Crouch, Andy. Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling. Expanded edition. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2023. 320 pp. $26.99.
In the expanded and updated edition of Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling, Andy Crouch offers a deep yet approachable theology of creation and creativity, providing clear and wise counsel on how to view the products, power, and possibilities of culture-making. The author assumes a Christian worldview, and the book functions less as an evangelistic tool and more as a theological reflection for Christians seeking to engage culture biblically.
The book’s tripartite structure—titled respectively “Culture,” “Gospel,” and “Calling”—balances breadth and depth. Part one unpacks the nature of culture, part two explores culture through Scripture, and part three challenges readers to faithful, intentional participation in shaping culture. Ultimately, Crouch calls readers to responsible, savvy, and creative action.
To guide analysis, Crouch introduces five interpretive questions that can be asked of any cultural artifact—from highways to omelets (29–30):
- What does this artifact assume about the way the world is?
- What does it assume about the way the world should be?
- What does it make possible?
- What does it make impossible—or at least difficult?
- What new forms of culture are created in response?
These types of questions may help Christians think more deeply and objectively about the cultural world around them, especially when faced with more controversial aspects of culture.
As Crouch explores culture’s nature, history, and essence (chap. 1–3), he reminds readers that participation in culture is inescapable and challenges them to be intentional as both consumers and creators. Crouch also identifies four common ways Christians engage culture: condemning, copying, critiquing, and consuming (84–89). He calls these “gestures,” warning against letting them become “postures”—default modes of engagement. Instead of simply condemning, copying, critiquing, and/or consuming culture, Crouch urges the postures of cultivation and creation (75–77), inviting Christians to think more like builders, maintainers, and renovators of culture. This perspective is especially refreshing for those tempted to stand “outside of” culture. Following Christ’s example, we are invited to step into culture—not just lament its flaws but imagine what it could become.
Part two traces culture through the narrative of Scripture: the garden, Israel, Jesus, Acts, and Revelation. One of the most enlightening sections portrays Jesus as the perfect cultivator and creator of culture (chap. 8)—yet also one who was crushed by it, only to rise and transform it. His resurrection redeems culture, serving as the “hinge of history” (145). Crouch insists that in Christ, culture will not end in failure but in renewal (chap. 10). Though this seems impossible in a fallen world, the gospel itself thrives on impossibility, making it “culturally potent and perennially relevant” (176).
The book then highlights how the Holy Spirit unleashed a cultural revolution in the early church (chap. 9). Empowered by a radically different story, Christians grew from a few thousand to nearly thirty million within a few centuries, transforming half of the Roman empire (156). Crouch also points to God’s long partnership with Israel in building and sustaining culture (chap. 7). On a practical note, he reminds readers that even the church’s weekly rhythm of worship reflects a massive cultural shift from Jewish sabbath practice to Christian worship on Sunday (144).
Part three focuses on application while warning of pitfalls. Crouch’s sober reminder—“Beware of world changers—they have not yet learned the true meaning of sin” (200)—tempers overconfidence. His point is not to abandon hope but to reframe it: we change the world by making more and better culture. Change begins with cultivating the immediate world around us.
Although this is a “revised and updated” edition of the original 2008 volume, some references remain dated, including mention of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, 2007 Amazon prices, Napster, and Google search results. These snapshots of early-2000s culture make the text feel anchored to its original moment.
Still, the book’s insights are relevant and timely. The subtitle reflects Crouch’s concern that Christians often abandon their creative calling—likely a common posture in today’s climate. He reminds readers that culture is both God’s plan and gift. Though culture has been the stage for rebellion and judgment, it is also the arena of God’s redemption and mercy. Chapter 6, “The Least of the Nations,” is especially timely, showing how the early church’s cultural clashes gave way to a new story of inclusion—good news for our increasingly global society.
Above all, Jesus embodies Crouch’s pastoral and prophetic vision. His life displayed the perfect balance of condemning, critiquing, consuming, cultivating, and curating culture. For Christians, following Jesus Christ means more than becoming “influencers”—it means becoming culture makers.
Overall, Crouch’s invitation is pastoral, wise, and hopeful: step into culture as God has done throughout human history. Embrace the joyful challenge of cultivating, creating, and curating culture—not for personal acclaim, but for the glory of God.
