CULTURAL MANDATE

AND
INTELLECTUAL WITNESS
 Challenge

Be faithful and relevant

to the needs of
contemporary world
Adolf Harnack observed that
the early church gained
ascendancy because they not
only out-loved their
competitors; they also out-
thought their critics.
J. G. Machen who wrote, “ We may
preach with all the fervor of a reformer and
yet succeed only in winning a straggler
here or there, if we permit the whole
collective thought of the nation or of the
world to be controlled by ideas which, by
the relentless force of logic, prevents
Christianity from being regarded as
anything more than a harmless delusion.”
 Feeling is not enough
Faith is not enough – from amateurs to
competent witnesses

Illustrations:
Ahmad Deedat and Jimmy Swaggart,
Zakir naik
Inter-faith forum in universities and
colleges
 Col.4:5-6
Be wise in the way you act toward
outsiders. Let your conversation be
always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so
that you may know how to answer
everyone.

2 Corinthians 10:5
Secure a thorough understanding of the
modern world.

Identify crucial issues that must be

addressed if we are to follow J. H. Bavinck
mission strategy to annex culture, to take
every thought captive in Christ.

Re-conceptualize framework for Christian

reflection and set priorities
 Focus on underlying
ideas/philosophy rather than
surface issues
Modernity’s Subversion of Religion –
Materialism and Market Madness, Moral
Decay
Political threats of ideological-radical Islam
Theological challenges from resurgent
Islam and Buddhism
 Characteristics of Modernity
a) Epistemology; The autonomous self in
judgment.
b) Ethics: The imperial self that bows only to its
self-created ethnical standards,
c) Social structures: Differentiated and specialized
institutions,
d) Economics: Rationalization based on
calculatibility, efficiency
e) Bureaucracy: An iron-cage administration,
f) Politics: Progress in democracy and social
justice.
 The processes of Modernity
are seen in Secularization,
Privatization and Pluralization:

The consequences of Modernity includes

Moral Relativism, Autonomous
Individualism, Narcissistic Hedonism,
Reductive Naturalism
 Buddhist Resurgence – a New
Golden Age?
a) Young Buddhist Association Malaysia
b) Buddhist Gem Fellowship
c) The Buddhist Channel
d) Buddhist Missionary Society Malaysia
e) International Buddhist College –
Thang Siang Temple
 Sample courses IBC
The Theory and Practice of the Bodhisattva Ideal
Early Buddhist Ethics
Early Buddhism: Problems of Interpretation
Early Buddhist Psychology
Theravada Abhidhamma
Sarvastivada Abhidharma
Theravada Exegetical Tradition
Psychology of the Abhidharma
Pali: Buddhist Canon: An Analytical & Historical Study
Studies in Buddhist Hermeneutics
Pali Nikaya and Chinese Agama
The Chinese Buddhist Canon: An Introductory Study
 Political from Islamization

Court Judgments based on

perverse interpretation on
Article 3 and Article 121 (a) of
National Constitution
Theological Challenges from Islam

World Conference on Islamic Education in

Mecca in 1977.
Islamization of knowledge
IKIM
IBIM
ISTAC
ISTAC, as a graduate center of Islamic education,
has the following aims and objectives:
To conduct and promote studies and research on
Islamic thought and civilization involving conceptual
analyses, clarifications, elaborations and definitions of
Islamic key concepts relevant to the cultural,
educational, scientific and epistemological problems
encountered by Muslims in the present age.
To provide an Islamic response to the intellectual and
cultural challenges of the modern world and various
schools of thought, religion, and ideology.
To formulate an Islamic philosophy of education,
including the definition, aims and objectives of Islamic
education.
To formulate an Islamic philosophy of science.
1. To study the meaning and philosophy of
Islamic art and architecture, and to provide
guidance for the Islamization of the arts and art
education.
2. To conduct research, studies and writings on
the Islamic civilization in the Malay world.
3. To conduct research and studies leading to the
formulation of the method and content of
various disciplines and academic courses for
implementation at the University with the
objective of integrating the sciences in all
faculties of the University.
1. To supervise and to provide for graduate and
post graduate studies and research with the
objective of training scholars and intellectual
leaders to play a creative role in the restoration
of Islamic civilization to its rightful place in the
modern world.
2. To publish the results of its researches and
studies conducted for dissemination in the
Muslim world.
3. To establish a reference library reflecting the
religious and intellectual traditions of both the
Islamic and the Western civilizations as the
means to attaining the above aims and
objectives.
ISTAC Sample Curriculum
Islamic Outreach reported 2000+ converts

Statitics from Islam State Dept from 1980-

2000 reported conversion 100000 (Dr.
Osman Chua)

Charts for Islamization of Education – S.N.

Al-Attas, Abim and Faruqi Work Plan
 Christian Anti-Intellectualism
Roots:
Pietistic missionaries and American
fundamentalism (Scofield Bible)
Overseas Chinese business ethos
Immigrant materialism
Pentecostal experiential Christianity
Christian Integration of Knowledge
First, it begins with our attitude which
should be characterized by a quality of
intellectual integrity and passion.

Second, integration demands that the

Christian maintains a constant ethical
valuation of his learning in the light of his
Biblical ethics.
Necessity to go beyond general platitudes
that cannot be tested or implemented as
specific personal actions and social
policies.

Challenge – Suggest middle theorems

(Robert Merton) and middle axioms( J. H.
Oldham) in social policies.
Example from New England Puritans
 Observed
Physical Data Interpretation World View
Reality

Feedback (Tacit)

Presupposition

Figure 1: The Building of a Materialist World View

 Observed
Physical Data
Reality
Consistent World View
Spiritual Interpretation
Reality
Statements
Of Scripture
(Objective) Feedback (Recognized)

PRESUPPOSITIONS
1. God exists
2. Christ reveals God
3. Physical reality exists
4. Logic applies
5. Causality operates

Figure 2: A Rationally Consistent Christian World View

 culture
education

health care
politics

legal
religious institutions
worldview
institutions
(church,
temple)

environmental
concern
family

arts

Figure: Interrelationship of worldview and culture

External Mental
World World
Worldview: Characteristics
A set of assumptions
A model to explain reality
Worldview is learned
Patterns of action
Worldview should be God-centred
grounded
We must recover a vision of the greatness
of God and the goodness of his Creation
and the grandeur of his plan of personal
and cosmic salvation

Isaiah 40
Isaiah 60
Psalm 19, 119, 139
We begin by thinking God's thought after Him.
We meditate on his great works, precepts,
promises and commands (Psa. 119).

Thinking after God will fizzle off unless it is

sustained by a personal passion for God, a deep
desire to see God glorified and acknowledged in
every field of human endeavour.

Our love for God is deepened by an informed

faith.
 DEVELOPING THE CHRISTIAN MIND

All truth is God's truth to address the whole of life

Double recovery--the whole counsel of God and
awareness of the multi-dimensionality of life.

 Suggestions for a transforming Christian

worldview (WV).
 Placing our spiritual experiences
 Relating to our culture.
 Definition of Culture
1. Culture refers to the whole activity of man in his
ability to control and utilize the environment.
2. Culture describes those powers of man which go
beyond the mere ability to survive and which are
concerned with the production of things or
activities which are aesthetically pleasing.
3. Culture is a set of values.
4. Culture is a social phenomenon.
5. Culture is characterized by a specific way of
thinking.
6. Culture may consists of various separable parts.
 Summary
Culture may refer variously to the particular
ways in which people learn to control their
environment, to develop intellectual and
aesthetic values and expressions of them
an produce an ideology which upholds
these values. . . . a social phenomenon, an
approach to life in the world
Change Underlying Worldview
Strategy – change underlying worldview
rather than surface (Charles Kraft)
Possesio of culture - Bavinck
We would prefer to use the term of
possesio, to take possession. The
Christian life does not accommodate or
adapt to heathen forms of life, but takes
the latter in possession and thereby make
them new. . . . The Christian life takes
them in hand and turns them in an entirely
different direction; they acquire an entirely
different content. --eg. John's use of the
Logos concept
 What is a Christian mind?
The Christian mind is an outlook that controls
our lives and thinking in the light of the true
nature of things and the appropriate response
required. It is that integrated outlook comprising
our beliefs, values and thinking skills that
interprets our life experiences and gives
direction to decisions we make in daily living.
Charles Kraft prefers the word ‘worldview’. He
describes it as “the central systematization of
conceptions of reality to which the members of
the culture assent (largely unconscious) and
from which stems their value system
(Christianity in Culture, p. 53).
 Worldview Definitions
It is the sum total of what we believe about the most
important issues of life.

3. James Sire, “A world view is a set of presuppositions (or

assumptions) which we hold (consciously or
subconsciously) about the basic makeup of our world.”

Phillips and Brown state, “A world view is . . . an

explanation and interpretation of the world and second,
an application of this view to life.”

Walsh and Middleton explain a world view as follows:

“A world view provides a model of the world which
guides its adherents in the world.”
 Worldview questions:
 What is ultimate reality? Is it God, gods,
material cosmos or cosmic mind?
 What is the nature of external reality, that is, the
world around us? Is it created or autonomous,
chaotic or orderly, matter or spirit?
 What is a human being? Is it a complex bio-
chemical organism, a superior ape, a
hibernating spiritual being, a person made in
the image of God?
 What happens to a person at death? Personal
extinction or entry to a higher level of spiritual
existence?
 How do we know who is right and wrong? By
depending on Divine law? Shall we give up
since all moral choices is culturally relative, a
matter of personal taste?
 Testing Worldviews
Test of logical or rational consistency
Test of empirical adequacy
Test of explanatory power
Test of practical relevance
Testing methods by
Carl Henry
Arthur Holmes
E. J. Carnell
Christian wisdom is “the ability to
see the true nature of things and
how, in the light of that, we should
live”
Seeing the true nature of things is vital in battling
against the deception of the world. Knowledge
of Scripture and prayer vigil enable us to
maintain a critical posture to the deception and
false values of a godless world – critiquing the
idols of the world
Distinctiveness of a Christian Mind
 God centred
 A Historical Mind
 A Humanistic Mind
 An Ethical Mind
 A Truthful Mind
 An Aesthetic Mind
Knowing God’s goodness in creation

First, the original goodness of creation

implies that all of it, including any human
being we meet, is potentially redeemable.

Second, created things – and their parts

and processes – are unique and
sometimes mysterious, but because they
have come from the wisdom of God they
are also purposive, and in principle,
intelligible.
Third, God created the heavens and the
earth out of his own goodness, power, and
love

Fourth, we can love the natural world

without worshipping it (St. Francis of
Assisi). Material reality is a good thing.
Christianity rejects those “boutique
spiritualities,” that scorn the messy,
organic nature of physical life.
Fifth, in Genesis God affirms the
goodness of work and of marriage – the
ordinary means of production and
reproduction

Sixth, the declaration “Let us create

humankind in our image” implies a range
of human responsibilities, including those
associated with earthkeeping and
creativity. But it also secures a range of
human rights. Personhood is not an
achievement, but a given. The same is
true of our dignity.
Seventh, the fact that individual human
beings, and also the holy catholic church,
have been created in the image of God
implies the need to balance our individual
and corporate identities.

Eighth, the Christian doctrine of creation

places us in the scheme of things. We are
not God, but only images of God.
Christians therefore reject both materialist
reduction of our status and humanist
exaggeration of it. Christians
 Three levels of creation

Primary – God creating out of nothing

Secondary – God’s ordering of creation
Tertiary – Ongoing life of creation – God
appointing man to be his junior partner to
bring life of creation to its fullest
potentiality
 Cultural Mandate
Genesis 1:28-30
God mandates mankind, as his “junior partners”,
to join him as coworkers in carrying on the work
of the world. The original creation was good, but
not yet perfect. . . everything was in state of
readiness, laden with potentiality, awaiting their
intended realization. Made in the divine likeness,
we are called to exercise our office by continuing
his work in the midst of his world.
People must now carry on the work of
development: by being fruitful they must fill it
even more; by subduing it they must form it even
more. Mankind, as God’s representative on
earth, carry on where God left off. But this is now
to be a human development of the earth.

We are not to be greedy potentates, but faithful

stewards of God’s good earth, treating other
creatures with tender concern as we seek to
meet our appointed needs.
 Cultural Mandate

Bring to fruition the unfolding of creation

God’s helper in executing to the end the
God’s blueprint for creation
 Sanctification of Creation
Sanctification (inner revitilization) not
consecration (set apart: external)

What was formed in creation has been

historically deformed by sin and must be
reformed in Christ
 Sanctification : Implications
No violent wrenching /dislocating social
fabric
Recognizes – no given social order is
absolutely corrupt; thus, no social order
need ever be totally condemned
No confidence in abstract ideological
plans – historical situation as point of
departure
 Reformation of Creational
Structures
Point of contact for renewal – attach to
those features of an established order that
reflect some normativity and obedience to
creational law

Sphere-sovereignty of differentiated
responsibility eg. Family, state, school,
market
 Putting the Christian Mind to Work

General principles
 Choosing a field of study or work:
 Developing a critical mind. Always ask
deeper questions and seek connections
between immediate study and other
fields of knowledge. Seek also
implications for beliefs and obedience.
 Case study – Evolution and Christian Faith
Begin by defining our terms
Lay out the assumptions of evolution.
Note some of the common reasons for conflict between
science and faith.

 Insistence on a perfect fit between the Bible and

current science.
 Lack of sufficient information. Keep an open mind.
 Identify Misinformation
 Misinterpretations such as ‘days’ and ‘species’ in
Genesis1-3
 Recognize two conflicting worldviews.
 Recognize the limits of science. Science is only
interested in answering the question ‘how?’ and not
‘why?’.
Different validity should also be accorded to
hypothesis, theory and scientific law

Compare and Contrast:

The Creation Research Society and The
Affiliation of Christian Geologists

Challenges from recent writers/scientists who

straddle comfortable between the two cultures
(C. P. Snow). I have in mind Paul Davis,
Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkings, Stephen
J. Gould and Daniel Dennett amongst others.

Issue of Intelligent Design?

The Christian hypothesis – to exhibit relations and connections
between observable and cognizable facts.

Three problems: Truth must be located. A rational universe

must be plotted. Finally, these two must be so united that they
will provide a basis for trust in personal immortality.

Based upon the ultimate postulate, the existence of God who

has revealed Himself in Scripture, Christianity claims to be a
world-view which is qualified to solve these basic problems of
epistemology and metaphysics, and to outline the nature and
destiny of man. In briefest compass, the Christian solution to
the problem of personal happiness, the rationality in the
universe, and coherent truth, is as follows.
First, happiness is secured for man by
Jesus Christ.

Secondly, a rational universe is

established by God’s being the Author of
the movement of history.

Finally, truth is established because God

is the repository of wisdom. ICA, 89-91
 Cultivating the Christian Mind
Reinforce reading habit for a few years
Seek intellectually stimulating Christian fellowship.
Iron sharpens iron.
Action: Building up your skills.

1. Broaden your knowledge of ethics and culture.

2. Acquire skills in logic and philosophy
3. Deepen your grasp of Bible and theology
4. Begin a modest filing system on topics of interest.
 Final Challenge for Christian
Vocation of Intellectual Witness
Christian witness will be effective if it is
grounded in the conviction that all aspects
of life must be repossessed for the glory of
God. It is a call Christians to develop
thoughtful solutions to the problems
confronting modern society and offer the
ethical resources of Christianity that helps
make common life possible in the midst of
plurality.
Christian witness demands competence
that gives courage to take on the
challenges of the world. Both comes from a
mind capable of interdisciplinary thinking.

The Christian message becomes credible

with commitment

Moral courage – prerequisite for clarity in

witness
Christian ideals of attaining moral and
intellectual virtues in higher education.

“To open the mind, to correct it, to refine it, to

enable it to know and to digest, master, and use
its knowledge, to give it power over its own
faculties, application, flexibility, method, critical
exactness, sagacity, resource, address,
eloquent expression, is an object. . . as
intelligible as the cultivation of moral virtue” (J.
H. Newman, The Idea of a University, p. 92-93).
“You are the light of the world. . . let
tour light shine before men, that they
may see your good deeds and praise
your Father who is in heaven” (Matt.
5:14, 16).
Thank You