It is not enough to condemn culture. Nor is it sufficient merely to critique culture or to copy culture. Most of the time, we just consume culture. But the only way to change culture is to create culture. Andy Crouch unleashes a stirring manifesto calling Christians to be culture makers. For too long, Christians have had an insufficient view of culture and have waged misguided “culture wars.” But we must reclaim the cultural mandate to be the creative cultivators that God designed us to be. Culture is what we make of the world, both in creating cultural artifacts as well as in making sense of the world around us. By making chairs and omelets, languages and laws, we participate in the good work of culture making. Crouch unpacks the complexities of how culture works and gives us tools for cultivating and creating culture. He navigates the dynamics of cultural change and probes the role and efficacy of our various cultural gestures and postures. Keen biblical exposition demonstrates that creating culture is central to the whole scriptural narrative, the ministry of Jesus and the call to the church. He guards against naive assumptions about “changing the world,” but points us to hopeful examples from church history and contemporary society of how culture is made and shaped. Ultimately, our culture making is done in partnership with God’s own making and transforming of culture. A model of his premise, this landmark book is sure to be a rallying cry for a new generation of culturally creative Christians. Discover your calling and join the culture makers. ~ Product Description

Table of Contents

• • Introduction     9
• Part 1: Culture
  • 1 The Horizons of the Possible     17
  • 2 Cultural Worlds     37
  • 3 Teardowns, Technology and Change     50
  • 4 Cultivation and Creation     65
  • 5 Gestures and Postures     78
• Part 2: Gospel
  • 6 The Garden and the City    101
  • Interlude: The Primordial Story      118
  • 7 The Least of the Nations     121
  • 8 Jesus as Culture Maker     134
  • 9 From Pentecost     147
  • 10 … To Revelation     160
  • 11 The Glorious Impossible     175
• Part 3: Calling
  • 12 Why We Can’t Change the World     187
  • 13 The Traces of God     202
  • 14 Power     217
  • 15 Community     237
  • 16 Grace     249
  • Postscript: Artist in His Studio     264
  • Acknowledgments     269
  • Notes and Further Reading     272
  • Index     282
  • About Andy Crouch     285