Imaginative cultural engagement

SEISMOS:
Christian Citizenship in a Post-Christian West
By David Landrum
Staten House. 394 pages. £14.99
ISBN 979 8 895 873 052

In his prologue the author writes: “Far too many books that cover the so-called ‘contentious issues’ of culture are long on analysis and short on prescription … I hope this reads differently and is both spiritually and intellectually edifying. Part cultural analysis: part philosophical and political commentary; part public theology; part polemic; what follows may at times seem like a jeremiad but, if you stay the course, I promise you will be rewarded with some practical and encouraging conclusions.” The author’s background and experience equip him well for his aim and task, and he succeeds admirably.

There are seven chapters. 1. Cultural Climate Change: This is a major theme and explores how we are to understand our times. He writes for “real Christians” not “cultural Christians”. For those who want to/should “resist worldly pollution while engaging fully in the world. Being holy and wholly engaged.”

2. Citizenship Matters: Here we are enabled to think about Christians and citizenship from the Bible, in particular Romans 1 and 13. The contexts and chapters are profitably explored. In the author’s words – “all roads lead to Romans”!

3. Secularizing Citizenship: The longest chapter in the book, the meat of the cultural analysis. “The quality of citizenship for Christians in the West is changing. Once a privileged majority, they are now a minority at the margins of a secularised and secularising culture.” This chapter is wide, deep, and overflowing. (Did you know there are more Jedi Knights in the UK than secular humanists?)

4. Citizenship Tests: The sifting of the church. “With Christians increasingly seen as heretical, on the morality element, it seems likely that we can expect tests of our allegiances and sense of national affinity on the identity element.” Six responses are considered: Fold, Fix, Fight, Flee, Fall Silent and Fear Not – much wisdom is unfolded here.

5. The Future of Christian Citizenship: Be Christian. Be strategic. Landrum writes: “Irrespective of projects and programs, or ideas or intellect, it is holy character – walking the talk and talking the walk – which gives Christians the qualities need to resist and renew culture.”

6. Public Leadership: He cites striking examples of Christian public leadership that he knows, from teaching, church ministry, law, politics, business, and states: “Distinctively Christian and unafraid of opposition, these public leaders have taken time to renew their thinking and refine their speaking in order to cause good trouble. They, and many others like them, need the prayerful and practical support of the broader church.”

7. A Long Obedience: A shield and a sword. The distant shore: Here the author advocates a “tactical focus on two spheres” as Christians engage in Law and Higher Education. “The Law is an institution in which a concentration of Christian public leaders can provide a shield for protection from attack. Higher education is an institution in which a concentration of Christian public leaders can provide a sword to penetrate the prevailing ideas of Western culture.” That said, he does not ignore or sideline our great goal of the Heavenly Jerusalem.

The word “Seismos” means a storm so great that everything is shaken. The author, however, reminds us that with Jesus in the boat we need not fear. This book has a breadth of research, historical and contemporary (679 footnotes/references), an expansive range and an engaging freshness of expression. David Robertson says he wished he had written it … I certainly am glad I have read it! If you have explored little or nothing on the whole area of cultural change in the West, or need a refresher or an update, then this book is a really helpful place to go.