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CHRISTIANSIN BABEL

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Egbert Schuurman

PAIDEIA PRESS LTD.Jordan Station, Ontario, Canada

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data

Schuurman, EgbertChristians in Babel

Translation of: Christenen in Babel.ISBN 0-88815-062-8

1. Church and the world. 2. Christianity -20th century. I. Title.

BR115.W6S38 1985 261.1 C85-098225-1

Copyright 1987 by Paideia Press Ltd. © All rights reserved.Published by Paideia Press Ltd., P.O. Box 1000, Jordan Sta-tion, Ontario, Canada LOR ISO. No part of this publicationmay be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmit-ted in any form without the written permission of thepublisher.

First published in Dutch as Christenen in Babel, © UitgeverijDe Groot Goudriaan of Kampen, The Netherlands.

Translated by James C. van OosteromCover design by Gerrit V.L. Verstraete, Christian Com-munication Centre, Toronto

ISBN 0-88815-062-8Printed in Canada

CONTENTS

Introduction / 7

I: Currents in Futurology / 9II: Man's Culture Reduced

to a Scientific andTechnological Model / 29

III: Babel Culture / 39

IV: Challenge to Christians / 45

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INTRODUCTION

T his book calls attention to our culture's ad-vances in science and technology. I plan tofocus on the problems and threats which accom-pany this development, problems engendered byphenomena such as nuclear energy, nuclearweapons, computer technology, unemployment,bio-technology, genetic manipulation, en-vironmental pollution, the depletion of naturalresources and energy sources, the legalization ofabortion, and the demand for world government.

Analysis of these developments and theirspiritual background reveals that we no longerlive in a Christian culture. There is a startlingcorrelation between the development of scienceand technology on the one hand and the processof de-Christianization on the other.

To understand this correlation, we mustevaluate both the development of science andtechnology and the spiritual forces behind thisdevelopment in the light of biblical prophecyconcerning the end of time. The closer we cometo the day of Christ's return, the more we areable, through faith, to see the approachingKingdom of God. The light of biblical prophecyshows how the development of culture will bringenormous scientific and technical accomplish-ments which will, ironically, bring about thedecline and doom of culture.

There was a time when people spoke of ourChristian culture. That term is now meaningless.

7

8 Christians in Babel

From a biblical point of view our culture can pro-bably be identified as Babylonian. Here manworships various gods as he builds whatever hisscience and technology enable him to build.

I intend to assess this Babylonian culture andcall attention to the position of Christians as ex-iles in it. The exile theme is eminently biblical.As exiles, we can have no grandiose pretentions,and yet we need never lose heart. We shall haveto learn more about our responsibility within ourcurrent culture. Exiles yearn to return to theliving God. We must reject the false deities of oursociety and continue to fight the good fight.

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I: CURRENTS IN FUTUROLOGY

T o provide a sound analysis of our currentculture we will need to know more aboutthe field of spiritual forces behind the develop-ment of science and technology.

We will start by investigating two major cur-rents in humanistic futurology. When we com-pare both currents to Christian expectations ofthe future, we will see the problems resultingfrom science and technology in proper perspec-tive.

Evolutionary FuturologyWithin modern futurology science has a religiousfunction. Man entrusts his life to science and itspowers. Scientific technology has become a deepsource of inspiration for people anxious aboutthe future. Contemporary man assumes anevolution process, and then applies hisknowledge to eugenics to try to provide futuregenerations with better "inner equipment." Con-comitantly, modern scientific technology is seenas a means to improve man's "external equip-ment." In the past, evolution was thought tooperate automatically, without man's interven-tion; today, man has begun to believe that he candirect his own and society's development.

Controlling the future. The process of rapidand unceasing change Western culture hasknown since the second world war has beenfrightening. We find ourselves in a headlong rush

9


which, if not controlled by man, threatens a darkand dangerous future.

Futurologists believe that this rapidly closingfuture can be rescued only if we learn to control itthrough the judicious use of science. Their effortsto control the future depend on technology andits scientific method. Applying the scientificmethods of control to non-technological ac-tivities such as economy and politics willpresumably bring them under control. Thusthey see technology as the engine of cultural pro-gress and our increasing scientific knowledge asthe fuel that fires the engine. They have pinnedtheir highest hopes on the computer in relationto the fields of systems design and cybernetics.The computer, they say, is the most potent toolto help us research, guide and control the future.Whatever problems and threats now exist—eventhose spawned by technology itself—could besolved by even more recent discoveries in scienceand technology.

Scientific method in the hands of the modernengineer has proved to be very successful in con-trolling matter. If this successful progress is tocontinue and expand, futurologists argue, thescientific method will also have to be applied toareas that are not specifically technological. Thismeans that man, his society, and the future willhave to be manipulated by the scientific method.

Modern planners think in this evolutionisticand technocratic way. Therefore, they advocatea kind of technological imperialism within thesupremacy of science.

Motive. We know that our culture is on thewrong track when we analyze the dominantmotive guiding the technocrats. That motive is

-

Currents in Futurology 11

completely secularized. "We will have to be ascertain about tomorrow as we were about thepast," said one technocrat. The old humanistideals of "knowledge is power" and "to know isto foresee" are highly operative. Man strives toredeem and maintain himself. Through hisknowledge and capabilities, his demands anddesires, he makes himself the measure of allthings. He is determined to regain Paradise lostthrough his own strength. The futurologist OlafHelmer promises that if the technological-scientific control method is applied consistentlyto man and his society, not only will sufferingdisappear altogether and wars become a thing ofthe past, but man will be able to luxuriate in un-paralleled material prosperity.

The Christian must ask himself whether heshould concern himself in a scientific way withthe future. The answer is yes. Our society hasbecome so complicated in its dynamics that it isvirtually impossible to say anything about thefuture without resorting to scientific analysis.But the Christian should not allow scientificknowledge to become the norm. Scientificknowledge should serve to enhance, noteradicate, the Christian's responsibility.

When man's responsibility, not science, ismade central, we may still expect new, positiveopportunities, especially in the sense of unex-pected solutions to difficult problems. However,many secularized planners seek to obtain solu-tions in an arrogant way, using only the tools oftechnocratic imperialism. They find then, totheir dismay, that the solutions cannot bereached. To succeed in our struggles concerningthe future we need to reject every pretension

12 Christians in Babelthat science and technology can help us saveourselves and secure the future.

If we fail to recognize the norms for the future,fail to see man as the created image of God, andfail to put away secular motives, evolutionaryfuturology will give us the opposite of whateverwe seek. Man will be imprisoned by ever-expanding forces which will ultimately be unitedand mobilized in one single global power. Thatis, the future sketched by the evolutionaryfuturologists will be a technological society inwhich everyone and everything will be reducedto component parts of one large, comprehensive,totalitarian system. Within that system, ahuman being will be a cog, fully interchangeableand replaceable. And a technological world statewill be the personification of the future's power.

Such a future will have no future. It will bringoppression and insurmountable problems, someof which have already been signaled by the Clubof Rome. However, most people, united in theircommon materialist concerns, seem content tofollow the course outlined by the technocrats.Those who resist this trend with a passion arethe revolutionaries.

Revolutionary FuturologyThe revolutionary futurologists object strenu-ously to the static, rigid future perceived by thetechnocratic elite. Their guess is that such afuture would serve only the self-interests of thatelite; present injustice, suffering, evil and oppres-sion, will be reinforced rather than eliminated.Moreover, they fear that nuclear war, increasingenvironmental pollution, and the ongoing deple-tion of minerals and energy resources—all

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ethically unacceptable to them—will be logical,viable options for the technocrats. Thetechnocrats take only limited measures againstthese problems, merely postponing them. At alater date, they will surface again in a much moreacute form. According to revolutionaryfuturologists, this happens because technocratssubordinate history to the progress of scienceand technology. Their mistake means that cur-rent economic cultural forces, together with alltheir evils, will only be reinforced in quantum leaps.

Revolutionary versus evolution. Revolu-tionaries agitate for revolution. To them, revolu-tion, with its protest, conflict and action, is theeternal combustion engine of history. The fuelfor this engine is utopian fantasy—which oddlyenough uses science for its fulfillment. Revolu-tionary futurologists, most of whom are neo-Marxists, sense that the fulfillment of history andthe future will be frustrated by the technical-scientific approach. They fear that man willbecome a prisoner of production forces; as hislabor is reduced to purely productive labor, itscost to the profit system must be offset byescalating consumption. Revolutionariestherefore feel that man will become a beast ofburden in the technocratic structure of society.They jump to the defense of people who are noteven aware of their predicament, partly becauseof the mind-numbing forces exerted on them bythe production-consumption syndrome and part-ly because of their own unlimited lust for con-sumption. Revolutionaries insist that thematerialism which is basic to all evolutionaryfuturology cannot redeem man; instead, it willbring him to his doom.

From this vantage point, it seems that revolu-tionary futurologists and evolutionaryfuturologists (planners) are polar opposites.Revolutionaries refuse to rationalize the currentsituation and stridently oppose the main tenden-cies of current culture. Instead of presentinghistory as an evolutionary process, they em-phasize the discontinuity of history, insistingthat unique, innovative, and individual acts arethe keys to escaping man's impending doom, thekeys to liberty. Their ideal is not a planned,determined future, using the tools of science andtechnology; instead, they adopt a wait-and-seeattitude concerning the future. The past, theyargue, cannot simply be prolonged into thefuture by extension, and existing political andeconomic forces, which use science andtechnology as their tools may not be allowed tocontinue and consolidate their strength in-definitely. These forces must be dismantled andreplaced by more imaginative approaches whichagain using science and technology can leadmankind into a truly utopian future. Theirutopia will give to man a kaleidoscope of optionsthat should ensure a free, enriched future.

Such a utopia, however, cannot remainwishful thinking. Even while the current struc-ture of society is being dismantled, the newutopia should be taking shape. Revolution is thebeginning of a developmental process in whichman can once again become himself, no longeralienated from himself, as he is in a burgeoningtechnocracy.

Method. The method of the revolutionaryfuturologist is therefore based on a radical nega-tion of the premises underlying past and present.



Revolutionaries resist existing social forces "theestablishment"—and hope to bring them downin open conflict. Only when the establishmenthas been brought down will there be new poten-tial for the future. Only then will the rule of in-dependence, liberty and freedom have a chance.However, not even they are certain that theirgoal will ever be achieved. They are not par-ticularly optimistic about the future, partlybecause conditions in Marxist countries showthat revolution offers no guarantee of freedom.There is no guarantee that the revolution will notbe channeled into a more comprehensive andtechnocratic dictatorship, as happened in theSoviet Union. Current revolutionaries aretherefore much more radical in their perceptionof revolution than old-guard Marxists. OrthodoxMarxists felt that a single revolution wouldguarantee redemption. They were wrong. Cur-rent revolutionaries think that revolution mustbe an ongoing, perpetual process. Thus, onlywhen a society is in a state of perpetual revolu-tion can the progress of science and technologybe guided into avenues of freedom and peace formankind.

To prevent suppression, exploitation anddisaster, science and technology should not beplaced in the hands of the establishment. Thepower of science should instead be placed in theservice of revolutionary creativity and creativerevolution in order for man to fulfill himself. Theroad of perpetual revolution is the road to salva-tion. Karl Marx's cardinal error was to propose asingle, culminative revolution. However, whenthat single, terminal revolution came to an end,oppressive forces again emerged in the form of

an elite which proceeded to turn man's new-found freedom into slavery. By contrast, whenrevolutionary destruction is perpetual, freedom—in the .sense of creativity—will feed on theperpetual disorder.

I noted that current revolutionaries are farfrom optimistic. For one thing, the establishmentseizes every opportunity to curb revolutionaryforces and thus prevent fulfillment of the revolu-tionary, utopian ideal. Moreover, the masses seeno need for a revolution, let alone a perpetualrevolution. The masses, revolutionaries general-ly feel, are quite content to sleep the sleep of thedead. For this reason revolutionaries appointthemselves as the protagonists of the struggle,thereby creating a new revolutionary elite. But itwas precisely their aim to do away with all formsof elitism!

The Spiritual-Historical BackgroundFor technocrats, history is absorbed into the con-tinuity of scientific-technical progress. But,revolutionaries counter, such history yields asociety of power expansion, suppression, lack offreedom and mammoth cultural catastrophes.

But do the revolutionaries really offer an"open" future? Despite their claims, they are notso sure.

And in fact, they merely assume that destruc-tion of the old will produce a better "new."Moreover their faith that revolution willsomehow ennoble man's ambitions cannot con-ceal their fear that revolution could well lead toarbitrary excesses. This makes the future ofrevolutionaries an unknown factor. Beneaththeir stridency, despair lurks.


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Conflict between the two. A cursory readingof the two positions would suggest that they werecomplete opposites. And, indeed, a constant,almost antithetical battle rages between them.That conflict intensifies as the problems andcatastrophes faced by Western culture intensify.To truly understand the conflict, we have tolocate its origin and course in history.

Why is it that one part of Western culture hasbeen so arrogant in its use of science andtechnology to support the dominant economicand political edifice, while another part, therevolutionary segment, has been so hesitant andguarded and, with respect to current techno-logical-scientific culture, downright despair-ing?

Reformation and Renaissance. The devel-opment of science and modern technologybecame possible in Western culture when earlymodern European man gained new under-standings of history, nature, the development ofculture, and human freedom. Since the end ofthe Middle Ages, people have come to see thisworld as one that must be developed.

Yet there has never been any unanimity con-cerning how to go about this development. Fromthe beginning, there were two spiritualmovements that contrasted sharply. For exam-ple, they answered the question of origin dif-ferently. The Reformation defined man as calledto freedom, yet responsible to God. Thus, hisfreedom meant service and stewardship. By con-trast, the Renaissance saw man as autonomousand self-sufficient, a creature who could discoverand support himself. The fundamental disagree-ment between the Reformation and the


Renaissance was not immediately clear, and soeach side borrowed from the other. However, theRenaissance quickly secularized certain Chris-tian ideas. This was especially true in philosophyand knowledge. Because philosophy andknowledge had little impact on practical day today life, the influence of secularization beganslowly. As the influence of philosophy andscience on culture intensified, so did the in-fluence of secularization. At that point the idea ofhuman autonomy, always a central thesis inhumanism, began to assume leadershipthroughout Western culture.

The god of the philosophers. Timidly atfirst, but more aggressively later, philosophyposited human freedom as a right, not a gift.Western philosophers and scientists came to seeman as a creature who deserved his ownfreedom. They attempted to found this freedomin man's autonomy, and later they tried to givescope to this autonomy in the fields of scienceand technology.

The first renowned philosopher of the new age,Rend Descartes, placed rational man at thecenter of the universe. Descartes' anthropocen-tric philosophy gradually permeated Westernculture; eventually, people came to worshipman's rational endeavors, especially in the fieldsof science and technology. This religion of manalso surfaces in terms like self-interest, self-determination, self-realization and self-sufficiency.

At first the philosophers continued to talkabout God, but this new god was clearly not theliving God of Holy Scripture. The god of thephilosophers was a god created after man's own

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image. For a while this theoretic god still func-tioned as a necessary cause, but as man becamemore rationalistic and anthropocentric, the deitygradually disappeared from the scenario, leavinga thoroughly humanistic philosophy andscience. Knowledge and science became the toolswith which man would clear a path into thefuture. That path began to open when moderntechnology began to develop. Gradually the ideatook hold that both man and the world could bebrought to fulfillment through the use of scienceand technology. And Christian eschatologysteadily retreated in the face of technologicalexpectations of redemption.

When the combined efforts of science andtechnology began to yield material fruit in thenineteenth century, the secularized idea of pro-gress made deep inroads among the masses.Many Christians also embraced the idea of pro-gress, and then found themselves with an am-bivalent lifestyle. Thus the Christian element ofWestern culture was attacked by pretentions ofhuman autonomy and undercut, even from theinside by secularized expectations of the future.

Apparent antithesis. But this does not ex-plain why evolutionary and revolutionary futur-ologists nearly always oppose each other.For that we must once again return to thespiritual history of the West. Both social evolu-tionists and social revolutionaries, proceed fromthe premise that man is self-sufficient, free, andautonomous, a creature who can stand on hisown two feet without the help of a living God.This "free man" now pretends to be lord andmaster both of himself and of the world aroundhim and, finally, of the future.


Social evolutionists, planners, and technocratsbase their certainty and trust on science. Theytie their idea of man's freedom to the idolizationof his reason. Therefore they also deify theresults of their scientific enterprise. The naturalsciences are of ultimate importance to them,because the reality in which they live conformsprecisely to the laws of mathematics, physicsand mechanics. Everything is absorbed into thechain of cause and effect, even, in the finalanalysis, autonomous man. This, of course,destroys human freedom, though man alsofights the destruction of his freedom.

The Enlightenment. The question of man'sfreedom and its destruction constitutes the innertension of the philosophy of the West. The deter-ministic science postulated by free reason im-perils man's freedom. Sometimes the struggle inphilosophical-scientific thinking between scienceand freedom is subdued; at other times itbecomes quite fierce. Since the days of theEnlightenment that conflict has grown beyondthe merely philosophical and theoretical to thecultural sphere. After all, it is in the spirit of theEnlightenment not only to know reality logicallybut also to order it logically. The intent may be tocreate, through scientific reason, a society thatserves the self-realization of human freedom.However, then science becomes supreme andautonomous, and the results of science deter-mine society's history and shape its future.Evolutionary futurologists (planners) have falleninto this trap. Under their influence, man isseriously threatened. The threat intensifies as cul-tural development becomes more dynamic, morecomplex and more obscure to the common man.

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The degree to which modern man becomesensnared in the net of scientific-technical culturedetermines the intensity of his struggle toliberate his freedom from the technocrats. Hisresistance to evolutionary futurology takesshape in his cultural activity. Through perpetualrevolution, he seeks to cast off the chains of theforces of science and the yoke of massivetechnology. Today it is primarily the neo-Marxistrevolutionaries who act as spokesmen forresistance against the ever-burgeoningtechnocracy. Standing squarely on the principleof the autonomy of man, they turn against anestablishment that seeks to usurp and controlboth history and the future. This is why theyplead for imagination, creativity and for the sub-jective historical freedom of man. They intend toredeem man's autonomous freedom through therevolutionary destruction of the existing order.

Thus, the battle between evolutionary andrevolutionary futurologists is at heart a battlebetween two types of humanists who agree onthe fundamental claim that self-sufficient manneeds no God. Yet that fundamental agreementis what divides Western culture against itself.

The next chapter will show how this strugglebetween types of humanists will come todominate the future of the West. Any proposedfuture in which man and his kingdom are centralwill then have to be evaluated in the light ofChristian eschatology, which is the light of thefuture of Jesus Christ and the coming of God'sKingdom.


Views on the Future:Futurology versus EschatologySo far, I have discussed evolutionary and revolu-tionary futurologies. They give two extremeviews of the future which are diametrically op-posed to each other. I have tried to describe theirforces fundamental to their operation and thetendencies that characterize these twofuturologies.

What do these two futurologies mean for thefuture of Western culture? There are problemsand dangers in both positions. We will evaluatethem in terms of the Christian expectation of thefuture, otherwise known as eschatology. As weshall see, humanistic futurology both notices,and fails to understand the signs" mentioned inChristian eschatology.

Evolutionary futurology defines the future inscientific terms and seeks to control history anddevelopment by the power of technology. Itseems to believe that its own image of the futuretakes into account all the diverse possibilities forthe future. Evolutionary futurologists lack themodesty to anticipate completely unknown fac-tors. They try to integrate various contingencyplans for the future into one comprehensive,universal plan. The execution of such a universalplan, however, means the increasing restrictionof personal freedoms, since the execution re-quires a collectivization and concentration ofpower.

In the twentieth century, the drive to rule theworld through technology has had disastrousconsequences. The humanistic ideal of perma-nent peace, presumably attainable throughscience and technology, has been blown up more

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than once. The ideal of universal materialprosperity and progress has been realized only inthe Western world, and at the expense of the restof humanity and a battered environment. Weface an alarming shortage of natural resourcesand energy. The idea of progress, with its beliefin limitless production and consumption, hasbeen checkmated by the limitations of creationand the finiteness of its resources. And althoughmodern man strives to make both himself andhis world more "human," he only manages toalienate himself from his fellow man and fromhis world.

Whenever technocrats are confronted withsuch problems, they go back to science andtechnology to try to solve them. They developnew strategies in which they retain their powerto violate human freedom. Various world con-gresses and forums held to deal with criticalproblems only reenact this pattern.

This concentration and escalation of power,and the catastrophes it brings—as, for example,irreversible environmental pollution and theperils of nuclear energy—are opposed by revolu-tionaries, who always come to the defense of op-pressed humanity. They insist on absolutefreedom in an historical or cultural sense. Butwhen they strive to give cultural form to thisfreedom, they, too, must utilize the powers ofscience, technology and modern organization.Invariably, a revolutionary elite arises.

For this reason, revolutionaries will eithercross over into the camp of existing powers orwill themselves mobilize a force that seems moretotalitarian and dictatorial than the power theyare fighting. Thus they betray their own revolu-

tionary ideas, and their revolution devours itsyoung. The cultural tension between techno-logical-scientific control of the future andman's attempt to escape this control keepsescalating and intensifying. To remain con-sistently revolutionary, the revolutionaries haveto become more and more radical, resortingultimately to violence. In the end, there will bechaos.

Technocrats control the reality of this culturaltension, and therefore enjoy an advantage overrevolutionaries. They do not put their faith inman as a purely historical being, but rather, inman as a rational, scientific being, and in thetechnology itself—in, for example, systemsanalysis, cybernetics and the computer. Addi-tionally, the masses have no alternative but toput their trust in the technocrats, and theychoose to do so because their faith in the bless-ings of science and technology has not yet beenseverely shaken.

Man without GodScience and technology are often blamed for themess we are in, but I assert that this is adevastating misunderstanding. The origin of theproblem is man. Man has come to see himself asthe Alpha and Omega. Beyond the here and now,modern man reasons, there is nothing. Themeaning of history and of life is confined toobservable reality. Since access to a living Godhas been closed, mankind has put hope in whatscience and technology can make of the future.The spirit of western man has been touched bythe vision of perfection and fulfillment. After all,he has learned of Paradise. But when he rejects


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God's love and His revelation, Western man nolonger uses his God-given freedom in his capaci-ty as God's steward, but instead usurps it as hetries to create a utopia which reflects his ownbeliefs. When man divorces his power, freedomand calling from obedience to Jesus Christ, hedoes not relapse into paganism but insteadbecomes post-Christian man. With no religioustrust in God, he bases his new, secular religionon science and technology, two areas whosedevelopment, ironically, were made possiblebecause of the Christian faith.

Lawlessness and MeaninglessnessWhen man rejects revelation and history and ex-ploits modern technology and its potential to un-precedented proportions, technology assumessinister and demonic traits. When he is in controlof the earth and all its treasures, modern secularman becomes tyrannical, exhausting both him-self and his environment.

Moreover, as secularization intensifies andChristian resistance to the process decreases ordisappears, modern secular man will becomelawless and nihilistic—a figure aptly described asthe man of the end of time.

Nowadays, the idea of unlimited progress is ob-viously in conflict with the limited potentialwithin creation. Thus, material progress and itsvalues have become matters of discussion.Secular man's hope for an earthly paradiseseems to be arbitrary. Instead of cherishing anoptimistic view of the future, people havebecome profoundly pessimistic. But the"answers" provided by these pessimists are alsofar from uniform. The house of secular humanity


is badly divided against itself.An arbitrary, technocratic dictatorship stands

diametrically opposed to a revolutionary idea offreedom which believes that every technocraticsuccess must necessarily be destroyed. There isa nihilism fundamental to the mechanical orderof the technocrats, and it stands opposed to thenihilism of revolutionary chaos. Technocrats willmobilize all their forces to create a technicallystreamlined society, in the hope of preventingcatastrophe; meanwhile, in the name of freedom,revolutionaries seem bent on the self-destructionof culture.

Culture Heading for the EndUnless man reverses himself radically and turnsto God, the conflict and nihilism of Westernculture will probably intensify while it travelsdown the road to cultural decay.

A culture without God always carries the seedsof decay, as so ably demonstrated by K. Schilderin his book The Revelation of St. John andSocial Life. The forces of decay will ultimatelybring its total ruin. Nevertheless, since God willnot abandon even such a culture, man will cometo experience the meaninglessness of a culturewithout Him.

The course plotted by humanists whether theybe evolutionary or revolutionary, will come to adead end. The death already evident in ourculture is a sign of the expectation confessed inChristian eschatology: the return of Jesus Christfor the purpose of establishing God's Kingdom.Christian eschatology is diametrically opposed tohumanist futurology. Eschatology does awaywith the dilemma of pessimism and optimism

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because, taught by God's Word, it confesses, thatGod Himself, through Jesus Christ, is the Lordwho constantly controls history. His decree in-cludes both the believer and the unbeliever, andit unfolds towards the coming of His Kingdom. Inhis Christian faith, hope and expectation, theChristian is called to serve that Kingdom, a ser-vice that includes his scientific work andtechnical achievements.

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II: MAN'S CULTURE REDUCED TOA SCIENTIFIC ANDTECHNOLOGICAL MODEL

B ecause of the dominant influence sciencehas on culture and because of the stampmodern technology puts on our culture, thatculture is based, more and more, on a scientificand technological model. Once we have definedthe scientific and technological model, we willhave a better understanding of the backgroundto our culture. We will do so with six points.

(1) Science keeps becoming more independent,autonomous, and self-sufficient. People areasked to accept science as the only truth, andthus to accept with religious certainty the con-clusions science draws.

(2) Science is also being called on to be themain instrument of human control over theworld. Man increases his power over reality byexploiting scientific means, particularly in thedevelopment of industrial technology. Manybelieve that modern technology is nothing morethan applied science, and so culture according toa scientific model becomes culture according to atechnological model. Expressed differently,scientific, rational control over nature and man'ssociety leads to technological control of reality.

(3) This concentration on control comes fromman's religious yearning to realize and liberatehimself. The universal longing for liberation isdirectly related to the potential of science and

29


technology. Science and technology take a mes-sianic role. Through science and technology,man hopes to be liberated from misery and suf-fering and to find material happiness.

(4) Until the modern industrial revolution, theidea of progress motivated only men of science.But once the material prosperity of the industrialrevolution had become available to the masses,the masses accepted progress as an article offaith. Philosophies such as positivism, Marxismand pragmatism all contributed to the belief thatmodern technology would function as a liberat-ing force.

(5) Economic and political forces have donemuch toward building the scientific model andthe technological model. Only through theseforces could large scale development have takenplace. For this reason, the hidden economic andpolitical forces should be criticized—which neo-Marxists are happy to do. However, neo-Marxistcriticism does not penetrate to the root of thematter; it may lead to a change of players, butthe new players will simply continue to build thescientific and technological model.

(6) Because the religious dynamic of the worldis apostate, culture will become more and moresecular The deification of science andtechnology goes hand in hand with resistance tothe Christian faith. Transcendent reality hasbecome a myth, a projection. Rational, tech-nological man himself, it is believed, will even-tually achieve a utopia which he himself hasdesigned and will control and subject. In thisscientific-technological world, man will be lordand master, independent and sovereign. Thisworld is a thoroughly godless world. All its

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Man's Culture Reduced 31

problems are to be solved through democracy,which can channel science and technology intotruly redemptive paths.

Problems and PerilsIn this way of thinking, reality is robbed of itsmeaning. Reality is no longer creation, a richlydifferentiated, deeply alive entity borne up by theWord of God. Instead, man "creates" a world im-pelled by a technological dynamic, and then triesto accept it as the real world, though it is devoidof meaning. Modern man equates the tech-nological world with total reality. Of course,created reality does not allow for such a reduc-tion. All the aspects of created reality cohere in ameaningful unity. But if man denies this God-centered coherence, man's development of reali-ty bring about his own doom. Doom may comeslowly and cumulatively, but it will come.

Establishing an independent technologicalworld is impossible. The growth of technologicaldevelopment is limited to the potential in createdreality. Energy sources and mineral deposits arelimited. Environmental problems, such as thepollution of seas and oceans and the contamina-tion of soil, water, and air, show how currenttechnology dangerously exploits the environ-ment. Technology also betrays serious internaltensions around such issues as nuclear energyand biotechnology. Increasing reliance on thecomputer has already caused a great deal ofunemployment, social dislocation, lonelinessand alienation. The specific and unique func-tions of every person, the individual and creativeresponsibility of man functioning within the con-text of a full-orbed world of experience, are being

systematically eliminated from the technologicalmodel of reality. A culture defined as a scientific-technological unity becomes torn apart internal-ly. Externally, it is the reflection of a cold,uniform, impersonal and homogenous abstrac-tion.

Creating an independent scientific-technolo-gical world and letting it dominate and destroythe full-orbed world of experience brings aboutthe problems and perils I have mentioned. Theproblems show that reality is one, created byGod and maintained by God. The problems alsoshow that scientific knowledge is always im-pelled and permeated by a pre-theoretical orsupra-theoretical knowledge. The uniqueness ofthe Christian view is that pre-theoretical orsupra-theoretical knowledge is based on faithfounded in God's revelation. This enables theChristian to be both critical and appreciative ofscience and technology. Seen from a Christianpoint of view, science and technology can bemeaningful only if they remain limited areas ofthe totality of human experience and do notbecome models for how all of the other aspects oflife are to be organized—to their hurt.

"World of Experience" and"Scientific-technological World"What do we mean by "our world of experience"?That world is the world in which we live, hope,suffer and struggle; it is the world in which wesee things simply, in which we feel and love; it isalso the world of faith and trust; in fact, faith andtrust are the pivotal point of that world. Thisworld of experience is original and primary; itcannot be fully comprehended; it is complex,


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concrete, full, richly varied and profoundly in-scrutable. Every human activity and its mean-ing—science and technology and their meaning,belong to this world. Our knowledge of thisoriginal, primary world of experience comesfrom being inextricably related to it and involvedwith it. It is an intuitive knowledge which bothprecedes and transcends all scientific know-ledge.

The second "world" is the world of philosophy,science and the application of science. Thus it isalso the world of scientific and technological con-trol. To construct a scientific and technologicalmodel for the whole of reality, as many peopledo, is to subordinate the first world, the world ofprimary, intuitive knowledge, to the second.Then the scientific-technological world begins todominate the everyday world of experience.

Technocrats have the illusion that science pro-vides the only, true, complete and concreteknowledge of reality—a belief that arose duringthe time of the Enlightenment. However, whenthe abstract, sharply reduced world of sciencebecomes the primary world, the genuine primaryworld of total experience is reduced to a scientificabstraction. That reduction will eventually endin destruction. The tendencies towards scientificand technological models of reality can be seenin modern urban growth, industrial policy,housing, health care, social work, the economy,politics, and defense. Fortunately, because thereal world of experience refuses to disappear,technology will never be completely successful.Nevertheless, as power is concentrated within atechnocratic society we become aware of thedisappearance of love, which cannot possibly


flourish within the cold, uniform structures ofsuch a society. After all, love orients itselfprimarily to the specific and unique. The degreeof social welfare provided in a technological statecannot alter that complaint that "Nobody reallycares about me.” Within a technocratic culture,essential bonds of human communion aresevered and replaced by artificial ones whichcripple love, destroy compassion and empathy,and increase alienation and loneliness. Peoplewho suffer the agony of such a cold, impersonalworld make public a host of protests and claims.

What lies behind man's drive to developscience and technology? The motive, it appearsto me, is man's yearning to control reality fullythrough his thought and actions. Man's ambitionis to control the origin, existence and destiny ofall things, subjecting all things to himself. Mankeeps trying to break reality down into itssmallest, basic elements in order to reconstruct itaccording to his own power structure.

This fundamental motif was already apparentin the Fall, but it was not until after theRenaissance, during a period strongly influencedby modern humanism, that this drive was rein-forced by the energy of modern natural sciencesand technologies.

Protagonists of the Renaissance bade farewellto Christianity. They continued to use Christianterminology, but in a thoroughly anthropocen-tric (man-centered) perspective. Creation was nolonger considered to be the handiwork of God,but rather man's own handiwork. The Fall, ac-cording to humanists, was not a denial of God,but rather a denial of the self. Redemption is notthe restoration of communion with God through

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Man's Culture Reduced 35Jesus Christ but rather the assertion that mancan learn to stand on his own two feet. Belief isnot reliance on God in Christ, but rather faith inoneself. And finally, the future is not whateverGod places on man's path, but rather theorganization of the world according to one's owninsights. The spirit of the Renaissance haspermeated the thinking of most modernphilosophers and scientists—including theEnlightenment, modern philosophy, positivism,Marxism and materialism. The spirit of theRenaissance, featuring self-reliant and self-fulfilling man, has dominated developments ineconomics, politics, science and technology. Manhas become the measure of all things in most sec-tors of culture, and science is his instrument forcontrolling reality.

Scientific rationalism has pushed technologyto enormous proportions. At the same time,cultural development has been retarded—a sadfact which few people notice. Most people,motivated by materialism, consider non-technological matters unimportant.

Other motifs have sprung from the same rootof man's pretended autonomy and self-sufficiency to bolster rationalism. Most impor-tantly, there is the motif "technology fortechnology's sake." Whatever can be made,must be made, and the bigger the better. And sotechnical development spins beyond man's con-trol. Man may pretend to be lord and master oftechnology, but he becomes, in fact, its slave.People become prisoners of their own work whenthey refuse to think about appropriate norms fortechnology. Problems of the enrivonment, andthe dangers associated with nuclear energy,


computer technology and biotechnology warn usthat technology is becoming an absolute powerwhich threatens both nature and culture. And itsgrowth seems to be out of control.

A second principle that plays a large role intechnical development holds that technologymust serve economic power. Technologicaldevelopment becomes totally subjected to theprofit motive. Other norms are paid scant atten-tion. One of the painful results has been withwidespread environmental pollution. The ab-berations brought on by a society dominatedsolely by economic motives have brought aboutserious problems. The potential blessing oftechnology has turned into a curse. Potentiallyman' s friend, technology has become his enemy.

We cannot blame only the philosophers, scien-tists, engineers and economists. Many people notdirectly associated with technology are alsodominated by a materialistic spirit, so much sothat they ascribe to technology messianic power.Blinded by insatiable yearning for materialprosperity, modern man idolizes technologicaldevelopment as a means of obtaining ever moreconsumer goods and material blessings—hiskind of happiness."

Thus, both inside and outside the process ofscientific-technological development, we findthat the current problems and perils are broughton by people who develop and build withoutnorms. The anormativity of their production isthe result of their pretension that they, not God,determine the development of science andtechnology.

As pointed out earlier, modern man has beentricked and trapped by the power science offers.

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Science, with its abstraction and reduction, givesknowledge of only a part of reality, not of itswhole. The unlimited application of scienceamounts to a reduction of reality. Tremendousthings may be achieved, but the reduction maywell lead to the eventual annihilation of reality.

If, in order to solve existing problems,technocrats turn to yet another field of science,the problems may temporarily be suspended.But they will reappear in a more menacingmeasure later. If all of this technology finallyresults in the establishment of a globaltechnocratic dictatorship, then there will be nomore room for human freedom and responsibili-ty. Man will then become prisoner in a universalconcentration camp.

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III: BABEL CULTURE

W e now come to the question of how best todescribe the development of the scien-tific-technological culture. If Christians canthoroughly understand this culture, they will bebetter enabled to consider their own responsibleinvolvement in it.

We are confronted with many problems andperils, including the possibility of a globalnuclear war. It is becoming increasingly clearthat, whether through nuclear war or throughaccident, a global catastrophe is not at all im-possible. We will have to subject that possibilityto the Word of God. We face the greatest andmost pressing problems of life and death inglobal proportions. This is a "sign of the time."

How do we perceive that sign and what is ourreaction? Perhaps Christians will have to realizethat they are facing an apocalypse. Perhaps westill underestimate the potential for destruction,especially concerning nuclear warfare. The con-sequences of such a war would be practically in-describable. And should any future generationssurvive, they, too, would suffer terribly.

What kind of culture can tolerate such athreat? What should the Christian's attitude betoward it?

Such a culture can well be called a Babelculture. A Christian's responsibility in such aculture cannot be denied. The Christian must ap-peal to a return for a cultural life coram Deo, to a

39


responsible cultural development. At the sametime, the Christian must assess his time pro-phetically; he must remind the people that in-describable disaster will take place unless thereis repentance. Christians will need to proclaimthat political solutions cannot alter the currentcourse of our modern culture. They will maintainthat beneath our current cultural morass isman's radical religious choice. Christians mustassess the spirit of current culture on the basis ofGod's Word, and on the basis of that Word theymust look for properly normed politicalresponses to today's problems. A propheticassessment and analysis of culture—a task towhich the church has been called—will enableChristians, including those active in politics, toexercise influence in the broad developments ofculture.

What does the term "Babel culture" mean?The Babel motif, dynamic self-willed ambition,harks back to man's fall into sin, and has oftenmade itself felt since. Currently, however, thismotif has reached unprecedented prominence,and for two reasons:

First, we now live in a secularized culture,which no longer concerns itself with God and Hiscommandments.

Second, this secularized culture now has at itsdisposal tremendous scientific-technologicalpower. Let us look at the combination moreclosely. We notice that the Babel motif manifestsitself in both an integral and global fashion in ourcurrent culture; it keeps pulling science,technology, economics and politics into onemassive entity. These various sectors of culturereinforce each other's strength as together they

Babel Culture 41

head toward godlessness. Has this culture notbeen described in Revelation 13, which pro-phesies that the beast of political power will in-crease its strength toward the end of time bymobilizing the beast from the earth, the beast ofthe powers of science and technology? Thusscience and technology, now in the service ofpolitics, will display power, signs and deceptivemiracles (compare II Thessalonians 2:10).Within such a culture, material prosperity will beinterpreted and even worshiped as progress.Mankind will consciously choose for the things ofthis earth rather than for the things of heaven.

Development will become unprecedentedoverdevelopment of science, technology andeconomics, and overdevelopment will becomeexploitation. What was alleged to be progresswill turn out to be regression, a kind ofretrogressive development. The appearance ofmaterial prosperity and welfare materialism is areal and deceptive threat. Catastrophes in the en-vironment, the depletion of natural resources,the exhaustion of energy sources, the increasingalienation between people, and the growingchasm between rich and poor nations show thatthis powerful Babel culture is threatened by im-potence and decay from within. Again we see theprophetic truth of Revelation 18. Verses 11-14make clear that the demise of the Babel culturewill coincide with the end of the mineral,vegetable and animal kingdoms as well as withthe end of the world of men. Man's self-willed am-bition has put culture on the road to doom. Thatroad leads to the kingdom of man, but since manis incapable of ruling justly, it also leads todestruction and death.


As I mentioned earlier, the Babel motif comesfrom man's wish to regain Paradise lost throughhis own strength. Men try to make their ownlegacy on earth, to create eternal rest and theconditions for their own utopia. Cain and Nimrodwere the prototypes of such men. The Babelmotif recurs repeatedly in Scripture; Sodom andGomorrah, Egypt, Babylonia and Nineveh allshowed the signs of this culture. The Bible oftenprophesied against these forms of self-willed am-bition. Revelation 11 shows us that evenJerusalem, the chosen city of God, could becomea form of Babel. This should tell us something: itis precisely in Western, post-Christian culturethat man's self-willed ambition has run wild, in-spired by the powers of science and technology.

Much could be said about the history of thisdevelopment. But it is even more important tosee what the Bible says about the religious direc-tion of the Babel culture. I am reminded of IIThessalonians 2:1-21 and II Timothy 3:1-9. Ifthese passages are read against the backgroundof Romans 1:16-32, the religious direction willbecome clearer. Romans 1 shows us what hap-pens in a pagan, heathen culture and it reveals tous the religious direction and commitment ofnon-believers. II Timothy 3 and II Thessalonians2 describe the religious direction of neo-pagan,secularized, selfish man and the cultural impactthis direction has. Romans 1 parallels IIThessalonians 2 and II Timothy 3. Looking atmodern, post-Christian and even anti-Christianculture, we can say that its evils and disastershave come about precisely because of the poten-tials offered by science and technology. Themodern forces of science and technology are

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Babel Culture 43enormously threatening, and for that reasondemonic. The Bible shows us why they aredemonic; it is because our current culture not on-ly rejects the revelation of God as seen in theworks of His hands—as took place in the paganculture described in Romans 1—but also rejectsthe revelation given in Christ. And just as the re-jection of creation as revelation had disastrousconsequences for the pagan world, so the currentrejection of both creation and the incarnate Wordhas multiplied the evil. The escalation of evil ismade possible by the unnormed forces of scienceand technology. Why? Because "they ex-changed the truth of God for a lie, and worshipedand served created things rather than theCreator—who is forever praised. Amen"(Romans 1:25; compare II Thessalonians 2:10and 11).

In the light of this prophetic Word, we see whyour culture can be called the Babel culture of theend of time. Our culture combines sin, apostasy,idolatry and lawlessness with science andtechnology. Therefore we contend with thedangers inherent in the lawless forces of scienceand technology, and with the destructive corrup-tion of life and society. A Babel culture is alwaysa culture of confusion. Those who see only thelawlessness in life and society while ignoring thelawlessness of science and technology will notrecognize the deep spiritual force which unitesthe spiritual disintegration of our times. Butthose who take note of that deep spiritual unity,seeing also the revelation of God's wrath on allapostasy and lawlessness, will know that Godhas surrendered man to decadence and blind-ness (Romans 1:18 and 28; II Timothy 3:9).


Through his Babel culture man tries to erect acounter creation. His efforts glitter like gold, andscience and technology promise an escape fromGod's judgment. However, appearances aredeceiving. As counter creation, Babel carries theseeds of its own destruction, and will effect itsown judgment and demise.

Within the force field of science, technology,economics and politics, nuclear weapons appear.Defense policy can be understood only in thecontext of the forces of science, technology andeconomic interests. When we see the big picture,we come to see that world events are drawingman toward a vortex of evil and death. Who canescape the thought of nuclear war? Demonicpowers would then be revealed in all their power(Ephesians 6:12); humankind would face theconsequences of the law of sin and death(Romans 8:2).

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IV: CHALLENGE TO CHRISTIANS

W ithin this Babel culture which seems hell-bent for destruction, Christians mustlearn to see that the armor of God equips themto fight against dominions and powers, againstworld forces of darkness and evil spirits (Ephe-sians 6:12ff).

Christians may not allow themselves to belured onto the road of counter-creation. Instead,they must follow the way of renewal. We are onthe way to the new Jerusalem, and we must bepulled back to it continually. Removingourselves from the Babel motif and speakingagainst it will put the Christian into a position ofsojourner and crossbearer. He will be the kind ofwitness found in Revelation 11. His witness is aprophecy even as it is an admonition to return toGod's norms, which teach and allow truefreedom and responsibility.

We cannot, in good faith, avoid the world. TheBabel culture is a perversion of the Kingdom ofGod, a perversion which feeds off the forces ofGod's Kingdom. The Bible calls this culture theculture of darkness, and yet this darkness cannotextinguish the light that has burst upon thisworld with the coming of Christ (John 1:5).Through the coming of the Kingdom of God theBabel culture will be judged. The perspective ofrenewal, signified by Christ's glorification, is theperspective of responsible thought and action.

If the man of science, technology, economics

45


and politics would again choose a responsible,normative course, science and technology wouldno longer be threatening forces. They would pre-sent fascinating possibilities for researching anddisclosing the secrets of creation. To suchdiscovery and unfolding there would be no end.By contrast, the way of the kingdom of manalways threatens an end, for it threatenshumankind with its destructive and demonicdevelopments.

If man were once again to discover the way ofnormativity in science, technology, economicsand politics, or in other words, to seek theKingdom of God responsibly, his efforts wouldgenerate many problems. The right way offollowing God's commandments would be pro-blematic simply because so many cultural struc-tures are presently locked into the perspective ofthe kingdom of man. We have to take thisobstacle into account when we seek to pursueour Christian perspective on culture. We wouldfirst have to recognize the existing situation andfind ways of dealing with it. And we wouldalways be tempted toward accommodatingourselves, such being the nature and power ofthe Babel culture. Christians find it more andmore difficult to live in that Babel culture and yetnot be a part of it. To choose responsibility cor-am Deo means resisting the powerful forces ofhuman ambition and will. Responsibility alsomeans rejecting revolution. Revolutionarychanges cannot provide solutions for existingstates of lawlessness, for they themselves own nolaw. Christians face the enormous task of begin-ning with the existing, decadent situation andtrying to renew it, using the norms given by God.

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Challenge to Christians 47

If Christians had more insight into what wasreally going on in the world they would be misledless easily by the world's motive. An under-standing of the world should be the basis for theirapologetics, especially when they attempt prin-cipled action in cultural activities. In our presentculture which is tending toward nihilism, itseems that Christians are all too willing to chooseeither for technocracy or revolution. We often seeyoung Christians take one standpoint, and thenexchange it for a completely opposite point ofview. There are always convincing arguments onboth sides. The winning point of view is thenmodified and accommodated before it is passedoff as Christian. Through such vascillation andcompromise, Christian political thought and ac-tion in Western European countries has all butlost its central dynamic. And why has this hap-pened? Because Christians have failed torecognize the spiritual conflict inherent in thecultural motifs which determine contemporarydevelopment.

In the past, the weapons of apologetics havedefended the Christian faith against the spiritualforce of paganism. A similar defense should nowbe set up against neo-paganism, the modernspiritual force and hallmark of secular culture.Such an apologetic would eagerly confrontphilosophies, ideologies and thought systemswhich, as false revelations, willed tremendousapostate religious power.

A Christian apologetic should give a unitedand biblically responsible, biblically normed vi-sion of man, culture and history. Such anapologetic would help Christians test the spiritsand would enable the church to remind its

members of the privilege of having the Kingdomway of life open to them despite all the anguishand problems that arise from their culture's wayof death.

Developing Ethical AwarenessWe have dealt with the problems of scientific lifeand technological culture, pointing out thatthese problems are signs of man's self-willed am-bition to form culture. Escape from this road todeath is possible only if one chooses a differentroad. And we maintain that it is the church's pro-phetic task to point out the better road.

However, because of the church's rightfullimitations, it cannot solve the technologicalcrisis. To this task, there are called Christians,either as individuals or in groups. The church'stask is to warn against wrong motives. The rightway can be traveled only if we allow ourselves tobe led by biblical wisdom which, while ancient,always remains new and relevant.

In the biblical dynamic, man is not the centerof reality; he is not a totally self-willed ambitiouscreature. Scripture shows how man is created ac-cording to God's image, and thus emphasizesman's responsibility. As a responsible creature,man is to love God above all else and hisneighbor as himself. Practical political results ofsuch love would mean that man gives up his lustfor power and seeks to promote justice andrighteousness. For the economy, love means thatman is no longer driven by an absolutized profitmotive but instead exercises responsiblestewardship. For science, love means thatknowledge is no longer raw power, but that itserves the interest of wisdom. We must come to

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see that science and technology can be humani-ty's helpful servants, rather than our tyrannicalmasters.

We need not deny the great significance ofscience or technology; however, we should resistthe belief in man's self-willed independence thathas become part and parcel of science andtechnology. Through man's apostate faith thedevelopment of science and technology havecome to determine the course of our cultures; ac-tually their function should be limited to beingthe roads which lead towards building culture.Both science and technology need to be sub-jected to responsible thought and action.

We can better understand the service scienceand technology should provide for culture whenwe return to the original motif. The Bible teachesus that man is permitted to build upon creation,but only with the intention of preserving crea-tion. Only to preserve creation without develop-ing culture leaves fallen man in the grip ofnatural forces. On the other hand, to buildwithout thought of preservation is arrogant. Ig-noring judicious and discreet preservation willeventually turn into a situation in which naturalperils are replaced by cultural perils; menacingtechnological forces will threaten to bring abouttotal ruin.

Within the context of this harmonious callingboth to build and to preserve, man sees himselfas the image of God. In both building and preser-ving, he confirms his love towards his Creatorand Redeemer. He will then treat creation withthe concern and respect it deserves. Responsiblehumanity recognizes the need both to developcreation and to resist every form of distortion and


chaos. If man allows himself to be empowered byscriptural norms, his cultural endeavor can be ablessing even for the realm of nature. Such wasthe case in the days of King Solomon (I Kings4:33, 34); such can also now be the case if weallow our economics, politics, science andtechnology to become a harmonious action ofbuilding and preserving or, put differently, ifthey become part of our search for the Kingdomof God.

Admittedly, achieving harmonious interactionbetween building and preserving is not easy.Many people will strongly resist biblical direc-tion. Even after rejecting the idols of science andtechnology, many people turn to other idols,such as the idol of revolutionary freedom or theidol of nature. Others try to design a modifiedstrategy for science and technology but continueto rely on a closed view of the world and lifewhich still excludes God.

But God does not permit Himself to be ex-cluded, and so He permits cultural developmentswithin this closed world to run haywire. Werecognize His judgment here, and yet at the sametime hear His call to return to Him and follow Hisnorms. This gives us hope. The horizon of ourhope is the horizon of the Kingdom of God, whichwill be the fulfillment, reconciliation and renewalof the entire creation. With this perspective, wedo not need to consider ourselves sojourners orspectators in the world, but rather citizens of aKingdom that has once come with Christ and willcome again. We belong in this world, eventhough we are exiles in a Babel culture!

Exiles, while not builders of the hostile culture,are also not its slaves. Their relationship to that

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culture is one of tension. God's love demandsthat we reject such a culture, but it also demandsthat we address that culture in love. Thus, aChristian cannot avoid his cultural environment.On the other hand, a Christian cannot expect tosee tog much fruit come of his Christian mandatewithin such a hostile culture. For the biblicalmotif, which features living and working out ofGod's love and grace, is diametrically opposed tothe motif of the Babel culture. The Bible rejectsunequivocally man's pretension that, with theuse of science and technology, he can build acounter-creation to which he himself can givemeaning.

Scripture calls us to live and work with arecognition of creation order, and with the con-fession that only Christ can give meaning andthe expectation of renewal. In Christ theKingdom of God has already been given to us andwill, upon His return, be given to us in itsrecreated dimensions. This is the true view ofhistory. Nor can this perspective be in any wayaltered by the pretensions of our Babel culture.The biblical perspective, it seems to me, alsogives the resources with which to counter ourculture's reduction of the meaning of science andtechnology, for it addresses our attention to therich and inexhaustible meaning of science andtechnology. Our Babel culture has reducedscience to a caricature of its true self. As exileswe can witness to its genuine and full meaningby focusing on its original meaning and nor-mativity. This concerns global issues of our timesuch as nuclear armament, biotechnology, com-puter technology and energy problems, but alsothe more personal problems such as abortion,


crime, the dissolution of marriage and the familyand the increasing decadence of our society,problems having personal roots but which havecome to assume huge proportions. Living in themidst of all these perversions and dislocations,Christians must carry themselves responsibly,which means being of service and at the sametime witnessing to the values that society musthonor. For this reason, the personal culturalendeavors should not be forgotten, for it is inthose areas that cultural reformation mustbegin. We often think in global dimensions andanalyze our culture as part of a global culture,but the smaller cultural endeavors is where wemust begin. Science and technology can assist usin our endeavors, but we must always be mindfulthat they are potentially subversive forces thatcould, if not used properly, once again imprisonus.

In this regard it would be helpful to say a fewthings about politics, which is where peopleusually seek solutions. Christians should firstpursue a different course, beginning with ques-tions about spiritual and historical backgroundmatters. Given the religious background of aproblem, they will then have to articulate anethical position before they can proceed to look-ing for responsible political solutions. To beginand end with politics is a superficial approachwhose efficacy will never be more than super-ficial. I could mention in this connection the cur-rent political discussions concerning nuclearweapons, one of the global issues, and, as an ex-ample of the more personal issues, the discus-sions about legalization of abortion.

I suspect that many Christians will consider

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my approach impractical. Nevertheless, I main-tain that accepting responsibility and normativi-ty allows a great variety of possibilities andbenefits, and also a stable course. The course ofour current Babel culture may appear to be aroad to freedom, but man will eventually findhimself to be a prisoner of his own misdirection,on a course that offers no future, only fear.

Those who keep in touch only with factualdevelopments run the risk of always accom-modating themselves to those developments. Bycontrast, those who orient themselves to theperspective of the Kingdom of God, given to manin grace, do more than keep up with the facts.They will resist the spirit of godless develop-ment, and will also accept their own respon-sibilities to pursue a biblically normed approach.The Bible gives us the examples of Joseph inEgypt and Daniel in Babylon, and the examplesof the two witnesses in Revelation 11 are also en-couraging and hopeful.

At the end of these chapters, I conclude that weshould first of all learn not to see the Kingdom ofGod as the final goal of history and of our culturalendeavors. We must constantly remindourselves that the Kingdom of God is a gift thathas been given, is also truly given now, and,finally, will be given to us again in the future.The final renewal will show us the real meaningof our cultural endeavors. Then even Babylonwill become Jerusalem. This divine mystery,given to us throughout history, cannot be com-prehended, yet it is a life-giving dynamic de-serving our respect, devotion, gratitude andsense of responsibility.

A normative view of life in culture which re-jects both frenzied expectations of culture andoutright avoidance of it is most accuratelydescribed by the prophet Jeremiah in his letter tothe Babylonian exiles, in words that are serene,yet filled with expectations:

This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israelsays to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalemto Babylon: "Build houses and settle down; plantgardens and eat what they produce. Marry andhave sons and daughters; find wives for your sonsand give your daughters in marriage, so that theytoo may have sons and daughters. Increase innumber there; do not decrease. Also, seek thepeace and prosperity of the city to which I havecarried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it,because if it prospers, you too will prosper"(29:4-7);

and:

.. For I know the plans I have made for you,"declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not toharm you, plans to give you hope and a future . . ."(29:11).


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