Christ and Culture Revisited

Recently I finished up a good book I'd been poking away at for some time (not because it's long, but because I'm slow). It's called Christ and Culture Revisited by D. A. Carson. A helpful, even-handed, fair-minded book. I've wrestled with this issue a good deal (that is, for an ordinary Christian), not from a theoretical standpoint as much as from the standpoint of a perplexed practitioner. And I got help in two main areas. First (and this was really only an aside in the book), Carson discussed what the Church is called to do as Church and what individual Christians are called to do in society as those who have particular callings and circumstances. Second, I was also convinced that the standard models are all of them truncated and reductionistic. Many have good things to say, but none of the standard models covers all the ground.

I recommend this book as a way of steering clear of extremes and reductionisms. Carson attempts to ground an understanding of Christ and Culture in the Bible's storyline, such that any model which is jarring to the Bible's narrative and teleology is judged wanting. He also discusses some of the main movers and shakers, which helps with orientation. Now while I've found this book helpful, I don't think it's the last word on this issue, nor does it address all the issues. But it is a good way into the discussion and thinking through the tensions we feel.

D. A. Carson has been one of the most helpful teachers in my life. I recommend any and all of his books and lectures and sermons. He's always helpful, typically fair-minded and even-handed, reliably biblical, theologically informed, culturally sensitive, and pleasingly pastoral. For example, his daily devotional books called For the Love of God are the best of their kind. They both follow M'Cheyne's reading scheme which takes one through the OT once and the Psalms and NT twice in a year. In For the Love of God (vols. 1 and 2; vols. 3 and 4 are in the works), Carson actually expounds a chunk of text or a chapter from the daily readings, and this he does with pastoral, contemporary application. And the biblical theology is simply superb! Not your typical nugget-of-wisdom-for-the-day daily devotional! Em and I went through volume 1 the first year of our marriage. We've read parts of volume 2 this past year. (I myself have read both twice!) Almost needlesss to say, we're eagerly awaiting volumes 3 and 4.

Thank you, Lord, for Carson's labors on behalf of the Church of God bought with Jesus' blood.