Crouch understands and acknowledges from the get-go that his topic is enormous, so he begins by looking at just how enormous it is. He's not talking only about the arts, trends and fashion, science, technology, celebrities, ethnic identity, government and politics, education and about a zillion other things you can think of. He's also talking about the scope of culture from the beginning of human history until...well, the end and beyond.
That's a pretty big scope.
More specifically, how have Christians responded to and helped shape culture? Or failed to do so? What about today? Do we engage the culture or withdraw from it? Crouch looks at these topics and culture in general in the first section of the book, simply called Culture. In the second section, Gospel, Crouch takes an interesting look at culture from a gospel perspective. I'd never thought about it before, but the cultural aspect of the Bible begins in a garden in Genesis and ends in a city in Revelation. Significant? How about Jesus as a culture maker? How did culture change in the early church from Pentecost and beyond?
In the third section, Calling, Crouch asks the question "Can we (or anyone) really change the world?" Should we even try? One of the most interesting concepts in the book is that of The 3, the 12 and the 120. Crouch states that it may be a mistake to say that "all culture is local," but maybe all culture making is local. A cultural influence may be global, but it must be created by the efforts of a small group (3), shaped and refined by a slightly larger concentric circle of people (12), and distributed by a larger group on a larger level (120). As an example, Crouch's book was conceived by a publisher, an editor and an author. The circle of 12 expanded to an editorial director, a marketing director, publicists, designers and a few reviews and readers. The largest circle consisted of people endorsing the book, newspaper/magazine/media editors and reviewers and friends to spread the word. When you think about it, you start seeing the 3-12-120 concept all over the place.
But what do we do with all of this? Crouch challenges us to do something, to create something or at least be involved in engaging the culture rather than sitting by watching things happen. This is not an in-your-face "We're taking over the culture for Christ!" type of book. It's a call to pursue our passions in a way that allows us to use and celebrate the diversity of our gifts without condemning others of theirs.
A single reading of Culture Making was not enough for me. There's so much in there, it demands a second read, at least from me. For anyone interested in culture, I highly recommend this one.
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