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Biblical Critical Theory: How The Bible's Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture Hardcover – 5 July 2023

by Christopher Watkin (Author), Timothy Keller

4.8 260 ratings

in Christian Social Issues

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*With a foreword from Tim Keller*

A bold vision for Christians who want to engage the world in a way that is biblically faithful and culturally sensitive.

In Biblical Critical Theory, Christopher Watkin shows how the Bible and its unfolding story help us make sense of modern life and culture.

Critical theories exist to critique what we think we know about reality and the social, political, and cultural structures in which we live. In doing so, they make visible the values and beliefs of a culture in order to scrutinize and change them.

Biblical Critical Theory exposes and evaluates the often-hidden assumptions and concepts that shape late-modern society, examining them through the lens of the biblical story running from Genesis to Revelation, and asking urgent questions like:

How does the Bible's storyline help us understand our society, our culture, and ourselves
How do specific doctrines help us engage thoughtfully in the philosophical, political, and social questions of our day
How can we analyze and critique culture and its alternative critical theories through Scripture

Informed by the biblical-theological structure of Saint Augustine's magisterial work The City of God (and with extensive diagrams and practical tools), Biblical Critical Theory shows how the patterns of the Bible's storyline can provide incisive, fresh, and nuanced ways of intervening in today's debates on everything from science, the arts, and politics to dignity, multiculturalism, and equality. You'll learn the moves to make and the tools to use in analyzing and engaging with all sorts of cultural artifacts and events in a way that is both biblically faithful and culturally relevant.

It is not enough for Christians to explain the Bible to the culture or cultures in which we live. We must also explain the culture in which we live within the framework and categories of the Bible, revealing how the whole of the Bible sheds light on the whole of life.

If Christians want to speak with a fresh, engaging, and dynamic voice in the marketplace of ideas today, we need to mine the unique treasures of the distinctive biblical storyline.

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Popular Highlights in this book

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Critical theory aims to make visible the deep structures of a culture in order to expose and change them.
Highlighted by 547 Kindle readers
But the term critical theory has an older and more basic meaning. It means to not just accept what a culture says about itself but also to see what is really going on beneath the surface.
Highlighted by 521 Kindle readers
Second, figures help us get a handle on the fact that each cultural moment has certain broad commitments and assumptions that shape what people can meaningfully think, say, and do.
Highlighted by 507 Kindle readers

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From the Publisher

Why I Wrote Biblical Critical Theory

“I’ve tried to write the book that I was desperate to read but just couldn’t find when I was a Christian undergraduate studying liberal arts at a secular university. I was frantically reading about all the big “theories”: Marxism and feminism, eco-theory, and queer theory, and writing essays about meaning, power, and identity. As a young Christian I was convinced that the Bible had some fresh, insightful things to say on these issues and some powerful critiques to make, but I couldn’t find the language to say it. This book bridges that gap, showing how the Bible’s storyline from Genesis to Revelation helps us build a full-orbed Christian theory. My prayer is that Christians come away equipped and emboldened to show how the Bible speaks with an engaging, insightful, and often surprisingly fresh voice into the great social and cultural issues of our day. I’d love people to be energized not only to explain the Bible to the culture, but also to explain culture through the Bible.”

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Review

'. . . An ambitious, comprehensive, and thrilling work of Christian apologetics . . . The most significant work of its kind to appear in a decade.'--RORY SHINER, Providence City Church, Perth

'[Chris Watkin] maps a path out of some of the most fundamental impasses of our time . . . Urgent and weighty, Biblical Critical Theory is . . . simply, a tremendously exciting read.'--NATASHA MOORE, Centre for Public Christianity

'A book that I have been eagerly anticipating for years. ... My prayers are that this book will bear much intellectual and spiritual fruit in many lives over the decades ahead.'--TIMOTHY KELLER, founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York

'A brilliant and unique book . . . It is the most biblical, up-to-date, and comprehensive analysis of contemporary Western culture that I know of.'--JOSHUA CHATRAW, Center for Public Christianity

'A fresh way of seeing the world, life, culture, and the Bible . . . I highly recommend this book.'--ALAN NOBLE, Oklahoma Baptist University

'A seminal text for us . . . A foundation and frame for years to come. Absolutely essential reading'--DAN STRANGE, Crosslands Forum

'A wonderful book bringing the Scriptures--every part of them--into a deep and illuminating conversation with the concerns of culture.'--GLEN SCRIVENER, Speak Life

'An effervescently brilliant book, that rare volume that excels both in biblical and cultural exegesis.'--BRUCE RILEY ASHFORD, Kirby Laing Centre for Public Theology

'An important update of Augustine's City of God, a proposal for making biblical sense of what is happening in contemporary culture.'--KEVIN J. VANHOOZER, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

'Biblical Critical Theory doesn't just give us answers; it helps us to come up with better questions . . . An innovative and immensely fruitful paradigm.'--MICHAEL HORTON, Westminster Seminary California

'Christopher Watkin's expert, timely compendium of Christian Scripture's subversive engagement of dominating themes of our modern age brings welcome healing to our world.'--ESTHER LIGHTCAP MEEK, Geneva College

'Every careful reader will be rewarded from repeated immersions in this profound and potentially transformative work.'--TERENCE HALLIDAY, American Bar Foundation

'Incisive, accessible, and astonishing in scope . . . '--DOLORES G. MORRIS, University of South Florida

'This book is a feast. Chris Watkin accomplishes what few have.'--WILLIAM EDGAR, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia

'This book is a must-read for all serious thinkers.'--SAM CHAN, City Bible Forum

'This is a magnificent achievement. It is a must-read . . . Here is a total defence and commendation of Christianity like no other. Buy it. Read it. Ponder it. Pass it on.'--JOHN DICKSON, author and historian

'This is the best yet most accessible exploration of the intersection between Christianity, culture, and philosophy I've read in recent years.'--NATHANIEL GRAY SUTANTO, Reformed Theological Seminary, Washington, DC

'This is truly the book I have long wanted to read, and I believe it deserves to become a standard text for all Christian leaders, teachers, evangelists, and any serious-minded believer.'--RICHARD CUNNINGHAM, Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship

About the Author

Christopher Watkin (PhD, University of Cambridge) is senior lecturer in French studies at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. He is a scholar with an international reputation in the area of modern and contemporary European thought, atheism, and the relationship between the Bible and philosophy. His published work runs the spectrum from academic monographs on contemporary philosophy to books written for general readers, both Christian and secular, and include Difficult Atheism, From Plato to Postmodernism, Great Thinkers: Jacques Derrida, and others.

Timothy Keller is the founder and senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, and the New York Times bestselling author of The Reason for God and The Prodigal God. He has also mentored young urban church planters and pastors in New York and other cities through Redeemer City to City, which has helped launch over 200 churches in 35 global cities to date.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins Religious US (5 July 2023)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 672 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0310128722
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0310128724
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 16.64 x 5.08 x 23.62 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 15,250 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 1 in Christian Social Studies
- 11 in Religion & Sociology
- 12 in Sociology of Religion

Customer Reviews:
4.8 260 ratings

About the author

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Christopher Watkin

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I am an Australian Research Council Future Fellow and Associate Professor of European Languages (French Studies)Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. I have authored a number of books in modern and contemporary thought, including Phenomenology or Deconstruction? (2009), Difficult Atheism (2011), French Philosophy Today: New Figures of the Human (2016) and Michel Serres: Figures of Thought (2020). I also write books about the relationship between theology, philosophy and culture, including Biblical Critical Theory (2022), Thinking Through Creation (2017), Jacques Derrida (2017), Michel Foucault (2018) and Gilles Deleuze (2020).

I am currently chief investigator for a project entitled "Rewriting the Social Contract: Technology, Ecology, Extremism". The project's home page is https://www.monash.edu/arts/languages-literatures-cultures-linguistics/social-contract-research-network, and its YouTube channel is https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq7geWYdmGE3kIcJrw8Ebsw.

My personal website is christopherwatkin.com, and you can find some of my academic talks at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjhGOouhxdPo0XkspFSs2Dw

I edit the Crosscurrents monograph series for Edinburgh University Press, exploring the development of European thought through engagements with the arts, humanities, social sciences and sciences. See http://www.euppublishing.com/series/cross

You can find me on Twitter @DrChrisWatkin.

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Neil K.

The book I've been waiting years for

Reviewed in Canada on 2 May 2024

Verified Purchase

A rich exhortation to examine which 'social imaginary' animates us (we all have one, whether examined or not) and a compelling call to consider how the biblical story is the best basis for cultural critique.

Packed with many contemporary examples, copious citations, and opportunities for chapter-ly reflection, this book, as the author urges in the final chapter, serves as a great springboard for further inquiry and application.

Neal Benson

Making Sense of our Culture

Reviewed in the United States on 18 April 2024

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In Biblical Critical Theory Christopher Watkin focuses on how the story of the Bible seeks to make sense of the current culture we find ourselves in. For decades Watkin was reading books about how the Bible and culture intersect. He never felt he found one that accurately described what he read in Scripture and saw in culture, so he wrote this book. Watkin shares with the reader that he will begin in Genesis and walk through the entirety of Scripture to help the reader understand how to view the world through the lens of the Bible. In the 600+ pages Watkin is able to highlight the word of God and contrast how God’s word invites us to view culture around us.
Understanding the complexity of integrated Biblical Truths, Watkis comes up with a unique way to explain these. For example the Bible teaches that Ultimate reality is absolute and personal. Watkins employs a technique called: Diagonalization that allows him to present two Biblical truths and connect them to an overarching truth of God. The diagonalization of the example would be that God is: absolute personality theism. Some might view diagonalization as a compromise but this presents “a positive and viable third way” for us to view Scripture. Watkins invites the reader to think of complex Biblical truths by using this method throughout the entire book. For the person who enjoys visual examples, there are great illustrations to visually explain these.
Throughout the book the author brings in a variety of different Scripture passages to help explain the point(s) he is making. Watkins writes at a level where scholars and laymen can both understand his concepts. The book could have been high and lofty but Watkins has made it acceptable to basically anyone with a desire to better understand the world they live in through the lens of God’s word. The dedicated reader will appreciate how Watkins highlights how Christ is the heart of the Bible through an example of the metro system in France. Watkins likens the truth of Jesus to the metro system in Paris and advocates for Jesus as the heart of the Bible.
Throughout the book Watkins brings in the historical culture that the original audience would have experienced when Scripture was written to them. This helps the reader to understand what was taking place for the original audience. But the author doesn’t leave the historical study there. He then takes time to help the reader understand the original purpose of the passage in light of our current culture. This is done through personal examples, short stories, and Marvel movie references. Watkin is able to speak of culture while living in culture and loving the Word of God. It’s obvious that Watkin is a student of the Bible and culture (it appears in that order.). Finally the reader will be impressed by the ability of Watkins to have a grasp on the entirety of Scripture. It seems that Watkins is fluent in forms of Biblical literature. He can look at Israel’s past, the coming of Christ, Pauline literature, and Eschatology. One can appreciate how Watkin doesn’t shy away from passages or concepts that are difficult to understand.

Neil Richardson

Dazzling yet humble

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 January 2024

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A comprehensive overview of God’s Word and how it critically engages with our modern lives and mindsets. Watkin has done a marvellous job analysing both academic theory and popular culture through the lens of Scripture and has produced a latter-day ‘City of God’.

One person found this helpful

Connor

Great book!

Reviewed in Canada on 12 August 2023

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It is a great volume, and I highly recommend it. Watkin offers a great blueprint for Christian cultural critique and engagement.

Robin Olson

Incredible and important

Reviewed in the United States on 19 July 2023

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The author’s style is engaging and easy to read, avoiding obscure theological and academic jargon. But he is incredibly thorough nonetheless. This is by far one of the best books I’ve ever read. I cannot recommend it enough. Everyone should read it.

7 people found this helpful

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From the Publisher

Why I Wrote Biblical Critical Theory

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About the author

Christopher Watkin

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