Culture Care

In Culture Care, Makoto Fujimura writes about reconnecting with beauty for our common life.

The book helps readers cultivate practices that care for the soul of our culture. Fujimura writes, “Culture is not a territory to be won or lost but a resource we are called to steward with care. Culture is a garden to be cultivated.”

Beauty

Culture Care begins by addressing the problem of isolation. Community is difficult, and there is a need to build bridges between people. Art can help accomplish this.

Fujimura next explores the role of beauty in culture care. Beauty cultivates an appetite for the best things of the soul. Like good food, beauty requires time to absorb and digest.

He defines beauty as a quality connected with things that are inherently appealing and desirable. Beauty is a delight, a refreshment, and a pleasure. It invites us in and is worthy of our attention. It connects us with lasting satisfaction. He points us to a Christian understanding of beauty that includes gratuity, stewardship, justice, and sacrifice.

Border Crossers

I was most moved by Fujimura’s discussion of mearcstapas—border crossers. I learned to embrace my identity as an artist and to see how that identity helps me as a leader. I better understand how I can preach not merely as an academic, but also as an artist.

I was most challenged to view art not simply as something practical, but as an expression of love. Art allows us to become more fully human. I was also challenged because I am deeply aware of the commercialization of Christian books and the temptation to turn ministry into a means of financial gain. I do not want to be a peddler of the gospel, and Fujimura’s work calls me back to that conviction.

Alongside other artists, I am resolved to focus on creating “Genesis moments” that are generous and generational. The book concludes with an encouragement to till gospel soil. In many ways, culture care is the work of cultivating the soil in which the gospel can flourish.

Wonder

This second edition has been newly revised with relevant discussions on culture wars and artificial intelligence. New material includes reflections on generative thinking and culture care as a form of public theology.

This book helped me wonder at what could be. This book is a work of art. Culture Care is a beautiful project worth pursuing for the glory of God and the good of others.

I received a media copy of Culture Care (Amazon) and this is my honest review. Find more of my book reviews and follow Dive In, Dig Deep on Instagram - my account dedicated to Bibles and books to see the beauty of the Bible and the role of reading in the Christian life. To read all of my book reviews and to receive all of the free eBooks I find on the web, subscribe to my free newsletter.