Customer Reviews

Christ Among the Dragons: Finding Our Way Through Cultural Challenges

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The title comes from the medieval cartographer's use of the words "hic sunt dragones" along the margins of a map, indicating that the lands beyond those words were unknown and thus could be perilous. "Here be dragons" warned folks to cross those boundaries with caution. According to White, evangelical Christianity has crossed the boundary into the unknown, lacking the cohesiveness that used to exist around the issues of (1) truth, as we live in a world that embraces new words and attitudes like truthiness and wikiality while removing the words disciple, saint, and sin from the Oxford Junior Dictionary, (2) cultural engagement, as we are meant to influence culture as salt rather than be influenced by it and lose our saltiness, (3) community unity, as the Bible (in Titus 3:10, for example) calls us to avoid division and seek unity in the body of believers, and (4) the church, in a world in which more and more people are becoming disillusioned with church and organized religion.

I loved how he reframed truths I knew in a different way. I feel like much of what I hear about evangelical Christianity - from within and outside - is more fault-focused than solution-focused. Thankfully, White doesn't dwell on the negative more than necessary and provides a positive response for every criticism. And it's a little thing, but I also liked the pictures (nothing fancy, just things like the cover of A Million Little Pieces on the page where it's discussed).

All in all, I liked it. In his section about truth, though, he decries a disregard for truth and then flips sides to say that it doesn't matter on a truth level how God created the world as long as we believe that He did it, stating that the "Genesis narrative does not speak to how God created, only that God created." That seems to be embracing the same truthiness that he critiques. This only encompasses a few pages, though, so it's still a book I would recommend.

(Many thanks to InterVarsity Press for providing this book for my review. I was not asked or required to write a positive one, just an honest one.)

I believe this book is a must read for our time, and as Charles Colson, Timothy George, and other reviewers have said, a prophetic tract for our times. Really surprised the first reviewer made this book about apologetics or theology. In truth, it's a sweeping overview of the state of evangelical faith, and the four issues currently causing an identity crisis: the nature of truth and orthodoxy, how best to engage culture, unity in the midst of polarizations, and the nature and mission of the church. White's overarching thesis is that what once held evangelical Christians together (namely a shared social agenda, a network of parachurch organizations, and the singular personality of Billy Graham) is gone. We face a post-Christian world at the same time we are, ourselves, facing an identity crisis and deep divides between generations and over foundational issues. If we do not find a way to collect ourselves regarding these four arenas of thought, we will not be able to offer much of a unified effort in regard to mission. So if you're looking for a rollicking ride through the state of contemporary culture and contemporary American evangelical faith, stopping along the way to spend time with as diverse a group of people as Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, Francis Schaeffer, G.K. Chesterton, Calvin, Wesley, Penn Teller and Billy Graham - and visit places as diverse as the Tate Modern in London, "Q" in Atlanta, and the 1988 Southern Baptist Convention gathering in San Antonio - this is your book. The sections on Christian civility and the nature of the church are worth the read alone. This is among White's best work.

White has a way with the telling quote or provocative insight. This is a good and accessible primer on the church's role in the world.

"Christ among the Dragons: Finding Our Way through Cultural Changes" is timely with an important message for Evangelical Christian leader, Clerical and lay alike. In a clarion call for polarization and unity James Emery White addresses four important issues facing the Christian church today: The nature of truth and orthodoxy (the loss of absolutes, Cultural engagement and the evangelistic enterprise, (transformative agents actively engaged versus functional retreat) Christian community and civility, and the identity and character of the church.

In his overview of what is happening in the in the evangelical church White reminds the reader of the role Jesus describes as being the Salt of the Earth. He likens the role of the pastor as one being charged with "shepherding a community." He calls attention to the departure from those things that originally bonded evangelicals together: A network of common social concerns and Para church organizations, and a strong spokesperson uniting evangelical Christians in the cause of evangelism. White maintains the importance of adhering to tradition and principle and being grounded in the scriptures while taking a more aggressive stance in becoming culturally relevant.

White writes with genuine conviction as he leads the reader to a hunger for a deeper engagement in Christ thought as demonstrated within the members of his own church. I appreciate his articulate, intellectual approach in writing. He understands today's culture and man's inner needs, truth and orthodoxy. He boldly takes a stand on the importance of uniting in an intentional global effort of reaching out with love and grace in a renewed effort of taking the message and mission of the gospel to a new generation.

James Emery White reweaves the relevance of truth, theology, and relevance into the every day fabric of the church in his book "Christ among the Dragons." An important and timely message.

I received a complimentary copy of this book for review purposes with no obligation to post a positive review.

There have been well-publicized predictions in the past couple of years forecasting the demise of evangelicalism. These predictions have come from both within and without the church, ranging from InternetMonk.com's "The Coming Evangelical Collapse" to the New York Times Magazine article "The Evangelical Crackup".

James Emery White is just one of the many who are not ready to call it quits just yet, as he demonstrates in Christ Among the Dragons. While we are fast approaching uncharted territory--hence the somewhat cryptic but intriguing title--While offers what he suggests are "introductory ways to regain our sense of true north in the four arenas that brought us together". He sums up these four arenas as follows:

1. The nature of truth and orthodoxy
2. Cultural engagement and the evangelistic enterprise
3. Christian community and civility
4. The identity and character of the church

White excels at describing the cultural climate and pinpointing the areas that seem to be both the locus of our division and the avenue through which we can bring new life to evangelicalism. I was less impressed, however, with the remedy for the diagnosis. As I finished the book, I came away with a vague sense that I was ready to do something but uncertain where to start. In fact, if Mr. White ever reads this review, I think a book solely expanding on the evangelical response in the four arenas of truth, culture, unity, and the church would be a welcome offering from his proverbial pen.

That disappointment aside, however, Christ Among the Dragons is a worthwhile and insightful diagnosis of both evangelicalism and the culture it is trying to reach.

I like White's work. He writes well and has a lot to say. If you don't have a background in theology or apologetics, this is an excellent book for you. Otherwise, you will find little to stimulate your thinking or to engage you as a reader. I will recommend the book to those who will benefit from it, but I was disappointed.