We are living, I believe, in a unique cultural moment. Every
generation, I know, imagines that it is unique. And most generations,
unfortunately, believe that their uniqueness lies in their superiority
over all that lies in the past. Mark Twain once observed that when he
was a boy he was embarrassed because of his father, who appeared to know
so little, but when the younger Twain was a few years older, he was
amazed at how much his father had learned in so short a period of time!
Every generation tries to get airborne on the plastic wings of this kind
of conceit, and in this atmosphere it is almost inevitable that we
become breathless about the present and begin to say and do foolish
things, as did the pastor whose morning prayer in church began: "O Lord,
have you seen the New York Times today?"
I nevertheless
believe this is a unique cultural moment. First, I want to lay out my
reasons for saying this. Second, I want to elaborate on some of the
consequences of this for the Church. Third, I want to underline what, in
a Christian context, needs to be done next.
This Unique Moment-The Emerging World Culture
I believe this moment is unique culturally for two reasons. First, this is the first time that we have seen emerging a world
culture. There have always been those who have nurtured dreams of world
domination like Napoleon and Hitler, but that is not what I have in
mind here. I am speaking instead of the emergence of a culture,
voluntarily brought about, that looks about the same whether it is
encountered in Boston or Paris, London or Bombay, Sydney or Cairo.
What is unique about this is that up until now cultures have always been local and never global.
That is, what any society comes to think of as being normal in matters
of belief or behavior has always been determined by that people's
history, its traditions, certainly its religion, its ethnicity, and
perhaps its geography. Thus, it is that we differentiate Russian culture
from Indian, African culture from European, Hispanic from Chinese.
Cultures have always been local, but today we are seeing the birth of a
culture which is global, which owes little or nothing to anyone in
particular, and therefore can belong to everyone in general. However, to
stretch so far, to incorporate so many otherwise diverse people in its
embrace, modern culture must necessarily be very thin, no more than skin
deep. It must be stripped of the values which actually give depth and
meaning to life. Continue at David F. Wells
