The Way of Christ in Culture: A Vision for All of Life

Christ in Everything

by Benjamin T. Quinn, Dennis Greeson

Culture is the way that humans organize their lives in a particular place and time. It includes everything from our language to our customs, to our values. As image-bearers of God, we are called to be salt and light in culture, bringing redemption and transformation to all areas of life. However, often the relationship between faith and culture is hard to navigate.

The Way of Christ in A Vision for All of Life  by Benjamin Quinn and Dennis Greeson provides a framework for how to think rightly about the relationship between faith and culture. The authors survey the biblical narrative to develop a theology of culture. They focus on knowing one’s time in God’s story, one’s place in creation, and following the way of Wisdom. These themes help Christians evaluate their callings and responsibilities in society and equip them with the categories to think Christianly about every arena of culture. 

Genres: Theology, Christianity, Religion, Cultural

176 pages, Paperback

Published August 15, 2024

Reviews

[Cameron McCartney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quinn and Greeson’s book is timely, well-written, theologically sound and overall excellent. Q+G acknowledge that the telos of Christ’s work is not ultimately cultural, but do well note how everyone, Christ included, could be said to exist in the world through the medium of culture. For Q+G, culture is unavoidable and is not neutral, every person, every Christian, engages in culture, but it is up to us whether we choose to walk in it wisely toward God, or foolishly and selfishly towards idols.

Relying heavily on the Dutch neo-Calvinist tradition, Q+G seem to encourage Christians to engage in culture in a Christlike way, and not completely separate oneself from worldly culture in a “monastic” sense. Q+G helpfully dedicate chapters to the roles of wisdom in cultural navigation, and also encourage readers to situate themselves in God’s plan, as post-resurrection, Spiritually-empowered, last days image-bearers, Q+G helpfully dedicate some words to help us think sensibly about our role as Christians in this particular point in salvation history.

This books causes lots of questions to arise in one’s mind, but it for its brevity and impressive readability, it is definitely worth a read for all Christians interested in or confused by culture and evangelism. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series!

[David Jamison · Rating 3 out of 5]

A helpful book overall, but unfortunately the “how to” at the end was more confusing than clarifying

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summary: How those walking in the way of Jesus might live faithfully in all aspects of our cultural life.

It is not uncommon to hear Christians speak of Jesus as the Lord of all of life. But what does that mean? How does the biblical story intersect with all the ways we live life everyday? That is the question addressed in this book.

The authors begin by articulating the way of Christ in the biblical story. Then they ask the question of what is culture? Their simple definition is that “culture consists of the ways and products of creatures in creation.” This reflects an approach that sees culture as an expression of our God-created creaturely existence. Culture exists because God created humans in his image. But since the fall, culture can go either with or against God’s ways.

What was once a single story became divergent stories. Thus the question is how to relate to ways and products that do not always correspond to the way of Christ. The authors consider the classic typologies of how Christians have approached culture. After assessing various typologies, they draw upon Herman Bavinck to articulate a “Grace Infuses and Restores Nature.” approach. This means God is already at work in the world impelling Christians to join him in his restorative work.

In “Creator and Creatures,” the authors elaborate a theology of how we relate to the Creator. This means considering both who God is and who we are as God’s imagers. They conclude, “our purpose, our vocation, is to walk wisely in the world, at all times and in all places.” The following chapter considers the idea in scripture of walking in wisdom, concluding with loving obedience to Christ in community with his people.

The final two chapters offer practical questions to offer a framework of how we engage with our culture. They propose three questions that help us “triangulate.” First, we ask “When are we?”, understanding how we live between the times. Second, we ask “Where are we?”, discerning what is true, good and desirable. Third, we ask, “How do we get there?”, discerning how we walk and who we can follow. In particular, they offer examples of several figures who have engaged culture.

Perhaps the most valuable aspect of this book is the approach to culture. Specifically, grace infusing and restoring nature means God is at work in culture as well as in the Christian. He can guide us in the way of Christ, the way of wisdom. This book is the first in a “Christ in Everything” series, offering a solid and concise foundation for those that follow.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.

[Daniel Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this work, authors Benjamin Quinn and Dennis Greeson offer a descriptive look at, and prescriptive framework for, how Christians engage in everyday life (i.e. culture).

Descriptive: they overview the story of the Bible, offer a definition of culture ("the ways and products of creatures in creation"), survey approaches for how Christians have related to culture in the past, and considered the significance of God as Creature (and thus the author of culture) as well as the significance of us as creatures embedded in cultures that emerge in creation.

Prescriptive: they offer a fundamental proposal that "the biblical notion of 'walking in the way of wisdom' is the best approach for cultural engagement." After exploring wisdom and what that looks like, they "offer a framework for how to think about culture, using the very biblical metaphor of walking in the way of Christ as cultural creatures." But this framework is "a set of questions worth asking in any cultural context in which you find yourself."

I enjoyed this book. It is an introduction to this topic, but unlike another I read recently, this goes a little deeper and is more thought-provoking. It does seem to meander at times, and I was dissatisfied in places (mainly because of the meandering), but other sections I found excellent and worthwhile.

[Noah Senthil · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a good introduction to a theology of culture, particularly from the Dutch Neo-Calvinist tradition. They map out different models and make a case for their own “Christ Transforms Culture” approach, but it doesn’t totally live up to its promise. They make an attempt to be descriptive and prescriptive, but it’s really almost all description, and that makes it much more difficult to apply the vision they’re charting out. It left me with a sense of dissatisfaction. And, as a final critique, it’s fairly repetitive.

But if you’re just looking for an intro to the Neo-Calvinist vision of culture, this will be helpful.

[Gavin Brand · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this to be book to be very helpful in mapping the landscape of Christian cultural engagement. The authors advocate for a Neo-Calvinist approach and add to that conversation by surveying some of the key Neo-Calvinist figures and their differences based on context. They also explore the biblical doctrine of wisdom and put it forward as a helpful overall catagory of all cultural engagement.

This book is very succinct and accessible.

[Adam Kareus · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short work introducing the reader to how the Christian faith interacts with culture. The give good definitions for culture and how we need to see culture within the biblical story line as a whole. They also provide nice summaries on how people have laid out there various views while landing on the view of grace infuses nature or the concept that God's work of redemption impels Christians into the world with restorative goals.

[Ryan Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides a great look into how Christians should walk out faithfully, that which they believe in everyday life. It asks the questions of when are we living within redemptive history (the already, but not-yet), where are we, as it relates to our own cultural context today, and how we can live in the culture and bring the gospel to bear on the culture in the day-to-day. We are called to reflect Christ to the world, may we walk as the wise in it!

[Lianna Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s a reason David Dockery said this book is “everyday theology at its best.” I came away renewed and encouraged to pursue Christ and reflect Him in my everyday life. What I liked most about this book was the way it succinctly presented different models and options. I was able to identify my own beliefs among them and see how my views differ from others’. A truly good work and guide.