Miroslav Volf on Other Cultures

I’m rereading Miroslav Volf’s Exclusion and Embrace and his words are more pertinent than ever. In our current context where our country and world is being ripped apart by cultural strife, with neo-nazis and klansmen feeling emboldened to intimidate minorities and those who disagree, maybe the church needs to be reminded of some of what Volf is arguing in this book. One quote for now: 

The distance from our own culture which is born of the Spirit of the new creation should loosen the grip of our culture on us and enable us to live with its fluidity and affirm its hybridity. Other cultures are not a threat to the pristine purity of our cultural identity, but a potential source of its enrichment. Inhabited by people who are courageous enough not simply to belong, intersecting and overlapping cultures can mutually contribute to the dynamic vitality of each. 

“Other cultures are not a threat.” How much our society and our church needs to remember that.