Scott Aniol

Scott Aniol is the founder and Executive Director of Religious Affections Ministries. He is Chair of the Worship Ministry Department at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he teaches courses in ministry, worship, hymnology, aesthetics, culture, and philosophy. He is the author of Worship in Song: A Biblical Approach to Music and Worship, Sound Worship: A Guide to Making Musical Choices in a Noisy World, and By the Waters of Babylon: Worship in a Post-Christian Culture, and speaks around the country in churches and conferences. He is an elder in his church in Fort Worth, TX where he resides with his wife and four children.

Author Archives: Scott Aniol

The Separatist Approach to Culture

May 16th, 2012 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 10 of 20 in the series Christ the Sanctifier of Behavior You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

The Anabaptist approach to culture finds its clearest representation today in the Amish, Mennonites, and Brethren, but other groups manifest the general Christ against culture model in various ways as well. Like their forefathers, the Amish and Mennonites concern themselves not with national or cultural identity with others around them but rather “on honoring their… Continue Reading

Martin Luther’s Approach to Culture

May 11th, 2012 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 3 of 20 in the series Christ the Sanctifier of Behavior You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

When Martin Luther (1483–1546) begins making reforms in the church, one of the most significant issues he faces is the relationship between the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. Thus, Luther articulates an understanding of antithesis and commonality that in many ways reflects what came before him but in such a way that he is often credited… Continue Reading

Herman Dooyeweerd’s Approach to Culture

May 9th, 2012 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 8 of 20 in the series Christ the Sanctifier of Behavior You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

The first of Kuyper’s direct followers to explicitly transition away from the Reformed doctrine of two kingdoms was Herman Dooyeweerd (1894-1977). Building on Kuyper’s ambiguity, and parallel to Barth’s own views, Dooyeweerd further develops the idea of worldview as the center of antithesis1 and roots the Son of God’s relationship to cultural matters in redemption rather… Continue Reading

Abraham Kuyper’s Approach to Culture

May 2nd, 2012 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 7 of 20 in the series Christ the Sanctifier of Behavior You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

The history of Christian approaches to culture clearly enters a stage of transition in the work of Dutch Reformed theologian Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920). VanDrunen argues that Kuyper retained enough of the important categories of two-kingdom theology to be categorized squarely in its line of thought. In fact, even one-kingdom proponents such as Jeremy Begbie acknowledge… Continue Reading

John Calvin’s Approach to Culture

April 25th, 2012 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 6 of 20 in the series Christ the Sanctifier of Behavior You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

John Calvin’s (1509–1564) position regarding the relationship of the church to the surrounding culture is one of intense debate. For example, VanDrunen argues that Calvin essentially agreed with Luther on the two-kingdoms and natural law1 contrary to the Neo-Calvinists who insist that their transformationalism comes from him. In fact, VanDrunen argues that H. Richard Niebuhr miscategorized Calvin… Continue Reading

The Radical Reformers’ Approach to Culture

April 18th, 2012 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 5 of 20 in the series Christ the Sanctifier of Behavior You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Following Luther’s lead, each Protestant group reacted against the Christendom approach to culture in some way. The most radical rejection of the Christ above culture model of the Roman Church was that of the Anabaptists. Niebuhr categorized them as Christ against culture, and in many ways he was right if by that categorization he meant… Continue Reading

The Abolition of Man by C. S. Lewis

April 12th, 2012 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 8 of 18 in the series Books Every Conservative (and Liberal) Christian Should Read You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Some writers are skilled builders, and it is enjoyable just to watch them work, even if you couldn’t care less what they are building. C. S. Lewis is one of those writers, and the book under consideration is one of those books. Consider: how many books you can think of from the twentieth century from… Continue Reading

The Christendom Approach to Culture

April 4th, 2012 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 4 of 20 in the series Christ the Sanctifier of Behavior You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Before exploring approaches to cultural engagement post-Christendom, or even that of Christendom itself, it is necessary to consider what happened before and during the period immediately after the Edict of Milan in 313. Early debates about approaches to culture are evident, for example, in differences between Tertullian (c. 160 – c. 225), quoted two weeks… Continue Reading

Christian Approaches to Culture

March 28th, 2012 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 2 of 20 in the series Christ the Sanctifier of Behavior You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Conflicting Christian approaches to Culture is not a new phenomenon. The Hebrews themselves struggled with the issue even though as a theocracy, religion and culture were theoretically inseparable in the nation of Israel. Even so, more often than not the Hebrews failed to relate biblically to the nations around them, and their perpetual syncretism led… Continue Reading

What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?

March 14th, 2012 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 1 of 20 in the series Christ the Sanctifier of Behavior You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

“What indeed has Athens to do with Jerusalem?”1 These immortal words from the pen of early church father Tertullian of Carthage illustrate well the tension that exists for Christians seeking to follow the Lord’s claim that they are in the world but not of the world (John 17:6-19). And two thousand years later, the perennial question… Continue Reading

Scripturally, “Culture” is Simply the “Behavior” of a People

February 29th, 2012 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 8 of 8 in the series Toward a Biblical Understanding of Culture You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

If there is any concept of the anthropological/missional idea of “culture” in the NT, it is the idea of “way of life.” A people’s culture is their behavior and their conduct. Several important implications may be drawn from this analysis. First, NT authors explain cultural differences between various people groups as differences of belief and… Continue Reading

Are NT “Behavior”-related Terms Equivalent to “Culture”?

February 22nd, 2012 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 6 of 8 in the series Toward a Biblical Understanding of Culture You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

So far I have argued that neither “race”-related terms and “world”-related terms in the NT approximate the anthropological idea of “culture.” A third category of NT terms that could parallel the contemporary concept of culture is terms related to behavior. Such terms include terms most often translated as “behavior, “conduct,” or “way of life.” Among… Continue Reading

Are NT “World”-related Terms Equivalent to “Culture”?

February 15th, 2012 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 7 of 8 in the series Toward a Biblical Understanding of Culture You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Last time I argued that “race”-related terms in the New Testament cannot be equated with the contemporary idea of “culture.” The second category of NT terms that may indicate a parallel with the contemporary idea of “culture” is words related to the “world order.” These terms include αἰών (aiōn; “age,” “world”) and κόσμος (kosmos; “world”).… Continue Reading

Are NT “Race”-related Terms Equivalent to “Culture”?

February 8th, 2012 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 4 of 8 in the series Toward a Biblical Understanding of Culture You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

The question before us is this: are there any New Testament terms that are equivalent to the contemporary notion of “culture”? At least three separate categories of NT Greek terms possibly parallel the more contemporary idea of culture. The first grouping includes terms translated with the English words “race,” “tribe,” “nation,” “people” or “languages.” These ideas are… Continue Reading

Elephant Room 2, Biblicism, and the Importance of Tradition

February 4th, 2012 | 0 Comments

If you aren’t at least somewhat familiar with the recent controversy over T. D. Jakes, James MacDonald, Mark Driscoll, and the Elephant Room, you’ve probably been hibernating in a cave somewhere. Others have given helpful responses from various perspectives including ecclesiastical separation, unity, ministry associations, the African American angle, and one from Carson and Keller… Continue Reading

The Missional Understanding of “Culture”

February 1st, 2012 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 5 of 8 in the series Toward a Biblical Understanding of Culture You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Last time I argued that the contemporary idea of “culture” came to being within discussions of modern anthropology It was in this anthropological climate that the missional idea of culture took shape. Charles H. Kraft acknowledges that the missional idea of culture draws from cultural anthropology: “When it comes to the analysis of such cultural… Continue Reading

The Historical Development of “Culture”

January 25th, 2012 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 2 of 8 in the series Toward a Biblical Understanding of Culture You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Historically,1 the term “culture” did not emerge in its common use until the late 18th century. The term itself is much older, its Latin roots centered squarely in discussion of agriculture. As early as 1776, however, the term began to be used metaphorically to describe what Matthew Arnold called “the best which has been thought… Continue Reading

Common Missional Definitions of Culture

January 18th, 2012 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 3 of 8 in the series Toward a Biblical Understanding of Culture You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Likely the most influential early evangelical definition of culture comes from Lesslie Newbigin who claims that culture is “the sum total of ways of living built up by a human community and transmitted from one generation to another.”1 Darrell Guder cites this definition early in his influential Missional Church,2 thus revealing its impact upon later missional thinking… Continue Reading

On racism, ethnicity, and culture

January 16th, 2012 | 0 Comments

I thought today would be a good day to make a few comments about the relationship between race and culture. Often the idea that cultures should be judged or that one culture may be better than another is charged with racism. This is a misguided charge, however. Contrary to the beliefs of early cultural evolutionists, there… Continue Reading

The Missional Church and Culture

January 11th, 2012 | 0 Comments

This entry is part 1 of 8 in the series Toward a Biblical Understanding of Culture You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

The missional church movement has significantly influenced the evangelical church in recent years, especially their philosophy of evangelism and worship (see my recent series on this subject here). Missional advocates argue that the church is part of the missio Dei—the mission of God—and thus must see its ministries as fitting within that mission. Essential to… Continue Reading