Culture Making

Christianity Today Book Award winner

Publishers Weekly's best books

The only way to change culture is to create culture.

Most of the time, we just consume or copy culture. But that is not enough. We must also do more than condemn or critique it. The only way to change it is to create it.

For too long, Christians have had an insufficient view of culture and have waged misguided "culture wars." But Andy Crouch says we must reclaim the cultural mandate to be the creative cultivators God designed us to be. Culture is what we make of the world, both in making cultural artifacts as well as in making sense of the world around us.

In this expanded edition of his award-winning book Crouch unpacks the complexities of how culture works, the dynamics of cultural change, and tools for cultivating culture. Keen biblical exposition demonstrates that creating culture is central to the whole scriptural narrative, the ministry of Jesus, and the call to the church. With a conversation between Crouch and Tish Harrison Warren as the new afterword, this expanded edition addresses the current landscape and forges a way for the future of culture making. Enter into it with guided questions for reflection and discussion for a deeper experience.



Andy Crouch (MDiv, Boston University School of Theology) is partner for theology and culture at Praxis, an organization that works as a creative engine for redemptive entrepreneurship. His books include The Tech-Wise Family, Playing God, and Strong and Weak.

Preface to the Paperback Edition


Introduction
Part One: Culture


1. The Horizons of the Possible


2. Cultural Worlds


3. Teardowns, Technology and Change


4. Cultivation and Creation


5. Gestures and Postures
Part Two: Gospel


6. The Garden and the City


Interlude: The Primordial Story


7. The Least of the Nations


8. Jesus as Culture Maker


9. From Pentecost . . .


10. . . . To Revelation


11. The Glorious Impossible
Part Three: Calling


12. Why We Can't Change the World


13. The Traces of God


14. Power


15. Community


16. Grace


Postscript: Artist in His Studio


Afterword: A Conversation Between Andy Crouch and Tish Harrison Warren


Acknowledgments


Questions for Reflection and Discussion by Al Hsu and Nate Barksdale


Notes and Further Reading


Index

"Very readable and thought-provoking."



"This book will clarify your thinking, inspire your production, and affirm your parenting."



"Simply the best book that I've read recently. Not only is it brilliant, it's accessible. I cannot gush about this book enough. It really is that good."



"Theologically rich and practically helpful, Culture Making is a significant contribution to the discussion of Christ and culture and a useful guide for those who want to make something of the world God has created."



"Thoughtful and engaging. . . . Crouch's book does signal a hopeful development, which is that the evangelical pursuit of culture warfare was and is a dead end."



"Crouch writes as one who cares what Christians do with their time in light of God's Kingdom coming."



"Culture Making is a fresh and relevant take on how Christians should relate to the wider culture. This book will serve to make us more effective interpreters of and contributors to the cultural landscape."



"As an academic and a culture critic, I am not given to gushing over new publications. But Culture Making brought me pretty close to doing just such a non-scholarly thing! With so much coming out these days on religion and culture, one becomes a bit jaded about the possibility of something really fresh emerging. Well, this book is fresh, compelling, and engagingly written. More important, it goes deeply into its subject."



"Crouch's voice is intriguing and fresh—offering an alternative that escapes the many 'Jesus-stamped' merchandise items as an evangelical tool and implementing a fresh vision for creativity and engaging cultural lifestyles."



"Good introduction to how Christians need to do more than fatalistically talk about the dangers of the world." weniger anzeigen expand_less