Evangelizing Through Culture: Culture, Its Delights and Distractions

Culture itself contains a way to God, for evangelization, through its representations of the true, the good, and the beautiful

Catholics have heard much in recent years about "evangelizing the culture". To evangelize the culture also assumes the fact that the harmful influences of culture should be avoided whenever possible. But what is usually not recognized in the call to evangelize the culture is that you have to use culture in order to evangelize.  In other words, you have to evangelize the culture through the culture. Why? Because everything you will use in the process of evangelization will belong to culture, whether it is a book, a TV or radio show, a film or video, music, or even simple speech.

WASHINGTON,DC (Catholic Online) - (Note from the Editor in Chief, Deacon Keith Fournier: We are pleased to present the first installment of a continuing series on Evangelizing through Culture written by my dear friend of many years, Deal W. Hudson, Ph.D. I have long considered Deal to be one of the brightest minds and clearest thinkers of this urgent hour. His writings are a treasure. These columns are excerpted from a Book which will be published in the near future covering this vital topic.Dr. Hudson will also begin a new radio show entitled "Church and Culture. It will begin broadcasting in February on the Ave Maria Radio Network. )

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Culture, Its Delights and Distractions

Deal W. Hudson

How to describe something that is all around you, influencing you during every waking hour, perhaps while sleeping as well.  Culture is like that, like the air you breathe but completely unaware, unless you are choking.  That's precisely why I am raising the issue of culture directly, because to a great degree it is choking us, doing us harm without our knowing it.

Culture cannot be avoided, so that's not the solution to the problem. As I will explain, human life inevitably creates a culture, multiple intersecting rings of culture as a matter of fact.  Each of us lives within the intersection of those rings; thus, to do something about culture, about the harm it's doing, you have to first become aware of what you are up against.

First, notice that culture is used to describe many things, the state of a nation, of a region, of an ethnic group, a local community, an institution, a kind of education, a family, and an individual. Just what are we referring to when we use culture in all these different contexts?  Rather than provide a strict definition, it's more useful to offer a description of what all these uses of culture have in common:

When we refer to the culture of anything, we are recognizing a specific set of values and attitudes belonging to it, values and attitudes expressed in a myriad of ways, through the arts, films, books, music, radio, TV, the Internet, the media, newspapers, manners, fashion, clothing, architecture, jokes, gestures, formal and informal education, politics, laws, jokes, customs, language, religion, commerce, business, travel, possessions, family life, sexual behavior,heroes, villains, and shared ideals.

The above list is not exhaustive, of course, but it's long enough to suggest that everything we experience in our lived environment, even how we view the past and future, is a part of culture, a way through which values and attitudes, especially our ideals, are communicated and learned.

Most of this communication and learning happens to us without our even being aware of it - thus, the necessity of becoming aware of what culture is and how it works.  Now this is the crucial point: Knowing the nature of culture, its power in shaping our lives, makes three things possible: 1) to protect yourself from its harmful influence; 2) to take part in shaping the culture in beneficial ways; and 3) to recognize the ways culture provides a way to knowing what is good,
true, and beautiful, or to put it another way, all that is worthy of knowing.

Catholics have heard much in recent years about "evangelizing the culture," which would be #2 on our list. To evangelize the culture also assumes the fact of #1, that the harmful influences of culture should be avoided whenever possible. But what is usually not recognized in the call to evangelize the culture is that you have to use culture in order to evangelize.  In other words, you have to evangelize the culture through the culture. Why? Because everything you will use in the process of evangelization will belong to culture, whether it is a book, a TV or radio show, a film or video, music, or even simple speech.

In fact, all the centuries since the birth of Christ contain cultural "artifacts" that themselves  embody evangelization, embody the true, good, and beautiful, transcendentals which lead back to God the Creator. Where does this leave us?  It makes the task of evangelizing the culture much easier, more realistic and effective.  But it also opens up the new world of evangelizing through the culture, looking up the culture around us, as itself bearing the Word being spoken.

In the columns to follow, we shall seek to hear that Word as it is spoken through the culture.  We will also understand how this is possible and doesn't represent a mere "worldly" escapade.  It's my belief that the most effective evangelization is that which can find a point of contact with as many people as possible, as many different kinds of people as possible.  The way that is done is by meeting them where they are, or by drawing them toward something they find attractive, and starting them on their journey at that place.
 
SUMMARY

1. Culture is that aggregate of representations that influences our attitudes, our aspirations our values, and our worldview.
2. To evangelize the culture you must use the culture at the same time.
3. Culture itself contains a way to God, for evangelization, through its representations of the true, the good, and the beautiful.

© Deal W. Hudson, Ph.D

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Deal W. Hudson is president of the Morley Institute of Church and Culture, Senior Editor at Catholic Online, and former publisher and editor of Crisis Magazine.This column and subsequent contributions are an excerpt from a forthcoming book. Dr. Hudson's new radio show, Church and Culture, will begin broadcasting in February on the Ave Maria Radio Network.

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