25 Books on Faith and Culture

At the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith & Culture, we seek to engage culture as salt and light, and as Christians, we do so from a place of faith. Authors and thinkers have written much on this topic from various perspectives throughout history. No matter where you find yourself in this discussion—as a newcomer or expert hoping to find more to read—we have compiled a list for you. First, we’ll look to the surveys and introductions to the discussion of how faith interacts with culture and vice versa.

Level 1: Surveys & Introductions

In this first section, you’ll find some of the best works to address definitions of culture, how culture and faith are related to one another, and in what ways Christians are called to engage culture. The following eight works could be considered basic introductions that you could pick up whether you’ve thought on this topic for some time or are brand-new to the discussion.

• 1. Loving the City: Doing Balanced, Gospel-Centered Ministry in Your City, Timothy Keller. It is fitting that Tim Keller’s Loving the City is placed first on this list. In this work, Keller not only introduces the reader to the majority of perspectives of how Christ and culture interact, but he also writes from a perspective of a practitioner who has had to think through this relationship in his church planting in New York City.
• 2. Christ and Culture, Richard Niebuhr
• 3. Kuyper: A Short and Personal Introduction, Richard Mouw
• 4. Theology and Culture: A Guide to the Discussion, D. Stephen Long
• 5. Interpreting Your World: Five Lenses for Engaging Theology and Culture, Justin Ariel Bailey
• 6. Creation Regained: Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview, Albert Wolters
• 7. Engaging God’s World: A Christian Vision of Faith, Learning, and Living, Cornelius Plantinga Jr.
• 8. Every Square Inch: An Introduction to Cultural Engagement for Christians, Bruce Ashford

Level 2: Cultural Engagement in Practice

In this section, we’ll consider some more “in the weeds” works that deal with the practical. After the Level 1 books, you should now consider what to do with this knowledge. What follows are exemplars of a practiced faith and culture or helpful guides to consider specific environments to think on these things.

• 9. Onward: Engaging the Culture Without Losing the Gospel, Russell Moore
• 10. The Uneasy Conscience of Modern Fundamentalism, Carl F.H. Henry
• 11. To Change the World: The Irony, Tragedy, and Possibility of Christianity in the Late Modern World, James Davison Hunter
• 12. Cultural Engagement: A Crash Course in Contemporary Issues, Joshua Chatraw & Karen Swallow Prior
• 13. The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, Lesslie Newbigin
• 14. Between Two Worlds: The Challenge of Preaching Today, John Stott
• 15. This is Our Time: Everyday Myths in Light of the Gospel, Trevin Wax
• 16. Awaiting the King: Reforming Public Theology, James K.A. Smith. Although I don’t always agree with Smith in every topic, his work in Awaiting the King addressing how the person is shaped and formed by “cultural liturgies” is eye-opening. It not only helps us understand how others have been shaped to make the decisions and life-choices they make; it also makes you face what “cultural liturgies” have shaped you.
• 17. Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends, Kevin Vanhoozer, Charles Anderson, Michael Sleasman
• 18. Visual Faith, William Dyrness
• 19. Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling, Andy Crouch
• 20. A Practical Guide to Culture: Helping the Next Generation Navigate Today’s World, John Stonestreet & Brett Kunkle

Level 3: To the Sources

The final level is what I am affectionately calling “The Big Boys.” The first two levels were filled with introductions and intermediate works, but these final four are, by most accounts, heavy sources.

• 21. Wonderful Works of God, Herman Bavinck
• 22. The City of God, St. Augustine
• 23. The Stone Lectures on Calvinism, Abraham Kuyper
• 24. A Secular Age, Charles Taylor
• 24a. How (Not) To be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor, James K.A. Smith. I’ve included Smith’s How (Not) to be Secular because Taylor’s work is a behemoth. For the readers who are hoping to get a taste of Taylor’s thought without reading all 776 pages of philosophical analysis of culture, you would benefit from reading Smith’s summary of Taylor’s thought.

In Genesis, we as humans were given the task from God to “be fruitful and multiply” and to “have dominion.” This task was not lost at the Fall and should not be taken for granted today. I hope these books will act as guides and conversation partners as you navigate how faith and culture meet.