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Making a Difference: Impacting Culture and Society as a Christian
The great challenge for the Christian in a post-Christian context is how to impact this fallen world with our faith. In Making a Difference, beloved theologian R. C. Sproul shows readers how to confront today's moral and social issues with an effective biblical response. Dr. Sproul first examines the major philosophies that affect the way Americans think and act--secularism, existentialism, humanism, and pragmatism--and then presents ideas on how to apply a biblical perspective to spheres of public life that need the Christian's influence today: economics, science, art and literature, and government.
224 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2019
32 people are currently reading
146 people want to read
About the author
R.C. Sproul
673 books1,940 followersDr. R.C. Sproul (1939–2017) was founder of Ligonier Ministries, an international Christian discipleship organization located near Orlando, Fla. He was founding pastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Fla., first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine.
Ligonier Ministries began in 1971 as the Ligonier Valley Study Center in Ligonier, Pa. In an effort to respond more effectively to the growing demand for Dr. Sproul’s teachings and the ministry’s other educational resources, the general offices were moved to Orlando in 1984, and the ministry was renamed.
Dr. Sproul’s radio program, Renewing Your Mind, is still broadcast daily on hundreds of radio stations around the world and can also be heard online. Dr. Sproul produced hundreds of lecture series and recorded numerous video series on subjects such as the history of philosophy, theology, Bible study, apologetics, and Christian living.
He contributed dozens of articles to national evangelical publications, spoke at conferences, churches, and academic institutions around the world, and wrote more than one hundred books, including The Holiness of God, Chosen by God, and Everyone’s a Theologian. He signed the 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy and wrote a commentary on that document. He also served as general editor of the Reformation Study Bible, previously known as the New Geneva Study Bible.
Dr. Sproul had a distinguished academic teaching career at various colleges and seminaries, including Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando and Jackson, Miss. He was ordained as a teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church in America.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
October 1, 2020
I enjoyed this!!
June 14, 2021
This book made me love CCA even more - if that was even possible.
January 4, 2020
A fine and quick survey of the usually-unstated philosophical assumptions behind the thinking in our society, covering secularism, existentialism, humanism, pragmatism, positivism, pluralism, relativism, and hedonism. That's the first 2/3 of the book. The last 1/3 then tries to "respond" and discusses how Christians should relate to economics, science, art, literature, and government.
It is a survey book, so if you're already fighting these battles all the time there might not be much that is new here. However if you yourself are "new" to the battle it could be a great introduction (it's the sort of book I often read in undergrad). Originally published in 1986, the book is just a little dated now as our culture has moved away from pure relativism and is now quite eager to make dogmatic statements, especially in the areas of sexuality and identity - but the new thinking came out of the old thinking, and the old thinking is also definitely still with us, so a valuable read.
It is a survey book, so if you're already fighting these battles all the time there might not be much that is new here. However if you yourself are "new" to the battle it could be a great introduction (it's the sort of book I often read in undergrad). Originally published in 1986, the book is just a little dated now as our culture has moved away from pure relativism and is now quite eager to make dogmatic statements, especially in the areas of sexuality and identity - but the new thinking came out of the old thinking, and the old thinking is also definitely still with us, so a valuable read.
January 4, 2022
Worth re-reading. Analytical, yet simple and practical. Classic Sproul!
December 3, 2020
the world is in darkness and our job is to make the invisible reign of jesus visible
March 20, 2019
This book was originally published in 1986 under the title Lifeviews: Understanding The Ideas That Shape Society Today. I noticed a very few updates to the original book. Though written more than 30 years ago, the book is still very relevant today.
Dr. Sproul tells us that we all have a mission field, if only our own neighborhood or office building. In all of life’s situations we are to be His witnesses. Our job is to make the invisible reign of Jesus visible. We have all been sent to bear witness to Christ. If we as Christian missionaries are to be able to communicate to our diverse society, we need to be aware of the dominant systems of thought that are at work within our society.
The author writes that the book is an attempt to describe the culture of the United States as it now exists, to show how this culture affects Christians, and to suggest how we can respond biblically to that culture as Christian witnesses. He writes that he doubts if there has been a period in all of Christian history when so many Christians are so ineffectual in shaping the culture in which they live as it is true right now in the United States.
The book is broken into two major sections. In the first half, the author looks at perspectives in life, or worldviews, unifying systems of thought prevalent in our culture today. In the second half of the book he looks at the Christian’s role in society. He turns our attention to several aspects of our society to see how they are influenced by these world views. Questions for discussion are included at the end of each chapter, making this a book that would be good to read and discuss in a group setting.
Below are a few helpful quotes from each chapter:
Secularism
• The dominant ism of American culture, the ism reflected in the news media, the film industry, the novel, and the art world is secularism.
• The secular refers then to this world in this time. Its point of focus is here and now. The biblical world view has a long-term view of human life. The term is much longer than that of secularism.
• If there is one message that I can give to my generation it is this: Right now counts forever. What you and I do now has eternal significance.
• Secularism as an ism must include within its world view at least an implicit atheism.
• Most of those who accept secularism and who are thinking people, ultimately embrace a philosophy of despair.
Pessimistic Existentialism
• Existentialism is a philosophy about human existence. It views man not so much in terms of his mind or his soul, but of his will, his feelings.
• The rapid spread and enormous impact of existential philosophy upon our culture has been uncanny. I doubt if there has been any philosophical system that has had as much influence on American culture in the twentieth century as this school of thought.
• We encounter the influence of existentialism virtually every day of our lives and in virtually every sphere of our culture.
• The arts have been major vehicles to communicate the ideas of existentialism to American society.
Sentimental Humanism
• Consistent humanism must be atheistic.
• Humanism is fundamentally irrational.
• The irony of our culture is that humanism has become the dominant philosophy of intellectuals.
• The principal vehicle for the dissemination of humanist philosophy is the public-school system. This is the clear strategy of the humanist.
• Christians, after decades, are beginning to wake up and see that our children are being taught one set of values in the home and in the church, while they get another philosophical system through public education.
• Modern humanism gets progressively more hostile toward Christianity, particularly at the level of public education.
• The battle between the Christian and the humanist is being fought and will continue to be fought in the arena of education.
Pragmatism
• The pragmatist is concerned about right now. What works now?
• In pragmatism truth is inevitably relativized.
• If truth is determined by what works for the individual, then the test for truth ultimately becomes the individual himself.
• For the pragmatists, every end is a means. There are no ultimate goals. Every end is a short-term end, and that end becomes a means to another end, and so on, but you never get to a final solution.
• The real conflict between Christianity and pragmatism is the conflict between what is right and what is expedient.
Positivism
• The quest for ultimate truth in philosophy is called the science of metaphysics.
• In the final analysis positivism offers a truncated science, a science so limited in scope that it ignores the wider realm of truth. It seeks to make science independent of other closely related fields of inquiry. It cuts us off from ultimate meaning.
Pluralism and Relativism
• Once we embrace relativism we live in a world of ultimate chaos.
• The question we must raise with relativism is, who decides what is important? On what basis are decisions made?
• Pluralism says not only are all views equally tolerable under the law, but all views are equally valid.
Hedonism
• The hedonist’s constant goal in life is to pursue those things that increase pleasure and decrease pain.
The Christian and World Economics
• Economics therefore has to do with managing the resources that ultimately belong to God.
• It is important to remember that labor does not come to us as a result of the fall. It originates from our God who is a working God.
• Integral to our vocations as human beings is God’s design for us to be productive, to bring forth the fruit of our labor.
The Christian and Science
• Christians are needed by the thousands to venture into the realm of nature, armed with the knowledge of grace. We can show that a God who exists on the other side of the wall is concerned with life on this side of that wall.
The Christian and Art
• What I find in much so-called Christian art today is that which is not only superficial and cheap—but what is also boring. The beautiful should never be boring.
• If art is good art, if it is true art, if it is beautiful art, then it is bearing witness to the Author of the good, the true, and the beautiful.
• As Christians in the realm of art, our impetus for producing Christian art is a desire for excellence.
The Christian and Literature
• I’ve often wondered where Jesus would apply His hastily made whip if He were to visit our culture. My guess is that it would not be money-changing tables in the temple that would feel His wrath, but the display racks in Christian bookstores.
• Often what we find in contemporary literature is a sense of the absence of God. There is a haunting feeling of loneliness.
• In much of modern literature there are also stains of bitterness toward religion and even overt hostility to the church.
• As missionaries to our culture, we need to support Christians who will make a serious contribution to the medium of literature, a contribution that will communicate with our culture and influence it for good.
The Christian and Government
• In Romans 13, the call to obedience is to those who have actual authority, not to those who merely possess de facto power.
• Whenever the earthly authority commands us to do something that God forbids, or forbids us from doing something God commands, it is our duty to disobey the earthly authorities. God’s authority is always higher than His delegated officers.
• The biblical principle is to render obedience wherever we can unless our doing so conflicts with our obeying God.
• Biblically speaking, the Christian is asked to bend over backward to respect authority wherever he sees it. He is to exhibit a spirit of obedience rather than of lawlessness.
• If the civil authority commands us to do something that God has forbidden, or forbids us from doing something that God has commanded, not only may we disobey, but we must disobey! We must always obey God rather than man.
• For many people, the concept of separation of church and state has come to mean the separation of state and God, as if the state ruled autonomously on the basis of its own intrinsic authority. Christians must never believe that. Instead, we must see that state as answerable to God, ordained by God, and as a legitimate vehicle for the people of God to serve God.
Dr. Sproul tells us that we all have a mission field, if only our own neighborhood or office building. In all of life’s situations we are to be His witnesses. Our job is to make the invisible reign of Jesus visible. We have all been sent to bear witness to Christ. If we as Christian missionaries are to be able to communicate to our diverse society, we need to be aware of the dominant systems of thought that are at work within our society.
The author writes that the book is an attempt to describe the culture of the United States as it now exists, to show how this culture affects Christians, and to suggest how we can respond biblically to that culture as Christian witnesses. He writes that he doubts if there has been a period in all of Christian history when so many Christians are so ineffectual in shaping the culture in which they live as it is true right now in the United States.
The book is broken into two major sections. In the first half, the author looks at perspectives in life, or worldviews, unifying systems of thought prevalent in our culture today. In the second half of the book he looks at the Christian’s role in society. He turns our attention to several aspects of our society to see how they are influenced by these world views. Questions for discussion are included at the end of each chapter, making this a book that would be good to read and discuss in a group setting.
Below are a few helpful quotes from each chapter:
Secularism
• The dominant ism of American culture, the ism reflected in the news media, the film industry, the novel, and the art world is secularism.
• The secular refers then to this world in this time. Its point of focus is here and now. The biblical world view has a long-term view of human life. The term is much longer than that of secularism.
• If there is one message that I can give to my generation it is this: Right now counts forever. What you and I do now has eternal significance.
• Secularism as an ism must include within its world view at least an implicit atheism.
• Most of those who accept secularism and who are thinking people, ultimately embrace a philosophy of despair.
Pessimistic Existentialism
• Existentialism is a philosophy about human existence. It views man not so much in terms of his mind or his soul, but of his will, his feelings.
• The rapid spread and enormous impact of existential philosophy upon our culture has been uncanny. I doubt if there has been any philosophical system that has had as much influence on American culture in the twentieth century as this school of thought.
• We encounter the influence of existentialism virtually every day of our lives and in virtually every sphere of our culture.
• The arts have been major vehicles to communicate the ideas of existentialism to American society.
Sentimental Humanism
• Consistent humanism must be atheistic.
• Humanism is fundamentally irrational.
• The irony of our culture is that humanism has become the dominant philosophy of intellectuals.
• The principal vehicle for the dissemination of humanist philosophy is the public-school system. This is the clear strategy of the humanist.
• Christians, after decades, are beginning to wake up and see that our children are being taught one set of values in the home and in the church, while they get another philosophical system through public education.
• Modern humanism gets progressively more hostile toward Christianity, particularly at the level of public education.
• The battle between the Christian and the humanist is being fought and will continue to be fought in the arena of education.
Pragmatism
• The pragmatist is concerned about right now. What works now?
• In pragmatism truth is inevitably relativized.
• If truth is determined by what works for the individual, then the test for truth ultimately becomes the individual himself.
• For the pragmatists, every end is a means. There are no ultimate goals. Every end is a short-term end, and that end becomes a means to another end, and so on, but you never get to a final solution.
• The real conflict between Christianity and pragmatism is the conflict between what is right and what is expedient.
Positivism
• The quest for ultimate truth in philosophy is called the science of metaphysics.
• In the final analysis positivism offers a truncated science, a science so limited in scope that it ignores the wider realm of truth. It seeks to make science independent of other closely related fields of inquiry. It cuts us off from ultimate meaning.
Pluralism and Relativism
• Once we embrace relativism we live in a world of ultimate chaos.
• The question we must raise with relativism is, who decides what is important? On what basis are decisions made?
• Pluralism says not only are all views equally tolerable under the law, but all views are equally valid.
Hedonism
• The hedonist’s constant goal in life is to pursue those things that increase pleasure and decrease pain.
The Christian and World Economics
• Economics therefore has to do with managing the resources that ultimately belong to God.
• It is important to remember that labor does not come to us as a result of the fall. It originates from our God who is a working God.
• Integral to our vocations as human beings is God’s design for us to be productive, to bring forth the fruit of our labor.
The Christian and Science
• Christians are needed by the thousands to venture into the realm of nature, armed with the knowledge of grace. We can show that a God who exists on the other side of the wall is concerned with life on this side of that wall.
The Christian and Art
• What I find in much so-called Christian art today is that which is not only superficial and cheap—but what is also boring. The beautiful should never be boring.
• If art is good art, if it is true art, if it is beautiful art, then it is bearing witness to the Author of the good, the true, and the beautiful.
• As Christians in the realm of art, our impetus for producing Christian art is a desire for excellence.
The Christian and Literature
• I’ve often wondered where Jesus would apply His hastily made whip if He were to visit our culture. My guess is that it would not be money-changing tables in the temple that would feel His wrath, but the display racks in Christian bookstores.
• Often what we find in contemporary literature is a sense of the absence of God. There is a haunting feeling of loneliness.
• In much of modern literature there are also stains of bitterness toward religion and even overt hostility to the church.
• As missionaries to our culture, we need to support Christians who will make a serious contribution to the medium of literature, a contribution that will communicate with our culture and influence it for good.
The Christian and Government
• In Romans 13, the call to obedience is to those who have actual authority, not to those who merely possess de facto power.
• Whenever the earthly authority commands us to do something that God forbids, or forbids us from doing something God commands, it is our duty to disobey the earthly authorities. God’s authority is always higher than His delegated officers.
• The biblical principle is to render obedience wherever we can unless our doing so conflicts with our obeying God.
• Biblically speaking, the Christian is asked to bend over backward to respect authority wherever he sees it. He is to exhibit a spirit of obedience rather than of lawlessness.
• If the civil authority commands us to do something that God has forbidden, or forbids us from doing something that God has commanded, not only may we disobey, but we must disobey! We must always obey God rather than man.
• For many people, the concept of separation of church and state has come to mean the separation of state and God, as if the state ruled autonomously on the basis of its own intrinsic authority. Christians must never believe that. Instead, we must see that state as answerable to God, ordained by God, and as a legitimate vehicle for the people of God to serve God.
November 18, 2020
The beginning chapters on philosophies were very helpful. However, the last chapters were less stellar than I was hoping- I wish he had said more on certain topics, or I disagreed a little with his emphasis. The questions at the end of the chapter seemed less to be for review and thinking through the content of the chapter and more as a springboard. Helpful if you are already familiar with the content, unhelpful and over your head if you already know zero about economics.
February 2, 2021
Christians want to make a difference in the world. We want to see society change for the better. We want people to know Jesus. How do we begin to do that when the world is so different?
In this book, R. C. Sproul explains the word views that make up today’s culture, from secularism to hedonism, and why Christians need to be aware of these belief systems.
The final section of the book discusses how Christians can, and should, engage in five areas of culture and society: economics, science, art, literature, and government.
R. C. Sproul is one of my favorite theologians and teachers. One reason for this is because, though he’s not an expert in all fields, he takes an interest in all areas of life where they relate to the Christian life. The main reason he is one of my favorites is because he knows how to explain. He can take a complex topic and break it down in the most understandable ways. This book is no different.
If you’re looking for a something to help you understand today’s world, I highly recommend this book.
In this book, R. C. Sproul explains the word views that make up today’s culture, from secularism to hedonism, and why Christians need to be aware of these belief systems.
The final section of the book discusses how Christians can, and should, engage in five areas of culture and society: economics, science, art, literature, and government.
R. C. Sproul is one of my favorite theologians and teachers. One reason for this is because, though he’s not an expert in all fields, he takes an interest in all areas of life where they relate to the Christian life. The main reason he is one of my favorites is because he knows how to explain. He can take a complex topic and break it down in the most understandable ways. This book is no different.
If you’re looking for a something to help you understand today’s world, I highly recommend this book.
September 19, 2022
Como menciona el título, el libro trata de impactar nuestra cultura y sociedad como cristianos, pero, ¿como es posible esto?
Sproul empieza enseñándonos las filosofías que influyen en la mayoría de las personas sin siquiera ellas saberlo. Estas filosofías también han impactado a los cristianos por lo que primero es bueno identificarlas, para poder apartarlas de nosotros. Una vez ya estando depurados, nos hace el planteamiento de cómo nosotros como cristianos, con una cosmovisión cristiana, podemos influir en nuestra cultura. Podemos influir en la economía, en las artes, en la política, en la literatura. Cualquiera que fuese tu profesión porque esto no tiene porque estar peleado con tu religión.
Entendamos el concepto de secularización que malamente usamos hoy en día, y reformemos cada esfera en la cual Dios nos ha llamado para la gloria de Dios.
Sproul empieza enseñándonos las filosofías que influyen en la mayoría de las personas sin siquiera ellas saberlo. Estas filosofías también han impactado a los cristianos por lo que primero es bueno identificarlas, para poder apartarlas de nosotros. Una vez ya estando depurados, nos hace el planteamiento de cómo nosotros como cristianos, con una cosmovisión cristiana, podemos influir en nuestra cultura. Podemos influir en la economía, en las artes, en la política, en la literatura. Cualquiera que fuese tu profesión porque esto no tiene porque estar peleado con tu religión.
Entendamos el concepto de secularización que malamente usamos hoy en día, y reformemos cada esfera en la cual Dios nos ha llamado para la gloria de Dios.
February 1, 2021
What does the Christian have to doe with art? Fiction? Science? Politics?
First part of the book is helpful and interesting, if a little America-centric. The second part, which answers these questions was why I wanted to read this book. Very inspiring and refreshing.
Sproul's writing style is as engaging as always - you've have finished the whole thing before you know it.
First part of the book is helpful and interesting, if a little America-centric. The second part, which answers these questions was why I wanted to read this book. Very inspiring and refreshing.
Sproul's writing style is as engaging as always - you've have finished the whole thing before you know it.
March 3, 2025
This is a very introductory work on Christian apologetics and the predominant philosophies directing our culture. How does the Biblical worldview affect our relationship to the secular world? An excellent work for any Christian who wants to consider how a life lived for God can or should look here below.
June 24, 2021
Insightful commentary on how Christians should relate to society and culture. Very readable. Includes a good introduction to various worldviews: secularism, existentialism, humanism, pragmatism, utilitarianism, and others.
August 24, 2019
Easy read on Christians role in this world.
February 10, 2025
Perfect to use as part of classical Christian curriculum.
April 29, 2025
Fantastic!
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews