Book Review: The Christian Culture Survival Guide by Matthew Paul Turner.
Matthew Paul Turner is, among other things, a former editor of CCM magazine, which deals with American entertainment media from a Christian perspective. This book is a humorous look at American fundamentalist Christianity from one who considers himself an "outsider on the inside". With bullet-point lists such as "Six signs your pastor might have an ego problem", "Five questions you never want a pastor to ask on the first Sunday" and "Eight types of girls (for guys to choose from) in Christian culture", the author tackles subjects as diverse as the worship service, sex and dating, and Christian boycotts.
It's true that Christian culture, especially as practised in evangelical churches, can be strange and even funny. And it's true that this author is only trying to point the way to a more authentic relationship with Christ, one where the famous "cringe factor" has been minimised, if not extinguished completely. But this book epitomises everything that I have come to hate about the Christianity-in-culture debate. It's one thing for Christians to have a bit of a laugh at their own expense but it's quite another thing to mock the goings-on in churches where people are genuinely trying to live in holiness. Christians are engaged in some very serious moral battles these days. It really doesn't help to ridicule their good intentions. The problem is not that Christians have culture, but that their culture is not always as Bible-based, Christ-centred and Spirit empowered as it should be.
If the author of this book was setting out to be irreverent, he has certainly succeeded. At one point, he suggests spitting into your hands and wiping your eyes as a remedy for falling asleep during the sermon. He describes in some detail a large woman inadvertently displaying most of her backside to a stunned congregation. I could give many other examples. More importantly, he fails to adequately balance his cynicism about church life. He actually recommends "multi-churching", whereby people have several churches that they attend according to what might be happening there. And maybe I'm a sourpuss but I thought his stereotypes of various church characters were more ridiculous than funny.
The Christian Church is an easy target for books like this one. Instead of pulling down evangelical Christianity, we need more books that will respect God's Church and constructively point the way to legitimte Christian culture.
