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33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Needed Reading by Every Person, January 21, 2008
This review is from: Culture Shift: Engaging Current Issues with Timeless Truth (Today's Critical Concerns) (Hardcover)
Rarely do I pick up a non-fiction book and cannot put it down. Yet, when I picked up Al Mohler's new book, Culture Shift, I could not put it down until I was done reading it. Granted, the book is really a brief introduction to Christianity's influence on practical cultural issues (only 160 pages) but it was not the low amount of pages that made it a must-read, it was rather the content that was life changing for me.
Mohler, one of the greatest minds in the Evangelical church today, is President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY. And while this may be his first book, it is hardly his first foray into writing. Amongst a plethora of articles and chapters for books, Mohler has an almost daily blog that deals with many cultural issues and how Christians are to respond. In fact, many of these chapters in his book, Culture Shift, were originally written for his blog. But, even if you have read these before, you must read them again.
We as Christians, Mohler notes, often take two approaches to our involvement with culture. Some take the extreme of non-involvment. For instance, hard lined Classical Dispensationalists may argue that we as Christians have no real responsibility to transform culture at all apart from the proclamation of the Gospel. Whereas, on the other side liberal theology becomes so involved with transforming culture that they neglect the actual mission of the church; evangelism.
So, the first thing that Mohler does in his book is articulate issues of culture, engagement, and the Christian's responsibility to culture. The first five chapters then seek to introduce these issues, and defend a Christian's engagement and involvement in culture and to denounce the concept of a purely secular culture. Mohler then begins to engage various issues with logical clarity, an unparalleled knowledge of society's best writers, and an unfailing adherence to the Scriptures.
Mohler discusses areas of offence, the role of the Supreme Court on religion, terrorism, public schools, the God gene, parenting, dishonesty, abortion, natural disasters and God's sovereighty, nuclear war, and racism. In each chapter Mohler surveys the writings of some of America's greatest writers, praising them where they are correct, criticizing them where they are wrong. He clearly interacts with the issues and then responds with Scripture where it applies. While these are not in-depth critiques of cultural issues, they are tantalizing surveys of the issues. I found myself many times thinking I needed to read the book Mohler was talking about in a particular chapter.
You may not agree with Mohler on every issue. For instance, on the use of torture especially in terrorism cases I am not sure I agree with a blanket ban on the use of torture as in the McCain amendment. But I am willing to be persuaded by further study. On the other hand, I think Mohler is right on with the issues of our coddling of our children, the maintaining of both God's sovereignty and His benevolence when we talk about national disasters, and the renewed effort we need to make in the pro-life movement.
Overall, I found Mohler's book challenging and enlightening. It really challenged my thinking as to my involvement in culture and my role as a member of the body of Christ in transforming culture for Christ. Every Christian should read Mohler's book. They should devour it in one sitting and then sit down and chew over every issue. This book will challenge you and spur you on to further study of the issues. Overall, it will challenge you to truly live as a light for Christ in a dark world. Mohler has hit a home run with this book and I hope he continues writing more on this subject as it is desperately needed in the church today. Cannot be more highly recommended.
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20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dr. Mohler is a Good Guide to this Culture, January 14, 2008
This review is from: Culture Shift: Engaging Current Issues with Timeless Truth (Today's Critical Concerns) (Hardcover)
The most surprising thing about Culture Shift is that it is Dr. Albert Mohler's first book. Though he has been a contributor to edited volumes and though he is a very prolific writer, this book represents his first solo effort. Published by Multnomah and set to his store shelves on January 15, Culture Shift is a book that engages current issues with Scripture's timeless truths. It teaches Christians how they should think about such issues. Dr. Mohler is one of the church's foremost cultural commentators and is well-qualified to write such a book. Through his blog, through his radio program and through his media appearances, he has proven that he can combine theological acumen with spiritual discernment as he addresses the issues that affect the church in our culture.
In the first four chapters, Mohler lays some important groundwork. He first addresses Christian faith and politics by using the case St. Augustine made in The City of God. Humanity, he says, is confronted by two cities--the City of God and the City of Man. While the City of God is eternal, the City of Man is only fleeting and temporal. However, it's passing nature does not mean that the city is entirely unimportant. Christians are called to responsibility in both cities. "Even as we know that our ultimate citizenship is in heaven, and even as we set our sights on the glory of the City of God, we must work for good, justice, and righteousness in the City of Man." As we seek to live between these two cities, Christians tend to swing between extremes, sometimes giving undue attention to one or sometimes looking too singularly to the other. This book seeks to help Christians understand how they can live in this tension. Having addressed the importance of engaging the City of Man, Mohler moves two three secular arguments, three secular myths and then five theses related to Christian morality and public law.
Having laid the groundwork, he turns to particular areas where Christian truth can speak to cultural issues. He looks at a Christian challenge to the culture of offendedness, the Supreme Court's rulings on religion, terrorism, torture and public schooling. He looks to the God gene, American immaturity, abortion, natural disasters and other contemporary issues. In each case he addresses these topics by looking to the Bible's timeless truths to show how God informs and directs our engagement with the culture. In each case he handles the issue with grace but also with truth. Those who are familiar with Mohler's blog will be familiar with the way he sets about engaging with issues and will even recognize many of these essays as most of them began their lives in one form or another at his blog.
In his introduction to the book Dr. Mohler writes "We must first understand our culture and its challenges because we are to be faithful followers of Christ and faithful witnesses to the gospel. We are called to faithfulness, and faithfulness requires that we be ready to think as Christians when confronted with the crucial issues of the day. This is all rooted in our love of God." An understanding of culture, then, is an evangelistic necessity if we are going to impact this culture with the good news of the gospel. The essays in this book will help equip Christians to understand the culture in which we find ourselves so that we can reach into it and engage with it for the glory of God. Dr. Mohler's first book is an excellent one and I pray it is only the first of many.
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dr. Mohler's much-anticipated 1st book will edify the church, January 15, 2008
This review is from: Culture Shift: Engaging Current Issues with Timeless Truth (Today's Critical Concerns) (Hardcover)
"If you were a fish, would you realize you were wet? Every person is deeply embedded in today's cultural reality. Many are fundamentally unaware of this fact, but Christian faithfulness requires a thoughtful and conscious application of God's truth to everyday situations."
So writes Al Mohler, president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, in his new book out this month. What is amazing is that this is the first book authored solely by Mohler. He writes a mountain of words on his blog each week to the benefit of the church, and he has contributed individual chapters to numerous books. However, this is his very first book with only his name on the author line.
Of course, introducing Mohler to readers of this paper is like introducing you to your own mother, for both have consistently served up nutritious food over the years - spiritual and material.
It has now been nearly a decade since Chuck Colson and Nancy Pearcey gave us the influential manifesto How Now Shall We Live?, calling Christians to understand and act upon the knowledge that American culture is "post-Christian." In so doing, Colson and Pearcey taught terms like "Christian worldview" and "postmodern" to an entire generation of Christians.
With the theological mind of Jonathan Edwards and the pastoral heart of Charles Spurgeon, Mohler takes up Colson's challenge to apply a consistent biblical worldview to all of life. In a quick-moving book of 178 pages, Mohler tackles grade inflation, Hurricane Katrina, Supreme Court decisions, abortion, tsunami and theodicy, politics, biomedicine, and public school education - just to name a few. As such, Mohler consciously stands in the tradition of his mentor, Carl F. H. Henry, who argued against disengagement from cultural issues in his book The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism.
With Schwarzenegger-sized intellectual muscles at his disposal, you have to admire that the first book Mohler put forth is easily-accessible to any thinking Christian. Writing for the Christian in the pew rather than the scholar in the ivory tower, Mohler puts forth his positions with coherence and clarity. Upon reading Mohler's analysis, people in the local church will be better equipped to converse about these thorny cultural and theological issues.
I gladly join in with John Piper, C.J. Mahaney, David Dockery, and others in recommending this book for your beginning-of-the-year reading.
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