Christ, Culture, and Liturgy

We live in an age where it’s hard to tell where culture ends and Christianity begins. Every Christian has lived in such an age. God came to people in time at a place by his incarnation. God still comes to people in time at places through Word and sacrament. How do Christ, culture, and liturgy therefore relate? This presentation will explore how the liturgy serves both contextually and transculturally, taking place within a cultural framework while at the same time calling us beyond it. What from our culture is adaptable or beneficial? What is harmful, though seeming innocent? How does worship transcend culture? How do we engage our culture without compromising our faith and practice?

Bio | Wade Johnston

Rev. Dr. Johnston is associate professor of history and theology at Wisconsin Lutheran College in Milwaukee, Wis. Raised Roman Catholic, he was confirmed in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1995 and soon enrolled in Martin Luther College. After graduation from seminary, he served Christ in Saginaw, Mich., for ten years before coming to WLC. He earned his PhD from Central Michigan University and Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam. His teaching focuses on European history, Luther, the Lutheran Confessions, the reformations of the sixteenth century, applied theology, and Paul’s epistles. He has given presentations to numerous WELS conferences and is published by CPH, 1517, Logia, and others.