Border Crossings: Christian Trespasses on Popular Culture and Public Affairs [Paperback]

Rodney Clapp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 2000

The usual modern assumption is that Christians are supposed to leave explicitly Christian convictions and practices behind when they engage public affairs and popular culture. In this fascinating book, Rodney Clapp rejects that assumption and trespasses onto secular territory--from global corporations to Winnie-the-Pooh, from family values to The X-Files, from consumerism to Hank Williams and John Coltrane.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Clapp's latest book is another prophetic offering from an anomalous Christian evangelical. The author of Families at the Crossroads and The Consuming Passion, Clapp knows the subculture well, having worked at Christianity Today, InterVarsity Press, and now Baker Books. But he has cast his lot liturgically with the Episcopalians, and he runs with the radicals from ESA (Evangelicals for Social Action). He also enjoys jazz and country music, films and TV, children's literature and epistemology. All these interests and more merge in this collection of essays. What unifies them is Clapp's contention that Christians have "disembodied the faith and dismembered (that is, individualized) the Church." Postmodernist, postfoundationalist and ecclesiocentric, he argues that the language of the church ought to be the most basic language Christians speak, and that their forays into other areas of public culture (across "borders") should be undertaken first and foremost as Christians. With these essays, he not only argues that this is so, but shows how it can be done. Clapp writes with wit and verveAand with a little nerve, too. He's not given to academic "flank-guarding," though he writes for an educated audience. His style is winsome and accessible, generously citing other authors, pointing to good thinking and writing when he sees it. Others will point to this book in the same way. (Sept.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Rodney Clapp is the Editorial Director of Brazos Press. His previous books include A Peculiar People: The Church as Culture in a Post-Christian Society and Families at the Crossroads: Beyond Traditional & Modern Options.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Brazos Press (October 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587430037
• ISBN-13: 978-1587430039
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,247,597 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars balancing David's silly review, June 4, 2004

By 

"jeffmichaelp" (Piermont, NH) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Border Crossings: Christian Trespasses on Popular Culture and Public Affairs (Paperback)

Hey, Someone has to balance out the review by David from PA. How can you review a book you haven't read because you 'know the spiel'? Based on everything I have ever read by Clapp, I don't think David has a clue about the 'spiel'. How can someone's review be counted when they haven't read the book?

6 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars John Coltrane, Jesus, and the X-Files, September 20, 2001

By 

Jeremy Garber "urbanmenno" (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Border Crossings: Christian Trespasses on Popular Culture and Public Affairs (Paperback)

Rodney Clapp reconciles being a Christian and loving jazz in this thoughtful, intelligent and entertaining work. He covers how theologians are becoming increasingly irrelevant, points out how the church's refusal of jazz points to its sin of racism, and questions how the church can become as effective in its mission as the multinational corporations. Clapp displays a thorough and real understanding of Christian faith and contemporary culture, but never disappears in technical language or recycled, stale "God talk." I highly recommend this book for pastors, laypeople, and theologians of all sects and political affiliations. Everyone will be challenged and affirmed.