William Dyrness’ new book Poetic Theology (2011) is commendable for a number of reasons: its rehabilitation of a “positive” theology of desire (not just the negative spin on human eros we are used to in the Christian tradition), the importance it gives to symbols and symbol-making, as well as its careful concern for the aesthetic as something integrated into the warp and woof of our daily lives. The passage that struck me the most, however, was one where Dyrness makes some astute observations about Christian engagement (and criticism) of “culture”:

This modern notion of culture sees cultures as unified entities that are held together by shared values and common practices. Christian reflection on such entities often implies that a kind of objective appraisal can be made of this entity called “modern culture.” But again this assumes that Christians can inhabit a space somehow removed from their cultural surroundings. The truth is, of course, that they are already formed by their culture long before they begin any critical reflection on it. “Culture” is not out there waiting to be examined; it is already a part of who they are. (p. 74)

Christians are not a-cultural but, by virtue of being human, enculturated. Unless we are radical isolationists, we generally watch the same movies and TV shows, listen to the same music, and engage in the same or at least similar social practices (from going to Starbucks to yoga to shopping at Wal-Mart) as everyone else in our local communities. Can we respond creatively to culture, especially in an age where homogeneity is the rule? Of course – being situated in a particular culture (or, better, a confluence of cultures, especially in the global village) does not result in a strict “cultural determinism” (p. 86). We can become (in Andy Crouch’s term) “culture-makers,” committed to redemption and re-creation, as well as critical analysts of culture. But we do so not from some “Olympic height” where we can abstractly, objectively determine “what [we] should make of this modern culture” (p. 86). We are ‘always already’ cultural beings. Christians have generally realized that we don’t approach the Bible from a value-free, a-cultural standpoint, and that in fact this awareness enriches our hermeneutics. How much more ought we to acknowledge – and perhaps embrace! – our own cultural situation when turning an eye to the complex, overlapping symbols and narratives that make up our own “culture.”