Every Square Inch: An Introduction to Cultural Engagement for Christians

This is a book aimed at a very broad audience. It is not meant to be technical or academic nor does it deal with touchy subjects, even in the chapters on politics or science.Its goal is to give the reader the beginnings of a framework to think more effectively about a variety of subjects from a Christian perspective. It reminds the reader that general revelation, like special revelation, is important and we can learn valuable information from the world.It achieves its goal very well. It gives you a good framework for thinking about arts, politics, science, education and economics. In the conclusion it gives three basic questions you can ask yourself to help you create similar frameworks in other areas.It has very good lists for additional reading at the end of each chapter. It gives very concise and helpful blurbs about each of the books recommended, including a sense of how academic or difficult to read they are.

Love the clear theological foundations for each proposition. Very practical steps provided as well for engaging the culture biblically. Highly recommended for the Christian community today!

It was a gift

Dr. Ashford, as usual, does a masterful job navigating through discussions that sometimes can get tense. I will be giving a copy of this book to every high school graduate in our churches from now on. It's a great resource to know how to be well prepared for college from a spiritual standpoint.

Dr. Ashford does an amazing job at getting the conversation started for Christians regarding how they are to fulfill the cultural mandate in this book. If you are looking to learn more about how your Christian faith intersects with your daily life, be sure to get this. A great read no matter your level of study.

A good little intro to the subject of the Christian and culture. Simple and practical.

For millennia, Christians have sought to have a proper interaction with the cultural context in which they live. Interaction with culture is one of the most important aspects of the Christian faith as we seek to be the “salt and light” we are called to be. Dr. Bruce Riley Ashford, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, has added a short, wonderful work to the many books available. The book, Every Square Inch: An Introduction to Cultural Engagement for Christians (Lexham Press, 2015), is the first of a three book series on Cultural Engagement by Lexham Press and Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary.Ashford’s aim in the text is to “equip Christians to think holistically about how the gospel informs everything we do in the world." Ashford rightly states that the Christian message cannot be separated into “sacred” and “secular” spaces. The Gospel of Jesus Christ should inform everything that Christians do, say, and think. This includes engaging with culture. The book has a “workbook” feel as at the end of each chapter there are “action points” which are questions for the reader to consider that relate to the topic of the chapter. Ashford also includes a recommended reading list for each chapter.One’s position on cultural engagement takes one of three approaches, argues Ashford. One can argue that Christianity is “against” culture, “of” culture, or “in and for” culture. The first has clearly been seen in much of Christian history. Christians “against” culture, Ashford writes, are those who believe that the Church needs to be completely protected from the outside culture. This can be done either as a “bomb shelter” or “ultimate fighter." The second position seems to have increased over the past 50 years. This position argues that the Church should “mirror” culture and incorporate it, uncritically, into the Church. Finally, the third position argues that Christians should acknowledge that the “structures” of culture are good, but the “direction” of our culture is corrupt. Ashford uses the rest of the text to show this to be true and then to show what it means for the Christian who holds this view of culture.Ashford’s argument is based on a Creation, Fall, Redemption/Restoration framework of Scripture. At creation, all aspects of culture were good, both in the “structure” and “direction.” Since God said that everything was “very good” when creation was complete, we can know that the culture created at that point was good as well. Upon the fall, the structure of the culture was not corrupted, but mankind was corrupted in his use (and abuse) of the culture as an instrument directing away from God. Finally, in Redemption/Restoration, Ashford argues that, in Christ, even culture can be re-directed in a proper relationship towards God.From this framework, Ashford shows how Christians can, and should, interact with several aspects of culture. Christians cannot be either fully separated from, nor fully at harmony with culture. One’s vocation, the arts, science, politics and economics, as well as scholarship are all areas where a distinctly Christian message must shine through if we are to be consistent with the transforming message of the Gospel.This book is a short, well written work that would be easy to incorporate into a small group study. Christians would do well to pick up a copy of this book to see a biblically based position about how Christians should engage culture. Especially for those in the US, this book will be both enlightening and thought-provoking.

Negative, biased, intolerant. Heavily Christian Reform. Beware. I got through the mandatory religion course without reading beyond the first three pages. I was so disgusted I refused to read any more.

This is a great little book. Ashford, Provost and Dean of the Faculty at SEBTS, writes, as the title suggests, from a kuyperian approach. He has written this‘ ... for Christians who wish to live faithfully in their cultural contexts. It shows how all of life matters to God, and how every Christian can serve powerfully as a representative of Christ, even if he or she is not an international missionary or a pastor.’He credits Kuyper with giving him his first insight into ‘the fact that Jesus Christ is relevant to every dimension of society and culture, and that for this reason we should allow our Christianity to shape absolutely everything we do.’ It is from this impulse that he has written this great introduction.Although writing as an American for Americans, the insights he draws do have global relevance.The first part of the book looks at different ways in which Christians have approached culture. He utilises, as any good kuyperian would, the framework of creation, fall and redemption to articulate a Christian view of culture and a ‘theology’ of vocation. He then draws lessons for cultural engagement from the lives of Augustine, Balthasar Hubmaier, C.S. Lewis, Dorothy L. Sayers, Francis Schaeffer, and of course Kuyper.The second part applies these principles to the cultural areas of the arts, science, politics, economics and education. He closes with three key questions:1. What is God’s creational design for this realm of culture?2. How has it been corrupted and misdirected by our sin and rebellion?3. How can I bring healing and redirection to this realm?These are important questions and this book will help Christians begin to be able to articulate answers to them.This is a great introduction and deserves a wide readership. The strength of the book is that it is short and easy to read. Its weakness is it’s short — I wanted more! But that is remedied by additional suggestions for action and reading at the end of each chapter. This makes it an ideal book for a discussion group.