Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Neil Postman

Extends Marshall McLuhan's argument that the mode in which content is delivered shapes us as much as the content itself. In other words, "The medium is the message." Postman looks at how images and sound change the way we actually come to know reality.

Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live in It
Thomas De Zengotita

Read this book, along with Neal Gabler's Life: The Movie, and watch Merchants of Cool (PBS) to grasp the dehumanizing effects of today's electronic mediators.

It Was Good: Making Art to the Glory of God
Ned Bustard, Editor

Artists show how we can be the creators—not just critics—of culture. Thoughtful, insightful essays wrestle with the theology and practice of the creative enterprise. You'll see hints of classics from Madeleine L'Engle (Walking on Water), Hans Rookmaaker (Art Needs No Justification), and Richard Niebuhr (Christ and Culture).

A Matrix of Meanings: Finding God in Pop Culture
Craig Detweiler and Barry Taylor

Bill Romanowski (Eyes Wide Open), Robert Johnston (Reel Spirituality), and Jeffrey Overstreet (Through a Screen Darkly) helped us find God in film. Now Detweiler and Taylor guide us in discovering God in other art forms.

Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture: Bridging Teen Worldviews and Christian Truth
Walt Mueller

Mueller listens to faith and culture and interprets each to the other in a way that builds bridges, not walls.

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Related Elsewhere:

Previous top 5 lists had books about the Civil War, apologetics, atheism, and sex.

More book reviews are available on our site.

The Culturally Savvy Christian is available from ChristianBook.com and other retailers.

Staub's website and blog, "where belief meets real life," has a section on The Culturally Savvy Christian.

In The Dick Staub Interview, formerly a weekly feature on our website, Staub spoke with writers, theologians, and other cultural influencers.

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Postman's book is excellent, but horribly outdated both in content and example, and does not begin to discuss the cultural impact of the internet, nor the ramifications of having moved from a modern to a post modern culture. The best book on culture by far from a Christian perspective which remains fresh and relevant is Ken Myers' "All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes". This is an excellent work and deals exceptionally well with how culture impacts our lives and the differences between so call high and low culture. I've not read the rest of the books on this list, nor would I be tempted to do so based upon Staub's summary blurb other than perhaps De Zengotita's book which seems to address the significance of living in a culture where much of our experience has become mediated via the media, which is a significant issue in our post modern, media saturated world.

Postman's book is excellent, but horribly outdated both in content and example, and does not begin to discuss the cultural impact of the internet, nor the ramifications of having moved from a modern to a post modern culture. The best book on culture by far from a Christian perspective which remains fresh and relevant is Ken Myers' "All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes". This is an excellent work and deals exceptionally well with how culture impacts our lives and the differences between so call high and low culture. I've not read the rest of the books on this list, nor would I be tempted to do so based upon Staub's summary blurb other than perhaps De Zengotita's book which seems to address the significance of living in a culture where much of our experience has become mediated via the media, which is a significant issue in our post modern, media saturated world.

Postman's book is excellent, but horribly outdated both in content and example, and does not begin to discuss the cultural impact of the internet, nor the ramifications of having moved from a modern to a post modern culture. The best book on culture by far from a Christian perspective which remains fresh and relevant is Ken Myers' "All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes". This is an excellent work and deals exceptionally well with how culture impacts our lives and the differences between so call high and low culture. I've not read the rest of the books on this list, nor would I be tempted to do so based upon Staub's summary blurb other than perhaps De Zengotita's book which seems to address the significance of living in a culture where much of our experience has become mediated via the media, which is a significant issue in our post modern, media saturated world.

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