Friday 14 November 2008

Books on Christianity and Culture

There seems to be have been a recent flurry of books on Christianity and culture or related concerns, some of which I have read, others of which I am reading, including:

D.A. Carson, Christ and Culture Revisited (Nottingham: Apollos, 2008).
An important treatment, arguing that all the plot points of the biblical story (of creation, fall, the call of Israel, the coming of Jesus, the onset of the church, and the prospect of a new creation) need to be held together in order to think constructively and holistically about the relationship between Christianity and culture.

Andy Crouch, Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling (Downers Grove: IVP, 2008).
A passionate but reasoned appeal for evangelicals to get involved in the process of ‘culture making’ – more artists, fewer art critics.

Colin Greene and Martin Robinson, Metavista: Bible, Church and Mission in an Age of Imagination, Faith in an Emerging Culture (Bletchley: Paternoster, 2008).
An exploration of the role of Scripture and the church in ‘radical cultural engagement’.

T.M. Moore, Culture Matters: A Call for Consensus on Christian Cultural Engagement (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2007).
An attempt to describe what a consensual approach to culture might look like, combining discussion of ancient and more recent Christian exemplars.

John G. Stackhouse, Jr., Making the Best of It: Following Christ in the Real World (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008).
A significant work, arguing for ‘Christian realism’, recognising the inevitable ambivalence and tension of living the Christian life in today’s world.

Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Charles A. Anderson, Michael J. Sleasman (eds.), Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends, Cultural Exegesis (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007).
The lead volume in Baker’s ‘Cultural Exegesis’ series, it opens with a long programmatic essay by Vanhoozer, and is followed by essays on cultural texts and trends written by some of the students who took Vanhoozer’s Cultural Hermeneutics class.

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