Culture Matters: A Call for Consensus on Christian Cultural Engagement (Paperback)

by T. M. Moore (Author), Richard John Neuhaus (Foreword)
Key Phrases: forging new culture, pagan detractors, culture matters, Celtic Christian, Christian Cultural Consensus, First Things (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
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.

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

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Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Brazos Press (September 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 (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #582,504 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 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 (REAL NAME)

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 7 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 (REAL NAME)

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

0 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars About as useful as 'Christian Motorsports', April 19, 2008

By	Eric Radman (New Milford, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In this book Moore laments the fact that pastors, educators, church members, artists and poets are not devoted to "the advancement of distinctly Christian cultural forms". If you're excited by empty strings of adjectives such as innovative, vibrant, timely, lively and comprehensive then then you'll like this one. Otherwise, a work such as Prophetic Untimeliness: A Challenge to the Idol of Relevance by Os Guinness is much more valuable.