Historically speaking, “culture” is the old guard. As Judaism is the Old Testament of Israel, Paganism is the Old Testament of the Church. Our forebears sacrificed to gods which were not. The gentle heel of Christ brought down Olympus and Asgard, but he didn’t obliterate them. He made them a footstool for his feet—he made them useful.
Our fathers watched the overthrow of their altars at the hands of a Jewish carpenter, but they were not immediately transformed into well-dressed Episcopalians. The old gods were plundered and the spoils were brought to Zion. But this was not carried out in fits of absentmindedness. Bare appropriation of anything is a concession to the lesser gods by proxy. But this is not to say that things formerly unacceptable aren’t sanctified when bound under the easy yoke of Christ. Our fathers brought their tin-fiddles and noise-pipes with them into the City of God and began playing them loudly—to the glory of God.
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