Culture Making
Culture Making by Andy crouch has been unlike any book that I have read in a while. Although it can at times be a little abstract it is definitely thought provoking and for the most part pretty practical. I started reading this book for a reading group that I am a part of and I was turned on to it by reading Unfashionable by Tullian Tchividjian. This book is very relevant while also providing a decent amount of historical analysis on how our culture got to where it is today and what things have been “big changers” of cultures over time. If you enjoyed “The Tipping Point” by Malcom Gladwell then I think you will enjoy this book as there is just enough overlap for one book to make you think of the other but also a world of differences as both of these authors have different perspectives and different goals.
Crouch says that culture is what you make of the world so the way we change culture is make it, namely by changing the horizons of possible and impossible. Now the preceding statements aren’t as abstract as they look at first glance and the book does a great job explaining what this means as well as what our responsibility as Christians is in culture. The Christian Church Crouch says “has paid the culture around us the ultimate compliment: careful study and, often, imitation.” This is not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself but as Crouch notes the Church has failed to realize that we are usually influenced a lot more than we influence and that there is an important asymmetry between good and bad cultural change going all the way down to the laws of physics: It is possible to change things quickly for the worse…The only thing you can do with Rome in a day is burn it”. Good and lasting cultural change is very slow and takes time. “Even the resurrection of Jesus, the most extraordinary intervention of God in history, took hundreds of years to have widespread cultural effects and it still hasn’t changed culture everywhere for everyone.” The book also speaks out about the uselessness of “condemning culture” as so many churches and christians are known for doing. Every society is always full of culture says Crouch and “It is the very rare human being who will give up some set of cultural goods just because someone condemns them. They need something better, or their current set of cultural good will have to do, as deficient as they may be. Although this book has a certain intellectual and philosophical appeal Crouch doesn’t mince words when he says “The academic fallacy is that on once you have understood something–analyzed and critiqued it–you have changed it. But academic libraries are full of brilliant analyses of every facet of human culture that have made no difference at all in the world beyond the stacks…analysis has lasting influence only when someone creates something new in the public realm.” This is just a small preview of what is in the book, but one thing is clear about changing the culture; It is going to require a lot of thinking, a lot of action and the grace of God.
You can pick up the book here at Wtsbooks or here at Amazon. Happy reading!
