Book Review: Public Theology in Cultural Engagement

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October 16, 2008

Book Review: Public Theology in Cultural Engagement
Stephen Holmes (ed.), Public Theology in Cultural Engagement (Paternoster, 2008), 196pp

This is a set of previously unpublished essays engaging theologically with culture. The papers have emerged from a recent project between the Bible Society and the Research Institute in Systematic Theology at King's College London. With essays from Colin Gunton, Robert Jenson, Colin Greene, Brian Horne, Luke Bretherton and Stephen Holmes this is an excellent book which addresses important concerns. Unlike other works engaging theology and culture, this book seeks to be 'theological rather than sociological.'

The book begins with Holmes asking whether theology can engage with culture; followed by essays dealing with the same question 'through the lens of particular biblical, theological, or historical data', and then a second part which puts the theory into practice - on issues of drugs, art and nationalism.

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