, sustaining strong marriages, protecting children from drugs, creating greater safety for children and communities, reducing the consumption of violent and perverse entertainment, and reducing the number of abortions and out-of-wedlock births. At the heart of the plan is the goal of “empower[ing] individuals to assume responsibility for changing lives and communities.”

At the end of the day, the message is clear: even if not in the lofty realms of political life that he was called to, you too can be a Wilberforce. In your own sphere of influence,

If you have the courage and hold to the right values and if you think Christianly with an adequate Christian worldview, you too can change the world. This account is almost wholly mistaken.

the focus of my attention is not on evangelism or politics or social reform per se but rather the working theory that both undergirds these strategies and approves them as the primary if not only means for changing the world. For all the good that actually comes from these particular strategies, the working theory of culture and cultural change on which they are based is fundamentally flawed.

If culture is the accumulation of values and the choices made by individuals on the basis of these values, then how is it that American public culture today is so profoundly secular in its character?

despite such enthusiastic participation, the history of the conservative faith traditions over the last 175 years has been one of declining influence, especially in the realm of ideas and imagination. It is true that their political influence has undulated over the years; presently, it is quite high in certain sectors. But culturally, these faith traditions have moved from a position of offense to one of defense. Once prominent in almost all spheres of American public life, setting the agenda and framing public goals, conservative believers have fallen to relative impotence. Indeed, in some arenas, they now have no presence and exert no influence at all. So, if culture is really just what exists in our hearts and minds and manifests itself through the choices that we make, then the values of the largest and most vital groups should be the values that assert the greatest sway. Needless to say, they are not.

The advocates of the dominant strategies of cultural change all tend to agree, in effect, that the reason Christians do not have more influence in shaping the culture is that Christians are just not trying hard enough, acting decisively enough, or believing thoroughly or Christianly enough.

Christians must be more diligent in learning and embrace more of God’s worldview.

This is the “cosmic battle.” Unfortunately, in our culture, the lies of the world, the flesh and the devil bombard us from every quarter. And, when we fail to recognize them as lies and instead accept them as true, the consequences are significant . . . and devastating. Sadly, the vast majority of believers in our culture are ill-prepared to fight in this battle. We suffer from the same pathologies the world does and, statistically, at roughly the same levels: divorce, sexual addictions, eating disorders, depression, worry, apathy, discontent, anger, abortion, poor media viewing habits, pornography . . . and so on. How can this be? Quite simply, we are falling for the counterfeits.

The apparent problem, in brief, is twofold: First, Christians just aren’t Christian enough. Christians don’t think with an adequate enough Christian worldview, Christians are fuzzy-minded, Christians don’t pray hard enough, and Christians are generally lazy toward their duties as believers. By the same token, there are not enough people who do fully embrace God’s call on their lives, praying, understanding, and working to change the world.