Culture Matters: A Call for Consensus on Christian Cultural Engagement [Paperback]

T. M. Moore (Author), Richard John Neuhaus (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2007

Many of Jesus's contemporaries hated him because he pointedly critiqued their culture. Culture matters. But to be effective in engaging culture, Christians today must know their message. Christians are called to reform culture by engaging society head-on. With meaty content, real-life examples, and probing study questions, Culture Matters shows how godly incarnations of the arts and intellect ultimately right a topsy-turvy world. T. M. Moore offers readers a superb analysis of the methods for engaging culture effectively.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Few Christians can agree on how believers should interact with the culture at large. Should they embrace it wholeheartedly? Reject it altogether? Form a subculture? Or pursue a more excellent way? These are but a few positions or approaches that believers have taken toward the world. In fact, T. M. Moore catalogs a total of six responses to culture and advocates for Christian unity in Culture Matters.

Moore examines the past, highlighting shapers of culture such as St. Augustine, Celtic art, John Calvin, and Abraham Kuyper. In addition, he discusses contemporary movers and shakers, including prison evangelist Chuck Colson and musician Phil Keaggy. Ultimately, he arrives at some recommendations for all believers. He urges them to become more culturally conscious and prods them to view culture as a gift or a trust from God. Not only does Moore address the individual believer but he also speaks to communities of faith. Culture Matters is a challenging read for all thinking Christians.

"This is far and away the best and most important of T. M. Moore's many excellent books. As one of the premier Christian thinkers today, Moore presents a magnificent case for Christian cultural engagement. Well worth reading."--Chuck Colson, founder, Prison Fellowship Ministries

"T. M. Moore focuses his keen analytical mind on the field of cultural analysis. Rather than despair by what he sees, he finds hope in both the effective engagement of Christians in the past and the prospect of developing similar ways to engage culture today. Both intellectually sound and thoroughly practical, this book should be read by every Christian serious about understanding and engaging modern culture."--James W. Sire, author of The Universe Next Door and A Little Primer on Humble Apologetics

About the Author

T. M. Moore is dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals and on a wide range of websites. Moore's most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics. He and his wife and editor, Susie, make their home in Concord, Tennessee.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Baker Academic & Brazos Press (September 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1587431874
• ISBN-13: 978-1587431876
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #282,072 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book, but for the serious worldview student only!, February 27, 2008

By 

Dan Panetti "Worldview Director" (Plano, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Culture Matters: A Call for Consensus on Christian Cultural Engagement (Paperback)

I would think that T.M. Moore and I probably agree on quite a lot - I found myself loving the examples that Moore uses to make his case for cultural transformation - from Augustine to Calvin to Kuyper, Moore makes his case using almost all of my personal favorites and heroes of the faith. Moore uses the outline and arguments from Augustine's City of God to provide the framework for the book. He inserts various historical and contemporary examples to make his case, which makes his book not only relevant, but educational as well.

This book should come with one disclaimer - it is for the culturally engaged and serious worldview student. Culture Matters is not an easy read and would not be a good place to begin one's quest on learning how to think critically and Christianly about the world - much work should be done prior to picking up this book. I would suggest that Colson's How Now Shall We Live, Pearcey's Total Truth, and Kuyper's Lectures on Calvinism would be a prerequisite to read before picking up Culture Matters, and maybe even Augustine's City of God.

4 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Culture Matters, December 13, 2007

By 

Adriana Clifton "Shue" (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Culture Matters: A Call for Consensus on Christian Cultural Engagement (Paperback)

It is a brilliant book. I highly recommend it, especially to artists and anyone wanting to impact a city for God.