How to Win the Culture War: A Christian Battle Plan for a Society in Crisis (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

We're at war and we don't even know it, claims Kreeft, a philosophy professor at Boston College and a popular Christian writer. He describes the state of modern society and calls Christians back to a more biblical view of the world, pointing to the reality of evil spiritual beings, the existence of sin and the importance of recognizing the results of cultural pressure. He also has a fascinating argument concerning the central role of sexuality in the current "culture wars." Unfortunately, many readers will be driven off by Kreeft's snide, caustic tone. For example, he describes those who embrace the New Age movement as people "who always seemed to be flighty, flaky and female, at least in spirit." Moreover, while Kreeft frequently refers very positively to ecumenism, his perspective is much more Roman Catholic than reflective of the wider Christian audience he seeks to reach. Many readers will not agree that, for example, contraception should be categorized together with "sodomy, fornication and prostitution" as "clear and obvious sins." Kreeft's venture into the "Screwtape" idiom of C.S. Lewis makes for very interesting reading, though here, again, the assumption that the Protestant Reformation was a particularly successful attack by Satan will jar many. Kreeft ends the book with a call to sainthood, exhorting Christians to genuinely live out the goodness made available to them by the grace of God, and a stirring affirmation that goodness will indeed triumph over evil.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

The battle lines have been drawn. Many Christians have fallen into the trap of proclaiming "Peace! Peace!" when there is no peace. Hiding their eyes from the pressing issues of the day, they believe that resistance to the prevailing culture is useless. At the same time, other Christians have been too quick to declare war, mistaking battlefield casualties as enemies rather than victims.

In How to Win the Culture War Peter Kreeft issues a rousing call to arms. Christians must understand the true nature of the culture war--a war between the culture of life and the culture of death. Kreeft identifies the real enemies facing the church today and maps out key battlefields. He then issues a strategy for engagement and equips Christians with the weapons needed for a successful campaign.

Above all, Kreeft assures us that the war can be won--in fact, it will be won. For those who hope in Christ, victory is assured, because good triumphs over evil and life conquers death. Love never gives up. Neither must we.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: InterVarsity Press (June 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830823166
• ISBN-13: 978-0830823161
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #44,118 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Necessary and Welcomed Pain in Our Spiritual Backsides, July 16, 2003

By	The Rev. Dr. Daniel J. G. G. Block (Medford, Wisconsin United States) - See all my reviews

Peter Kreeft is not a nut. The holder of a Ph.D., he serves as a professor of philosophy at Boston College: a school well noted for its intellectual rigors. His academic credentials are immaculate.

Peter Kreeft is not insular. Teaching at a Roman Catholic college and obviously holding strong allegiance to Roman Catholic tradition, he manages to quote Martin Luther and Chuck Colson. He dedicates this book to James Dobson, Richard John Neuhaus and Alan Keyes. His ecumenical credentials are perfect.

However, because Dr. Kreeft recognizes the seriousness of the issue at hand, and because he states his case with strident passion, he will inevitably be belittled by the irreligious, the merely spiritual, and liberal, "feel-good" Christians, alike.

The issue that Dr. Kreeft seeks to define is the difference between popular culture and true faith. His is the voice in the wilderness crying that there can be no easy peace between our secular culture of death, and faith in the living LORD of life. Accepting his claim requires learning how to see what is broken in the society that surrounds us.

The response that Dr. Kreeft seeks to elicit is sanctification: more faithful obedience to God's Word, and a weakening of the claims that our sinful world makes upon its Christian inhabitants. Accepting his call requires learning how to let go of the privileges, amenities and pleasures of popular culture. Accepting his call requires disciplined discipleship.

Those who claim their privileges, demand their entitlements, and are in love with this world will belittle Peter Kreeft. Despite their attacks, his is a corrective, conservative voice that Christ's Church must hear.

97 of 108 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Feisty but Necessary, November 18, 2002

By	William Muehlenberg (Melbourne Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Peter Kreeft is a respected philosophy professor at Boston College. He has written many influential books, and is in many ways a Catholic version of C.S. Lewis. That is, he is an indefatigable apologist for the Christian faith in an increasingly hostile and secular environment.

In his newest book, Kreeft engages in a forceful, almost emotional, assault on the cultural decline everywhere apparent in the West. In many ways this is a more popular and polemic approach than is found in his previous books, However, given the urgency and importance of the matter, he may be right to use such an approach.

He wastes no time in laying out his brief. We are at war, he argues, The soul of the West is being fought over, and it doesn't look good for our side. But knowing that we are at war is the first prerequisite for winning it. As such, we need to enter into a wartime consciousness, and get our priorities right. We need to give up our trivial pursuits and get involved in this life or death struggle.

Of course Kreeft realises that this is not just a battle against flesh and blood (or governments and cultures). It is ultimately a spiritual battle, and the most effective weapon is saints - believers who have decided to represent Christ fully in a dark and ungodly age. And saints always go into the "moral ghettos", be they Moses or Christ. "Saints are society's white corpuscles, society's saviors" he says. "If nobody wants to crucify you, you're not doing your job. Or else your job isn't his work."

Thus the fight is ultimately about which will prevail: secularism or faith. Kreeft argues that secularism is a doomed philosophy, and that no secular society has survived for more than 72 years (the former USSR being our best test case to date). Indeed, Western societies seem to have contracted "moral AIDS". We are self-destructing quickly, and the only hope is to reclaim a spiritual and moral vision for the West.

While the battle is ultimately spiritual, it does manifest itself in society and culture. And secular ideas and values are penetrating the West with horrific results. Cultural and intellectual poison is steadily destroying our culture. As Kreeft remarks, the most powerful forces in the West today are not church and state but Hollywood and Harvard. Popular culture and academia have been setting the agenda, while the faithful have been marginalised.

But it is time to reclaim lost territory, argues Kreeft. And forget about those who argue we are just trying to turn back the clock: "You can turn a clock back, both literally and figuratively. And you'd better, if the clock is keeping bad time."

We need to re-proclaim values and absolutes in a society that despises both. And we need to go even further, and reclaim conscience. Relativism, the new tolerance, the sexual revolution, and moral apathy have all combined to kill conscience.

And this can only lead to worse consequences. As Charles Colson has shown, the only two means we have to prevent community from sliding into chaos are cops and conscience. And when conscience is destroyed, that leaves only cops to stem the tide. A police state becomes the inevitable outcome. Thus our moral relativism is leading us in a dangerous direction.

Many defenders of democracy have noted this tension. For a democracy to work properly, a strong moral populace is needed. Yet a democracy tends to produce moral permissiveness, undermining its very foundations. Thus less conscience results in more cops, leading to the end of democracy.

This is the dilemma or paradox of democracy. And history offers us many examples of how this works out in a society. The longest-lasting societies have been the most moralistic, be they Jewish, Confucian, Islamic or Roman. Our recent secular societies however appear to be rather short-lived, whether fascist or Marxist.

The sexual revolution is perhaps the most important component of cultural decline. Kreeft argues that we cannot win the culture war unless we win the sex war, because "sex is the effective religion of our culture". This includes the whole array of battle fronts: pornography, homosexuality, easy divorce and abortion.

And to the extent that the church has also compromised in these areas, the culture war will be even more difficult to fight. Yet fight we must. We are called, not to live an easy life, but to take up our cross and follow our Master. The battle can be won, but only if we take our calling seriously and get involved. This book is a timely reminder to do just that.

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For Christian eyes only- or is it?, April 30, 2005

By	Corum Seth Smith (Hendersonville, NC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I think Kreeft explains this clearly in the beginning, but a non-Christian, or even an unorthodox, non-normative Christian, will simply not understand this book.
The irony to me is this: I am an Evangelical Baptist, Kreeft a devout Catholic. I vehemently agree with Kreeft on every point as a brother in Christ; having far more in common with him than with modernist "Baptists" who have simply folded up camp and retreated fearfully from ideological opponents. Kreeft himself says in the book that he has more in common with me than with a Kennedy in his own state. He is right.
Non-Christians will probably find this book horrible. I don't think Kreeft was writing for a broad audience here- he realized that sometimes it is important, even necessary to preach to the allegedly obedient "choir."
The chapter with Satan discussing the battle plan is a page right out of the "Screwtape Letters." I think I have truly found a kindred spirit in Peter Kreeft, I would love to just talk to him someday.
Back on topic: The essence of this book is a call ideally to all Americans to a state of higher moral and spiritual purity. In this sense he will have vehement detractors; I laughed when he said the book would be banned in Canada as "hate speech" not because I thought he was paranoid, but because it seemed very plausible.
Finally his book uncovers an interesting dichotomy. Those in power reserve the right to define "progress." Christians who believe otherwise are subtly or not so subtly labeled as extremists and perhaps considered "regressive." It shows an inherent flaw with people who push "tolerance" as the cardinal virtue, because there are a large group of people who they themselves cannot tolerate, or even hate. This is because they view themselves as profoundly correct and opponents as incorrect. Once truth and morality are relativized, however, it is illogical to impose any standard whatsoever. Kreeft lays out a number of conundrums and deftly deciphers them.
Christians who look at the world with dissatisfaction should read this book.