Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling

Andy Crouch

Oct 2013 · InterVarsity Press

About this ebook

Christianity Today Book Award winner
Publishers Weekly's best books

It is not enough to condemn culture. Nor is it sufficient merely to critique culture or to copy culture. Most of the time, we just consume culture. But the only way to change culture is to create culture.

Andy Crouch unleashes a stirring manifesto calling Christians to be culture makers. For too long, Christians have had an insufficient view of culture and have waged misguided "culture wars." But we must reclaim the cultural mandate to be the creative cultivators that God designed us to be. Culture is what we make of the world, both in creating cultural artifacts as well as in making sense of the world around us. By making chairs and omelets, languages and laws, we participate in the good work of culture making.

Crouch unpacks the complexities of how culture works and gives us tools for cultivating and creating culture. He navigates the dynamics of cultural change and probes the role and efficacy of our various cultural gestures and postures. Keen biblical exposition demonstrates that creating culture is central to the whole scriptural narrative, the ministry of Jesus and the call to the church. He guards against naive assumptions about "changing the world," but points us to hopeful examples from church history and contemporary society of how culture is made and shaped. Ultimately, our culture making is done in partnership with God's own making and transforming of culture.

A model of his premise, this landmark book is sure to be a rallying cry for a new generation of culturally creative Christians. Discover your calling and join the culture makers.

Ratings and reviews

Upon the cover alone, this book had two things going against it: 1) the class I had to read it for was not proving itself reliable to quality literature, and 2) it was a Christian look at our role within the broader, “mainstream” world. Disclaimer: I am a Christian. I just don’t like the way Christians portray themselves in our literature with it comes to our role in not-necessarily-”Christian”-culture. Andy Crouch approaches such a touchy subject with grace and respect but establishes his point so as to say, “I respect you, and I deserve your respect.” And deserve our respect he does. I have not yet read such a firm, realistic understanding of anyone’s–be them “Christian” or not–role in society. We don’t all come from trust funds and fame. Some of us start from the ground up, driven only by our unquenchable desire to change the world like it’s never been changed before. Past literature on the subject says one of two things “It’s not your job, as an evangelical Christian, to change the world because the world cannot be changed and there’s no use trying” or “You can do it. Follow steps 1, 2, and 3 and fasten your seatbelt. It happened to me, it can happen to you, too!” Crouch takes a step back, sighs, shakes his head a bit and says, “You can’t change the world. You are one person. But, don’t lose heart. Keep trying. Changing the world isn’t as grand as it seems. You want to change the world? Change your family. Change a few friends. Start small, and don’t stop.” Crouch writes in such a style so as not to apply specific to the Christian community. Do not be fooled–that is his intended audience. But, unlike a lot of stereotypical Christian-literature, he doesn’t hype up the “Godyness.” He does not flower Christianity with scented roses and hyperbolic language, and he doesn’t promise every dream to come true upon “trusting in Him.” He has a definite center, but he is deeper than that. And, to the audience for which he intended, he has a different message than they might be expecting. As to our role as Christians in the world (and not of the world, as we’re told in Sunday School), he states his thesis very matter-of-factly. “We are created in the image of God. And since God is the Creator, so are we creators.” It’s as simple as that .We are made to take part in the world because we were made to create within the world, and to add our artistic voice to the grand mural growing each and every day. Anyone, “Christian” or not, “creator” or not, would better himself (or herself) by reading this book.

Can someone please tell me who to take this to, or what email to contact with a situation where they payed it twice?

About the author

Andy Crouch (MDiv, Boston University School of Theology) is executive editor of Christianity Today and the author of books such as Culture Making and Playing God. Andy serves on the governing boards of Fuller Theological Seminary and Equitas Group, a philanthropic organization focused on ending child exploitation in Haiti and Southeast Asia. He is also a senior fellow of International Justice Mission?s Institute for Biblical Justice. His writing has appeared in Time, the Wall Street Journal and several editions of Best Christian Writing and Best Spiritual Writing. Crouch served as executive producer for the documentary films Where Faith and Culture Meet and Round Trip, as well as the multi-year project This Is Our City, which featured documentary video, reporting and essays about Christians seeking the flourishing of their cities. He also sits on the editorial board for Books Culture and was editor-in-chief of re:generation quarterly. He also spent ten years as a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Harvard University. A classically trained musician who draws on pop, folk, rock, jazz and gospel, Crouch has led musical worship for congregations of five to twenty thousand. He lives with his family in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.