Matthew J. Milliner has written a great article at First Things, entitled Cold-Blooded Christianity, dealing with rise of Pentecostalism in the “Global South” and what it means for the longevity of Christian culture.  He points to T.S. Eliot’s Christianity And Culture as the manifesto of a Christian “turtle”, a metaphor he uses to describe one to whom Christianity is less distinguished from culture, over against a “hermit crab”, one to whom “culture is as dispensable to Christianity as a hermit crab’s shell is to the crab”.

An interesting metaphor, and definitely one to consider as we try to articulate a fully-orbed Reformed worldview that encompasses all of life: politics, culture, art, family building, etc., and how to live according to that worldview in a way that pleases God.  It’s important also, because as Milliner points out:

In an arresting passage, he [T.S. Eliot] warns that to neglect the transmission of Christian culture is to destroy “our ancient edifices to make ready the ground upon which the barbarian nomads of the future will encamp in their mechanized caravans.” He would be unsurprised to see those edifices further eroded today. He might be surprised to see a crustaceous crowd of post-Christendom Christians celebrating the loss.