The real kicker here is that both culture and politics are downstream of another reality. Both culture and politics are downstream of theology. If it is true that “as a man thinketh in his heart, so he is,” then clearly politics and culture, when examined closely are nothing but the products of what a man thinketh about God. All of our politics and our culture are byproducts of how we think about theology. Indeed, not only all of our politics and our culture but everything that is part of what we call “culture.” From the fashion world, to economics, to art, to social theory — all of it is an expression of how we think about God. Change how a people think about God and you’ll change their culture and everything that comprised their culture. As such everything is downstream of theology. Theology remains the queen of the Sciences. This is especially so for people who deny that theology is the queen of the sciences for it is their theology that is informing them that theology is not the queen of the sciences.
When we cut culture or politics off from theology (as if we could) the result inevitably is a man centered culture and in a man centered culture/politics the result will be that man, considered either individually (anarchism) or collectively (statism) will become the god of the culture so that theology with man as God will remain the queen of the sciences. Everything is downstream of theology.
Because this is true nothing can be tweaked downstream of theology in culture or politics that does not mean that a change in theology upstream has been tweaked as well. All of life is nothing but our theology being lived out and put on display.
All of this explains why I find R2K so insufferable. R2K owns a theology that says the common realm must be Christian theology free. R2K denies that the common realm can be theologically Christian and by denying that they have affirmed, by necessity, that the common realm must be theologically heathen. Now, they will try to cover this with the idea that a non-Christian theology that is acceptable to all (going by the name of Natural Law) but this desperate denial by R2K that there exists “Christian families,” or “Christian education,” or “Christian law,” or “Christian nations,” or “Christendom,” or “Christian culture” only leaves to us the theology of polytheism and pluralism to govern the public square. In R2K land the absence of Christianity in the common realm is the presence of Christianity in the common realm. In R2K land the common realm is neutral not governed by any particular God’s law — except the law having the most force behind it in order to enforce the definition of natural law that must be embraced by the common realm. However…. that law which ends up having the most force behind it so that is is accepted as the definition of Natural Law is the force that is the God that is driving everything downstream.
How we think about God …
What is His character/attributes
What does He desire
What is true of those He claims are His
By what standard does He govern
Whose glory is He interested in
What does He call sin
Will incarnate itself into both politics and culture and everything else because it is always the case that in our gods we live and move and have our being.
All of this is in turn influenced by who God created each of us to be as belonging to our particular tribes, tongues, and nations.
All this to say that politics is not preeminent as if culture is downstream of politics. All this to say that culture is not preeminent as if everything is downstream of a culture that is theologically independent. All of this to say that everything is downstream of theology.
If we want to change our culture. We have to change our gods.
