2003 hat eine Debatte (Mitschrift siehe hier) zwischen Dr. Richard Mouw und David Engelsma zum Thema “Cultural Common Grace” stattgefunden. Eine zentrale Frage dieser Debatte ist: An was hat Gott Wohlgefallen?
(Mouw) Why should we doubt that God takes pleasure when a good poem is written, or when a no-hitter is pitched on Monday, or when a string-quartet performs a Mozart piece with splendid artistry, whether or not such things are accomplished by believers or unbelievers?
(Engelsma) “If Beethoven was an unbeliever, it was sin for him when he composed the Ninth Symphony, and especially because he thought to encourage the unity of the human race apart from Jesus Christ. But once that symphony has been produced, as a beautiful piece of music, a Christian, who has a taste for that, may certainly hear that, and enjoy that, and by his own use of that, because Beethoven, of course, was working, after all, with the laws of God in creation having to do with music, the Christian glorifies God by his hearing of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, and if he doesn’t glorify God with it, he ought not to be doing it.”
Die Debatte ist lesenwert, weil sie zentrale Aspekte des Verhältnisses von Christ und Kultur thematisiert. Wer noch tiefer in eine historische Debatte von 1924 zum Thema einsteigen will, der ist mit John Bolts geschichtlicher Aufarbeitung gut bedient.
