Theology and Culture: A Guide to the Discussion (Cascade Companions)

by D. Stephen Long

Publisher:

Cascade Books

, 2008

Overview

Yahweh, Elohim, Jehovah, God—there are many names for the same God, and each arises from different cultural contexts and backgrounds. But how can you apply a name to the unnamable? How do we speak about a God that transcends cultural context without applying our own cultural and linguistic biases to the same God we speak of? To answer these questions, we need to pay close attention to what we mean by culture, and how we use this very complex term both in our everyday language and especially in the language of faith. Culture is an exceedingly complex term that nearly everyone uses, but no one is sure what it means. This work examines various uses of the term culture in theology today.

In the Logos edition, all Scripture passages in Theology and Culture are tagged and appear on mouseover, and all Scripture passages link to your favorite Bible translation in your library. With Logos’ advanced features, you can perform powerful searches by topic or Scripture reference—finding, for example, every mention of “modernity” or “culture.”

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Key Features

• Discussion of the promises and perils of today’s preoccupation with the relationship between theology and culture
• Exploration of the conflicts, tensions, and stresses in the life of the contemporary church
• Overview of the meaning and uses of the term culture

Contents

• Theology and Culture
• What Is Culture?
• Confusing Nature and Culture
• Language
• Diverse Uses of “Culture”
• Culture and God
• Theologians and Culture I
• Theologians and Culture II
• Theologians and Culture III
• Theology, Modernity, and Postmodernity
• Contemporary Theology I
• Contemporary Theology II

Top Highlights

“Modernity is the repetition of sameness under the illusion of difference.” (Page 86)

“Culture is ‘that total process of human activity and that total result of such activity to which now the name culture, now the name civilization, is applied in common speech … It comprises language, habits, ideas, beliefs, customs, social organizations, inherited artifacts, technical process and values.’” (Page 13)

“We know this only because of the revelation given to Moses when God tells him that God’s proper name is ‘I am.’ God alone is the one who truly is; God cannot be contained within any conceptual framework that we devise ourselves, even though we must use our conceptual systems in order to speak of God.” (Page 2)

“The peril is that we will begin to think and act as if our speaking of God only has to do with our cultural context, as if we cannot speak about the same God in different languages, times and cultures and recognize it is the same God.” (Page viii)

“The language we use about God is more like a ‘rule of grammar’ than an exact mental description of an object or an expression of an experience that need not take into account rules of grammar at all.” (Page 98)

Praise for the Print Edition

Modernity, Steve Long tells us with his patented acerbity, is a broken record that never stops repeating its supposed novelty. If broken records require sharp, swift smacks to be knocked out of their tiresome grooves, Long’s palm-sized book delivers a salutary slap that gets us back on track—and out of confused modern conceptualities that pit theology against culture. An excellent, masterly introduction to its topic.

—Rodney Clapp, editorial director, Brazos Press

Too many ‘guides’ pretend to a kind of theological neutrality that leads us nowhere. Steve Long’s wonderful little book is a noted exception: here is a guide to the theological terrain that doesn’t apologize for working with a compass. Providing a helpful survey of various schools of thought, the book also constitutes an argument for a particular theological understanding of culture. Long not only charts the territory, he also shows students how to plot a path through it. I’ve already been commending it to my students.

—James K. A. Smith, associate professor of philosophy, Calvin College

Long’s book is filled with deep insight and strategic provocation, both of which ought to push the theology and culture conversation beyond its unexamined truisms and self-satisfied dogmas. This is a book for people who take their theology without cream or sugar.

—Brent Laytham, associate professor of theology and ethics, North Park Theological Seminary

This work, as the title suggests, offers a bird’s eye view of the state of play between theology and culture. It provides a valuable summary of the contribution of Richard Niebuhr to the subject, but also suggests there is a need to revise Niebuhr’s classifications in the wake of the rising influence of the theology of Henri de Lubac common to both the Radical Orthodoxy and Communio Catholic scholars. From de Lubac’s perspective, Christ transforms cultures, rather than standing aloof outside them. The dynamics of this transformation is now a pressing theological concern which flows over confessional boundaries.

—Tracey Rowland, dean and permanent fellow, John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family (Melbourne)

Product Details

• Title: Theology and Culture: A Guide to the Discussion
• Author: D. Stephen Long
• Series: Cascade Companions
• Publisher: Wipf & Stock
• Publication Date: 2008
• Pages: 124

About D. Stephen Long

D. Stephen Long is professor of systematic theology at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is the author of a number of books, including John Wesley’s Moral Theology: The Quest for God and Goodness, Speaking of God: Theology, Language, and Truth and Christian Ethics: A Very Short Introduction.

Sample Pages from Theology and Culture: A Guide to the Discussion (Cascade Companions)