“When it comes to  cultural creativity, innocence is not a virtue. The more each of us knows  about our cultural domain, the more likely we are to create something new  and worthwhile.”

-From Culture Making, by Any Crouch

As I have been reading Culture Making, this thought has popped up a few times.  The idea that we should root ourselves in the various traditions and skills of the culture around us is an idea that I am somewhat sympathetic to since it encourages us to be excellent in our given fields.  As I read, however, I have trouble thinking up biblical support for this point.  If anything, arguments to the contrary are ready at hand: what of Paul’s condemnation of the excellencies of this world in 1 Cor 1 and 2? What of God’s demand that the people of Israel absolutely destroy all aspects of Canaanite culture?  And yet, what of Augustine’s point that it was not that scriptures that taught him the language by which he can read the scriptures?  Where do we draw the line between continuity and discontinuity with the world around us?