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Gospel Culture: Living in God's Kingdom
Culture is something we build, something we do with creation; it is the outward expression of a people's worship , in terms of which they cultivate their society, including its law, education, arts and customs and much more besides. Whether we realize it or not, we all participate daily in culture-building of one form or another. The gospel of the kingdom is the good news that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords, and that he is at work to redeem this fallen world, remaking it in accordance with his good purposes. To speak of gospel culture, then, is to speak of a total meaning for the cosmos, a design plan. The gospel has something to say about the way we go about all our cultural activities. God's Word is a total structuration of life and thought. If we would see Jesus Christ honoured and worshipped, if we would see our Lord's will done on earth as it is in heaven, then we must faithfully consider the scriptural view of the gospel and its implications for culture. "Dr. Joseph Boot...is a rigorous thinker, uncompromisingly committed to biblical truth and unafraid to articulate it in the boldest way. He is a cultural theologian
of the highest order." --P. Andrew Sandlin , Founder and President, Center for
Cultural Leadership, Coulterville, California, U.S.A.
of the highest order." --P. Andrew Sandlin , Founder and President, Center for
Cultural Leadership, Coulterville, California, U.S.A.
120 pages, Paperback
Published September 2, 2016
39 people are currently reading
116 people want to read
About the author
Joseph Boot
29 books76 followersRev. Dr. Joseph Boot (M.A., Ph.D.) is a cultural theologian, leading Christian apologist, founding pastor of Westminster Chapel in Toronto and founder of the Ezra Institute for Contemporary Christianity (EICC). Originally from Great Britain, he served with Ravi Zacharias International Ministries for seven years as an apologist based in Oxford England and Toronto Canada. Joe has spoken all over the world in 25 countries at numerous universities, seminaries, churches, colleges, and conferences from Eton College and Oxford University, to Forman University in Lahore, Pakistan. He regularly addresses pastors and Christian leaders as well as medical, legal, and business professionals in North America, Britain, and the Middle East and has publicly debated leading atheistic thinkers and philosophers in Canada and the United States.
Joe did his undergraduate studies in Theology (Birmingham Christian College, U.K), earned his Master’s degree in Mission Theology (University of Manchester U.K), and holds a Ph.D. in Christian Intellectual Thought (WTS, Florida USA). A contributing author to Thomas Nelson’s major Christian apologetics volume, Beyond Opinion, Joe’s other apologetic works include Searching for Truth (Crossway), Why I Still Believe (Baker), and How Then Shall We Answer (New Wine) which have been published in Europe and North America. His most recent book, The Mission of God, is a systematic work of cultural theology exploring the biblical worldview as it relates to the Christian’s mission in the world. Joe serves as Senior Fellow for the cultural and apologetics think-tank truthXchange in Southern California; is Senior Fellow of cultural philosophy for the California based Centre for Cultural Leadership and serves as faculty for both the Wilberforce Academy in Cambridge U.K and The Alliance Defending Freedom’s Blackstone Legal Academy in Phoenix Arizona. In 2011 Joe was recognized by Toronto’s Centre for Mentorship and Theological Reflection as ‘Best Preacher Apologist’ for his contribution to apologetic and expository preaching. Joe is general editor of the Ezra Institute’s Journal, Jubilee, serves as chancellor for Westminster Classical Christian Academy, and has regularly been heard on Toronto radio, and seen on Sun News Network. Joe lives in Toronto, Canada with his wife, Jenny, and their three children: Naomi, Hannah, and Isaac.
Joe did his undergraduate studies in Theology (Birmingham Christian College, U.K), earned his Master’s degree in Mission Theology (University of Manchester U.K), and holds a Ph.D. in Christian Intellectual Thought (WTS, Florida USA). A contributing author to Thomas Nelson’s major Christian apologetics volume, Beyond Opinion, Joe’s other apologetic works include Searching for Truth (Crossway), Why I Still Believe (Baker), and How Then Shall We Answer (New Wine) which have been published in Europe and North America. His most recent book, The Mission of God, is a systematic work of cultural theology exploring the biblical worldview as it relates to the Christian’s mission in the world. Joe serves as Senior Fellow for the cultural and apologetics think-tank truthXchange in Southern California; is Senior Fellow of cultural philosophy for the California based Centre for Cultural Leadership and serves as faculty for both the Wilberforce Academy in Cambridge U.K and The Alliance Defending Freedom’s Blackstone Legal Academy in Phoenix Arizona. In 2011 Joe was recognized by Toronto’s Centre for Mentorship and Theological Reflection as ‘Best Preacher Apologist’ for his contribution to apologetic and expository preaching. Joe is general editor of the Ezra Institute’s Journal, Jubilee, serves as chancellor for Westminster Classical Christian Academy, and has regularly been heard on Toronto radio, and seen on Sun News Network. Joe lives in Toronto, Canada with his wife, Jenny, and their three children: Naomi, Hannah, and Isaac.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
January 16, 2020
This book was amazing. I had a couple of “hold on” moments that I needed to work thru, but all in all I think every Christian needs to read this book to have a better knowledge and view to how a Christian relates to the culture and world around us.
As Christians, we need to read all of Scripture, and remember why the Bible says “that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19, NASB).
As Christians, we need to read all of Scripture, and remember why the Bible says “that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19, NASB).
April 11, 2019
Powerful!
I doubt that I will come across a book of similar size that packs nearly the punch that Boot has masterfully prepared in this short overview of the story of The Gospel.
This book has impacted me more than any other book to date and I simply cannot recommend it enough. I implore anybody reading this review to purchase this book immediately and move it to the top of your reading list. You will have zero regret for doing so.
I doubt that I will come across a book of similar size that packs nearly the punch that Boot has masterfully prepared in this short overview of the story of The Gospel.
This book has impacted me more than any other book to date and I simply cannot recommend it enough. I implore anybody reading this review to purchase this book immediately and move it to the top of your reading list. You will have zero regret for doing so.
April 3, 2019
This is a good introduction to the debate of how should Christianity relate to the culture around it. The author, standing in the line of Kuyper and others, convincingly argues that the redemption of the world accomplished in Christ is also a call for Christians to reform and redeem their cultures. I used to be a 2K guy (Christ's kingdom is different than the one we inhabit) but this and other books are slowly convincing me of the need to have a more holistic approach to this matter. The only issue is, perhaps, the very technical and niche debate that the later chapters offer. But it's very good as an introduction!
December 29, 2017
Extremely excellent read! This is a smallish booklet, but is very dense in content. Every paragraph is packed with great truth. This is very well though out and compelling argument against the "two kingdoms" theology, supporting a unified kingdom of God in time and history.
February 2, 2017
Gospel Culture: Living In God’s Kingdom
by Dr. Joseph Boot
Review by Bill Lliorca
Dr. Joseph Boot is the executive director of the Ezra Institute of Contemporary Christianity (EICC) in Toronto, Canada, received his M.A. from Manchester University (U.K.), and his Ph.D. in Christian Thought from Whitefield Theological Seminary in Florida. For several years he served as an apologist with Ravi Zacharias Ministries International, and has publically debated atheists in Canada and the U.S. He’s written books on apologetics, spoken at conferences and on the radio, and serves as Senior Fellow of a few different apologetic and cultural ministries. He is also the senior editor of Jubilee, the Ezra Institute’s journal.
Gospel Culture is a short book (103 pages) and is the first volume in a series of forthcoming books EICC plans to publish entitled Cornerstones. In the “Preface to the Series”, Randall Currie (Board Chair, EICC) explains that these are to be “focused monographs…intended to be an accessible point of entry for thoughtful Christians” to equip them with the answers of a comprehensive gospel in a world “thoroughly saturated by humanistic and pagan assumptions” (P xiv).
I believe this book successfully accomplishes the goal intended above. I’ve read stacks of books describing the gospel’s relationship to culture but this one deserves to be at the very top of the choicest stack for several reasons. It’s a clear, succinct, precise, thought-provoking, and beautifully written book that I believe will prove to be a classic statement referred to over and over again.
First, it’s a succinct presentation of what can be a very complicated and confusing topic. There have been many books over the years that have been good, even classic approaches to Christianity and culture. I think immediately of Niebuhr’s classic taxonomy of various Christian approaches to culture, which divides into 5 essential ways Christians have historically theologized about their relationship to culture. Though I would recommend Niebuhr for good background reading and familiarization with this topic, Boot’s book jumps right in with a transformational approach to culture (a biblically modified version of Niebuhr’s “conversionist approach”) . You know what approach your author is taking and where he’s leading you from the start. And from the start Boot leads with a biblically faithful account of man’s relationship to culture.
Boot’s assessment is that our present age is characterized by madness due to our abandonment in the West of Christianity’s biblical definition of man found in Genesis 1:26—the image God. Man, being God’s image, is fundamentally a worshipping creature and therefore culture is built upon a religious foundation, because culture is “a state of being cultivated by intellectual and moral tilling in terms of a prevailing cultus and, by natural extension, forms a particular type of civilization” (P 3).
Second, what is often a challenging topic Boot simplifies without losing the argument’s comprehensive thrust. This simplification also brings an element of clarity that I appreciate in an introductory book. For instance, culture is said to be “what man does with God’s creation.” Easy as 1-2-3. If culture is all that man does with creation this categorically defines man as a cultural being because he’s circumscribed by creation. Creation is his only environment and the only prop with which he works on the stage of his existence. Since man is religious and all that man does is cultural, all culture is religious. Following Henry Van Til, “Culture is religion externalized.”. What does man do? He does culture? What is culture? Culture is all that man does with God’s creation, and it’s necessarily religious because it’s all done before the face of God. What effect does the gospel have on culture? The gospel reconciles a once alienated rebel to God and thereby brings blessing on all his work--that work producing art, science, philosophy, politics, and social institutions now characterized by the peace of Christ
I think the greatest contribution Boot makes to the Church’s understanding of Christianity’s relationship to culture is his syllogism:
“If culture is the public expression of the worship of a people, and the gospel restores man to true worship (i.e. of the Creator, not the creation), then the gospel restores man to true culture, which is the kingdom of God.”
I’m calling this Boot’s “Gospel-culture Syllogism.” It’s easy, it’s memorable, and is at once an aid to any discussion or debate on the topic. These types of pithy phrases or epigrams are great for helping anchor a conversation without losing ourselves in the mists of ambiguity and passion. Because man is a cultural creature and because culture is necessarily religious, the gospel forms in man a particular desire for a particular culture: a gospel culture. There is then a gospel culture distinct from other religious cultures. This cogency bespeaks what I believe will be the book’s classic characteristic and, thus, gives it staying power: a value beyond our historical and cultural moment.
It’s the third chapter that hit me the hardest and I found to be the most thought-provoking (“The Power Motive of Humanistic Culture”). Here Boot describes man now bereft of real direction as a result of his rebellion against God’s word and left only with his godless desire to remake the world in his own image. Rejecting the gift of revelation, man must gin up his own meaning in the form of incantation; either overt witchcraft or the covert witchcraft of autonomous expertise. Either way, witchcraft is the necessary result of rejecting God’s word. “We can say then that the foundation of all devilry is rebellion against God, which seeks knowledge, power, and dominion through a negation of God’s Word and purpose--this is the essence of the magical worldview” (P 29).
Especially clear is his description of fallen man’s pendulum swing from magician to technician—or to follow the alliteration—from magician to materialist. Anyone familiar with Screwtape Letters will hear C.S. Lewis’s memorable description of the modern tendency—to be either so absorbed by modern scientism as to deny evil spirits’ existence and thereby be their useful idiots through ‘amoral’ tools. Or, to be so absorbed by an obsession with power we resort to overt occult practices and engage in witchcraft. But the reason for this absorption, magical or mechanical, is one: rejecting God’s word and supplanting it with another. Furthermore, because no word but God’s Word gives us a full-orbed definition, lesser words dehumanize and erode man’s flourishing. “The simple truth is that, without love for God and a recognition of his Word-revelation to us in Christ and in Scripture, we are not only unable to truly to love our neighbor, we cannot even identify them truly. We find, in fact, that we cannot answer a most elementary question: “What is a person?” (P 21)
The fourth chapter is the longest and is his critique of “Two Kingdoms Theology” (‘2K’ or ‘R2K’). Summarizing 2K theology Boot quotes Brian Mattson,,
The central dogma is that while God rules over and governs the entire world, he does so in two distinct ways. His rule is divided into two distinct realms, each with its own origin, its own norms, and its own destiny (P 48).
Boot rejects the 2K approach because of their bedrock denial that all of life is religious. He says “scriptural clarity is missing” when applied to anything outside of a marginalized “church-life” just because 2K denies any application. Boot illustrates that 2K advocates a view of Scripture which denies universal applicability, a view which in the final analysis denies the sufficiency of Scripture to speak to real world issues.
I especially appreciated his candid response to 2K naiveté that insists upon a “common kingdom” agreed upon between believers and unbelievers:
I do not believe it is viable to take 2K theology seriously in areas of the world where Christians are suffering, sometimes terribly in lands dominated by false religions. It is all too easy to speak of a “common kingdom” governed by norms we can all agree upon from comfortable academic chairs within a culture that has been deeply transformed by the gospel for centuries (P 54).
Boot goes further in his critique though. He calls 2K advocate’s unwillingness to see biblical norms applied outside of a church context as a “convenient exit,” which I think is helpful because conviction is nothing without courage (P 54). What value does a person's view have whose convictions of reality require no courage because the world is fine so long as you line up quietly within your own private religious closet housed in the civil pantheon? If no one cares what you’re saying then you are not a threat. But heaven forbid if we set theological detonators to the pantheon itself and declare a new King to be both Lord and Savior. Over against 2K theology, “if we have any hope of addressing the challenges facing us in the West today, we cannot allow a doctrine of retreat or escape to rule the church” (P 54).
So it’s succinct and clear but it’s also very hard-hitting. It would be a shame to see the size of the book (103 pages) as any measure of its importance. Dynamite can be packed in a small package—so it is here. (Boot has also written a much larger book on this topic, The Mission of God--which I can’t wait to get my hands on). As noted above, I’ve read several similar books relating this topic. In fact, I pointed my wife to my bookshelf with well over 30 books on the topic and told her this book does what all those do but better and with less time. Of course, Boot undoubtedly stands on the shoulders of many of these cultural-theological giants. But he enables the beginner to get his toes wet with this short and power-packed book.
Finally, though Dr. Boot’s topic is focused on a particular topic--culture--the broad range of usefulness this book lends to a worldview introduction should not be underestimated. Precisely because the West generally and Christians in particular have lost, forgotten, or abandoned the necessary presuppositions constituting a harmonious view of reality--the Christian worldview--our culture has degenerated into the insanity that so characterizes our age. Boot does this well by introducing the reader to the mainspring of a Christian worldview: a Christian view of man and his calling as the image of God.
In conclusion, for those interested in a book that challenges some popular approaches to Christianity and culture or just a great introduction to Christian worldview thinking, Gospel Culture: Living in God’s Kingdom is an excellent book to pick up. It’s a clear, pithy, succinct, powerful--and most importantly--biblical defense of the Christian’s responsible interaction with culture. Tolle Lege!
by Dr. Joseph Boot
Review by Bill Lliorca
Dr. Joseph Boot is the executive director of the Ezra Institute of Contemporary Christianity (EICC) in Toronto, Canada, received his M.A. from Manchester University (U.K.), and his Ph.D. in Christian Thought from Whitefield Theological Seminary in Florida. For several years he served as an apologist with Ravi Zacharias Ministries International, and has publically debated atheists in Canada and the U.S. He’s written books on apologetics, spoken at conferences and on the radio, and serves as Senior Fellow of a few different apologetic and cultural ministries. He is also the senior editor of Jubilee, the Ezra Institute’s journal.
Gospel Culture is a short book (103 pages) and is the first volume in a series of forthcoming books EICC plans to publish entitled Cornerstones. In the “Preface to the Series”, Randall Currie (Board Chair, EICC) explains that these are to be “focused monographs…intended to be an accessible point of entry for thoughtful Christians” to equip them with the answers of a comprehensive gospel in a world “thoroughly saturated by humanistic and pagan assumptions” (P xiv).
I believe this book successfully accomplishes the goal intended above. I’ve read stacks of books describing the gospel’s relationship to culture but this one deserves to be at the very top of the choicest stack for several reasons. It’s a clear, succinct, precise, thought-provoking, and beautifully written book that I believe will prove to be a classic statement referred to over and over again.
First, it’s a succinct presentation of what can be a very complicated and confusing topic. There have been many books over the years that have been good, even classic approaches to Christianity and culture. I think immediately of Niebuhr’s classic taxonomy of various Christian approaches to culture, which divides into 5 essential ways Christians have historically theologized about their relationship to culture. Though I would recommend Niebuhr for good background reading and familiarization with this topic, Boot’s book jumps right in with a transformational approach to culture (a biblically modified version of Niebuhr’s “conversionist approach”) . You know what approach your author is taking and where he’s leading you from the start. And from the start Boot leads with a biblically faithful account of man’s relationship to culture.
Boot’s assessment is that our present age is characterized by madness due to our abandonment in the West of Christianity’s biblical definition of man found in Genesis 1:26—the image God. Man, being God’s image, is fundamentally a worshipping creature and therefore culture is built upon a religious foundation, because culture is “a state of being cultivated by intellectual and moral tilling in terms of a prevailing cultus and, by natural extension, forms a particular type of civilization” (P 3).
Second, what is often a challenging topic Boot simplifies without losing the argument’s comprehensive thrust. This simplification also brings an element of clarity that I appreciate in an introductory book. For instance, culture is said to be “what man does with God’s creation.” Easy as 1-2-3. If culture is all that man does with creation this categorically defines man as a cultural being because he’s circumscribed by creation. Creation is his only environment and the only prop with which he works on the stage of his existence. Since man is religious and all that man does is cultural, all culture is religious. Following Henry Van Til, “Culture is religion externalized.”. What does man do? He does culture? What is culture? Culture is all that man does with God’s creation, and it’s necessarily religious because it’s all done before the face of God. What effect does the gospel have on culture? The gospel reconciles a once alienated rebel to God and thereby brings blessing on all his work--that work producing art, science, philosophy, politics, and social institutions now characterized by the peace of Christ
I think the greatest contribution Boot makes to the Church’s understanding of Christianity’s relationship to culture is his syllogism:
“If culture is the public expression of the worship of a people, and the gospel restores man to true worship (i.e. of the Creator, not the creation), then the gospel restores man to true culture, which is the kingdom of God.”
I’m calling this Boot’s “Gospel-culture Syllogism.” It’s easy, it’s memorable, and is at once an aid to any discussion or debate on the topic. These types of pithy phrases or epigrams are great for helping anchor a conversation without losing ourselves in the mists of ambiguity and passion. Because man is a cultural creature and because culture is necessarily religious, the gospel forms in man a particular desire for a particular culture: a gospel culture. There is then a gospel culture distinct from other religious cultures. This cogency bespeaks what I believe will be the book’s classic characteristic and, thus, gives it staying power: a value beyond our historical and cultural moment.
It’s the third chapter that hit me the hardest and I found to be the most thought-provoking (“The Power Motive of Humanistic Culture”). Here Boot describes man now bereft of real direction as a result of his rebellion against God’s word and left only with his godless desire to remake the world in his own image. Rejecting the gift of revelation, man must gin up his own meaning in the form of incantation; either overt witchcraft or the covert witchcraft of autonomous expertise. Either way, witchcraft is the necessary result of rejecting God’s word. “We can say then that the foundation of all devilry is rebellion against God, which seeks knowledge, power, and dominion through a negation of God’s Word and purpose--this is the essence of the magical worldview” (P 29).
Especially clear is his description of fallen man’s pendulum swing from magician to technician—or to follow the alliteration—from magician to materialist. Anyone familiar with Screwtape Letters will hear C.S. Lewis’s memorable description of the modern tendency—to be either so absorbed by modern scientism as to deny evil spirits’ existence and thereby be their useful idiots through ‘amoral’ tools. Or, to be so absorbed by an obsession with power we resort to overt occult practices and engage in witchcraft. But the reason for this absorption, magical or mechanical, is one: rejecting God’s word and supplanting it with another. Furthermore, because no word but God’s Word gives us a full-orbed definition, lesser words dehumanize and erode man’s flourishing. “The simple truth is that, without love for God and a recognition of his Word-revelation to us in Christ and in Scripture, we are not only unable to truly to love our neighbor, we cannot even identify them truly. We find, in fact, that we cannot answer a most elementary question: “What is a person?” (P 21)
The fourth chapter is the longest and is his critique of “Two Kingdoms Theology” (‘2K’ or ‘R2K’). Summarizing 2K theology Boot quotes Brian Mattson,,
The central dogma is that while God rules over and governs the entire world, he does so in two distinct ways. His rule is divided into two distinct realms, each with its own origin, its own norms, and its own destiny (P 48).
Boot rejects the 2K approach because of their bedrock denial that all of life is religious. He says “scriptural clarity is missing” when applied to anything outside of a marginalized “church-life” just because 2K denies any application. Boot illustrates that 2K advocates a view of Scripture which denies universal applicability, a view which in the final analysis denies the sufficiency of Scripture to speak to real world issues.
I especially appreciated his candid response to 2K naiveté that insists upon a “common kingdom” agreed upon between believers and unbelievers:
I do not believe it is viable to take 2K theology seriously in areas of the world where Christians are suffering, sometimes terribly in lands dominated by false religions. It is all too easy to speak of a “common kingdom” governed by norms we can all agree upon from comfortable academic chairs within a culture that has been deeply transformed by the gospel for centuries (P 54).
Boot goes further in his critique though. He calls 2K advocate’s unwillingness to see biblical norms applied outside of a church context as a “convenient exit,” which I think is helpful because conviction is nothing without courage (P 54). What value does a person's view have whose convictions of reality require no courage because the world is fine so long as you line up quietly within your own private religious closet housed in the civil pantheon? If no one cares what you’re saying then you are not a threat. But heaven forbid if we set theological detonators to the pantheon itself and declare a new King to be both Lord and Savior. Over against 2K theology, “if we have any hope of addressing the challenges facing us in the West today, we cannot allow a doctrine of retreat or escape to rule the church” (P 54).
So it’s succinct and clear but it’s also very hard-hitting. It would be a shame to see the size of the book (103 pages) as any measure of its importance. Dynamite can be packed in a small package—so it is here. (Boot has also written a much larger book on this topic, The Mission of God--which I can’t wait to get my hands on). As noted above, I’ve read several similar books relating this topic. In fact, I pointed my wife to my bookshelf with well over 30 books on the topic and told her this book does what all those do but better and with less time. Of course, Boot undoubtedly stands on the shoulders of many of these cultural-theological giants. But he enables the beginner to get his toes wet with this short and power-packed book.
Finally, though Dr. Boot’s topic is focused on a particular topic--culture--the broad range of usefulness this book lends to a worldview introduction should not be underestimated. Precisely because the West generally and Christians in particular have lost, forgotten, or abandoned the necessary presuppositions constituting a harmonious view of reality--the Christian worldview--our culture has degenerated into the insanity that so characterizes our age. Boot does this well by introducing the reader to the mainspring of a Christian worldview: a Christian view of man and his calling as the image of God.
In conclusion, for those interested in a book that challenges some popular approaches to Christianity and culture or just a great introduction to Christian worldview thinking, Gospel Culture: Living in God’s Kingdom is an excellent book to pick up. It’s a clear, pithy, succinct, powerful--and most importantly--biblical defense of the Christian’s responsible interaction with culture. Tolle Lege!
June 15, 2024
Great chapter critiquing modern Reformed Two Kingdoms theology and its abandonment of the call to see Christ's reign exhibited in all of life for a pietistic ecclesiocracy.
On this view, anyone who wants to be distinctly Christian must pursue a “sacred vocation” or “sacred scholarship,” for everything else is rendered profane, neutral or common. Here, Christian service only takes place within the domain of the institutional “church.” The outcome of this thought process on the scope and applicability of the gospel is utterly stifling and its implications for culture are devastating.
...
We can see in this marvellous biblical perspective the exhilarating scope and power of the gospel in historical time. The frustration and futility of time, to which sin subjects us, is being transformed into fruitfulness by Christ’s work. This vision moves us well beyond merely personal preoccupations with ourselves and our inward motions, our own sin and progress only, and directs us toward our calling to serve the King. The gospel knows nothing of escape from the world, but only of our service as priests for its renewal. The gospel is therefore not simply that we are saved from our sins, but that we are delivered into the kingdom of righteousness, now to serve God’s purpose of righteous dominion as his image and office-bearers in Jesus Christ. The gospel sweeps up into its great symphony every movement of our daily work, our marriage and family, our vocations and callings. Everything that has been dominated by sin is now being transformed by the gospel. This gives the gospel a limitless application.
On this view, anyone who wants to be distinctly Christian must pursue a “sacred vocation” or “sacred scholarship,” for everything else is rendered profane, neutral or common. Here, Christian service only takes place within the domain of the institutional “church.” The outcome of this thought process on the scope and applicability of the gospel is utterly stifling and its implications for culture are devastating.
...
We can see in this marvellous biblical perspective the exhilarating scope and power of the gospel in historical time. The frustration and futility of time, to which sin subjects us, is being transformed into fruitfulness by Christ’s work. This vision moves us well beyond merely personal preoccupations with ourselves and our inward motions, our own sin and progress only, and directs us toward our calling to serve the King. The gospel knows nothing of escape from the world, but only of our service as priests for its renewal. The gospel is therefore not simply that we are saved from our sins, but that we are delivered into the kingdom of righteousness, now to serve God’s purpose of righteous dominion as his image and office-bearers in Jesus Christ. The gospel sweeps up into its great symphony every movement of our daily work, our marriage and family, our vocations and callings. Everything that has been dominated by sin is now being transformed by the gospel. This gives the gospel a limitless application.
February 4, 2022
Eye Opening and God Honoring
All people, especially Christians, ought to read this. There are many influences from pagan ideology and worship that have infected the church and our understanding of the gospel. Boot does a masterful job of identifying, correcting, and encouraging the Christian to lay aside preconceived notions, humanist presuppositions, and watered down, anemic versions of the gospel, and aids in seeing the truly robust and beautiful gospel of the Kingdom for all of creation. Easy to read, yet a solid mix of challenge and doxology in every chapter.
All people, especially Christians, ought to read this. There are many influences from pagan ideology and worship that have infected the church and our understanding of the gospel. Boot does a masterful job of identifying, correcting, and encouraging the Christian to lay aside preconceived notions, humanist presuppositions, and watered down, anemic versions of the gospel, and aids in seeing the truly robust and beautiful gospel of the Kingdom for all of creation. Easy to read, yet a solid mix of challenge and doxology in every chapter.
February 26, 2021
Timely and important read. Great antidote to the radical 2 kingdom nonsense coming out of Escondido from D.G. Hart, Michael Horton, R. Scott Clark, David Vandrunen et al.
Short and to the point, Gospel Culture unpacks how the Gospel of Christ's lordship has cultural implications.
Short and to the point, Gospel Culture unpacks how the Gospel of Christ's lordship has cultural implications.
November 7, 2017
This was really, really good.
April 9, 2023
Boot's, "Gospel Culture' is his case that the gospel cannot be confined to the personal salvation of sinners, but also includes our culture building and activity within society. This is what he calls a "full orbed gospel", as anything less than is a truncated version, and its this gospel which is destined to transform every culture.
What drew me to this volume is Boot's critique of Two Kingdom theology, especially of the Escondido variety, which is the position I hold to. He spends 1/3 of this book engaging with Van Drunen's work, specifically, "Living in God's Two Kingdoms". Sadly though, reading this section was a frustraiting and fruitless experience.
Among some of my issues with this volume is Boot's disregard for natural theology, or, as the confessions put it, "light of nature", somehow he is able to relegate it to some Aristotelian concept. His harsh binary that if something is not Christian than it is occultic in origin is also a serious error. But his most grevious error is getting the garden wrong. Genesis 1-3 is extremely important in understanding the rest of redemptive history, and Boot's monocovenantalism is one of the most explicit mishandling of the garden narrative. Due to this faulty hermeneutic and a rejection of historical confessional standards (covenant of works/commandment of life, light of nature) I was thoroughly disappointed and unconvinced of his project.
There is very little to benefit from reading this book, so I would recommend that you pass. However, if books on culture is your niche and you want to know what makes postmillinnial transformationalism tick then this short book should fit the bill.
What drew me to this volume is Boot's critique of Two Kingdom theology, especially of the Escondido variety, which is the position I hold to. He spends 1/3 of this book engaging with Van Drunen's work, specifically, "Living in God's Two Kingdoms". Sadly though, reading this section was a frustraiting and fruitless experience.
Among some of my issues with this volume is Boot's disregard for natural theology, or, as the confessions put it, "light of nature", somehow he is able to relegate it to some Aristotelian concept. His harsh binary that if something is not Christian than it is occultic in origin is also a serious error. But his most grevious error is getting the garden wrong. Genesis 1-3 is extremely important in understanding the rest of redemptive history, and Boot's monocovenantalism is one of the most explicit mishandling of the garden narrative. Due to this faulty hermeneutic and a rejection of historical confessional standards (covenant of works/commandment of life, light of nature) I was thoroughly disappointed and unconvinced of his project.
There is very little to benefit from reading this book, so I would recommend that you pass. However, if books on culture is your niche and you want to know what makes postmillinnial transformationalism tick then this short book should fit the bill.
June 30, 2021
This book was gifted to me by a friend, and I'm thankful for it (and him). It's brief, but edifying, especially as it makes a biblical case against dualism, and especially a so-thought *virtuous* dualism under the more formal name of Two Kingdoms theology. Boot demonstrates that the material and temporal are not enemies to the Christian, nor must we try to escape (since God called His creation *good*). *Sin* is our enemy. Christ came to conquer sin, and as His people live in Him they live differently with their stuff and in time.
October 17, 2024
This is an excellent theology book that really details what the Gospel is and how it relates to culture and the Kingdom of God. Dr. Boot is not trivial or shallow, but his writing is also not difficult to understand. Worth reading.
December 7, 2024
This explains a lot!
OK, the institutionalized church is a failure. Boot tells us why. I have a rule: Don't read Christian Self Help books. This book is not that. Rather on a plane with J. I. Packer's KNOWING GOD or Dorothy Sayers' THE MIND OF THE MAKER.
OK, the institutionalized church is a failure. Boot tells us why. I have a rule: Don't read Christian Self Help books. This book is not that. Rather on a plane with J. I. Packer's KNOWING GOD or Dorothy Sayers' THE MIND OF THE MAKER.
May 15, 2019
Excellent. Short and concise.
January 17, 2020
Great explanation of the cosmic scope of the gospel, as well as a repudiation of the competing viewpoint of "two kingdoms" theology.
January 1, 2023
This is a restoration of the true meaning of gospel much needed in the modern church. Excellent and thought provoking.
April 18, 2025
The first four chapters were excellent. The final chapter, not so much, and frustratingly so. My main concern is that what is the central focus of the New Testament ("Jesus Christ and him crucified") is not central in the presentation of the gospel provided. With all the talk of proper context and cosmic scope, the work of Christ on the cross ended up either being pushed to the side or rushed past.
Similarly, in the explanation of the effects of the Fall, there was a glaring absence of describing the need for peace with the thrice holy God, who will justly judge unrepentant sinners in Hell for eternity. Yes, tell us what we are saved to, but not at the expense of what we are saved from!
These important elements should not be presumed or de-emphasized.
I referred to this as frustrating because it occurs to me that the very people who may need this book the most — namely, God-fearing pastors who have "everything else right" in their doctrine (that is, except for a retreatist pietism) — when confronted with the gospel as expressed here, may have Galatians 1:7 warning bells going off in their minds, and thus be that much less likely to agree with the overall thrust of the book, or to recommend the book to their parishioners or fellow leaders.
Yet the book does have much to recommend it. I made a good deal of underlines, and expect to be referring back to it.
I would humbly (and I do mean humbly — I could not write a book myself, and have an extremely small circle of influence, but my desire is for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his kingdom to advance to every corner of society) submit that if this book were to have another edition, that what are typically — and I would say rightly — understood to be the fundamental elements of the gospel (see, e.g., Paul Washer's booklet The Gospel of Jesus Christ) be much more prominent. Then talk about cosmic scope.
Similarly, in the explanation of the effects of the Fall, there was a glaring absence of describing the need for peace with the thrice holy God, who will justly judge unrepentant sinners in Hell for eternity. Yes, tell us what we are saved to, but not at the expense of what we are saved from!
These important elements should not be presumed or de-emphasized.
I referred to this as frustrating because it occurs to me that the very people who may need this book the most — namely, God-fearing pastors who have "everything else right" in their doctrine (that is, except for a retreatist pietism) — when confronted with the gospel as expressed here, may have Galatians 1:7 warning bells going off in their minds, and thus be that much less likely to agree with the overall thrust of the book, or to recommend the book to their parishioners or fellow leaders.
Yet the book does have much to recommend it. I made a good deal of underlines, and expect to be referring back to it.
I would humbly (and I do mean humbly — I could not write a book myself, and have an extremely small circle of influence, but my desire is for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and his kingdom to advance to every corner of society) submit that if this book were to have another edition, that what are typically — and I would say rightly — understood to be the fundamental elements of the gospel (see, e.g., Paul Washer's booklet The Gospel of Jesus Christ) be much more prominent. Then talk about cosmic scope.
January 13, 2021
An excellent introduction into some of the errors associated with what is knows as "Radical Two Kingdom" ask R2K theology in Reformed circles.
November 2, 2022
Fantastic as with Mission of God Joe Boot demonstrates the neccesity of understanding that Christ IS LORD OF EVRYTHING!
November 27, 2025
Short/ok — 6/10
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