Cultural Apologetics

Reviews

'Always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in you, said the apostle Peter. Paul Gould in this fine book gives reasons for hope that are not just argumentative or propositional but narrative and personal, reasons that resonate with those hard-to- articulate but utterly essential components of life: mystery, beauty, holiness, and wholeness. Here is a clear, personable, heartening work, which I warmly recommend.'

'Cultural Apologetics is a timely and balanced book. Although Gould addresses some big apologetics issues today, Cultural Apologetics is more of a practical roadmap for advancing the Christian message through reason, imagination, and conscience. I highly recommend this book not only for those interested in apologetics but for Christians interested in learning how to creatively bring the Christian voice into cultural conversations today.'

'I have long known that culture is a powerful means of spiritual formation. It is also a tacit means of shaping what people consider plausible, and what they feel to be true, good, and beautiful. Paul Gould's Cultural Apologetics works not a paradigm change so much as a paradigm expansion on our concept of what apologetics is and does, but it is nonetheless revolutionary for that. This is the book on apologetics for which I have long been waiting.'

'I often find myself distressed when I consider the current state of the church's witness to the world. How has the greatest story the world has ever known lost its credibility, its beauty, and its persuasive power? Not only does this book answer these questions with penetrating insight, but it also shows us a hopeful way forward. By giving us a holistic apologetic that brings together the mind, the conscience, and the imagination, Paul charts a thoroughly biblical course for the church's cultural engagement. Every Christian should read this book carefully, as it will effectively prepare us to bear witness to the truth, goodness, and beauty of the gospel of Jesus to a disenchanted culture.'

'Reading this book is a pure joy. A breath of fresh air, Cultural Apologetics is one of the best books I've read in years. Paul Gould was meant to write it. His ideas having marinated, his prodigious teaching skills honed, his reading wide and deep, he was able to write with the fertile mind of a philosopher, capacious heart of a poet, vivid imagination of an artist, and the nimble hands of a passionate practitioner. This is essential reading for every actual or budding apologist; in fact, the book deserves a very wide readership among believers and skeptics alike. It is not a book to be read quickly but digested and savored. Read, relish, and reread it; use it in class; give it away as a gift. Culturally informed and sensitive, embodying what it extolls, eclectic in numerous respects, and punctuated with clever and telling illustrations--both verbal and visual--this remarkable book makes a powerful case for an expansive apologetic faithful to a true anthropology. It's just the corrective to reawaken the imagination of a disenchanted age. Every page crackles with insight and erudition. At moments it's veritably sublime and enchanting and as inspiring, persuasive, and moving as it is eminently practical. I simply can't recommend it enough.'

'The world is flat. This claim is not about the shape of the earth. Rather, the world is flat in the experience of most secular people. They live an impoverished, empty existence. Their world has been thoroughly disenchanted. What they need is a fresh breeze of hope. What they need is for their world to be reenchanted with the reality of the living Christ. They need their vision cleared so they are able to see the good and the true and the beautiful. Paul Gould's Cultural Apologetics tackles this disenchantment and calls believers to hold forth the gospel as a greater vision of life. This book is not simply another rehashing of apologetics. As the subtitle says, it develops a strategy for Renewing the Christian Voice, Conscience, and Imagination in a Disenchanted World. With wisdom and insight, Gould traces our human longings through literature, philosophy, film, and human relationships. He equips the reader to better move from these shared human experiences into conversations about the most important things. This is a truly important book.'

'We live in a post-Enlightenment, disenchanted culture emptied of transcendence. For many, belief in God is unwelcome, unnecessary, and unimaginable. Paul Gould's Cultural Apologetics is as enjoyable to read as it is important in considering culturally relevant means of engaging our post-Enlightenment (i.e., postmodern) culture with the gospel of Christ. His broad reading in philosophy and Christian apologetics, as well as his background in campus ministry, helps him diagnose the problem to effectively reach toward a solvent model of cultural engagement in what he calls a 'new lane' in Christian apologetics. Some may see Christianity as plausible but not desirable. Others see it as desirable but not plausible. The cultural apologist, Gould claims, seeks to show that Christianity is both plausibly true and satisfyingly desirable. This important book provides tools leading toward the pathway of reenchantment.'

'Paul Gould nails it. Cultural Apologetics is, more than any book I've read, a strategic missionary map, defining and clarifying what the church must do to reach Western culture with the gospel in these strange, foreign days in which we live.'