The Essentials for Culture-Making
World Outspoken is built on three simple ideas: 1) Culture is built on stories that shape the human community, 2) Cities are the engines that make culture go, 3) Therefore, we should be intentional about the cities we make and the stories we tell through them. Behind these ideas, are many books that have shaped our thinking on culture, the city, and the Christian faith. Here is a selection of those books for those interested readers who are making culture and shaping the city.
The City of God (Saint Augustine)
Augustine’s City of God is recognized as the classic work on theology and earthly powers. He discusses the relationship between the Church and its earthly residence, and he attempts to give shape to the Christian’s response to world events. The book provides language and a rich theological framework for those interested in the relationship between the Church and Culture.
Christ and Culture (Richard Niebuhr)
Like Augustine’s City of God, Niebuhr’s book is a classic. Since being published, it seems all authors, thinkers, and philosophers have been trying to respond, reject, revisit, or reframe Niebuhr’s thoughts on the relationship between the Christian faith and culture. He’s often misrepresented, but his 5 types for how “Christ and Culture” relate have been deeply influential and are worth reading directly.
Blueprints for a Just City: The Role of the Church in Urban Planning and Shaping the City's Built Environment (Sean Benesh)
Blueprints for a Just City presents a practical vision for the Church’s work in the urban built environment. For Christians trying to understand how to change the cities they live in, this book suggests something called guerilla projects. Small scale change is the scope of this book.
Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling (Andy Crouch)
Crouch moves beyond Niebuhr to reclaim culture-making as the primary call for the Christian. The book is brilliantly simple, providing the best definition of culture for everyday conversation. Crouch will revisit the thoughts of Niebuhr and others, but the real gold of the book is the Biblical storytelling he uses to demonstrate the way Jesus was a culture-maker. According to Crouch, the Church is meant to imitate Jesus in culture-making as they reflect Him and their hope in His return.
Plowing in Hope: Toward a Biblical Theology of Culture (David Hegeman)
David Hegeman provides a biblical theology of culture so robust it even covers the development of a city. This book is useful for its development of two strands of history: culturative and redemptive history. It also explains why developing a city is part of the call and mission of the Church. This book is also short and easy to read. It is a good primer for those interested in a biblical study of culture.
When the Kings Come Marching In: Isaiah and The New Jerusalem (Richard Mouw)
Short, accessible, and focused on biblical study, When the Kings Come Marching In is a great purchase for those interested in culture. It reads like a commentary of Isaiah chapter 60, but it is really a vision of the future city promised at the end of the biblical story. Richard Mouw uses this vision to argue that the church should wait actively for its future home, making its current place resemble its future hope. Most readers find this book initially challenging to accept, but the simple argument will captivate in the end.
Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends (Kevin J. Vanhoozer, et al)
Everyday Theology overall is a practical book. This first chapter, however, provides the theory behind reading and examining cultural artifacts and trends. Dr. Vanhoozer examines the basic functions of culture and provides three basic steps for analyzing culture. If you read the first chapter and nothing more, you already gained great value from this book.