Everyday Theology - review

Everyday Theology by Charles Anderson, Michael Sleasman, and Kevin Vanhoozer is a compilation of papers that gives theological insight on specific culture issues. While my number one reason for buying this was because I went to graduate school with the people that wrote the articles, I was very encouraged by the depth and for providing a way forward when we think about cultural issues from a theological standpoint.

How to read cultural texts and trends:
By trying to avoid summarizing Vanhoozer's initial article, I will simply give his own methodological guidelines to interpreting culture (pp 59-60). These are very insightful and quite helpful as we engage the world around us.

1. Try to comprehend a cultural text on it's own terms before you "interpret" it.
2. Attend to what a cultural text is doing as well as saying by clarifying its illocutionary act.
3. Consider the world behind, of, and in front of the cultural text.
4. Determine what "powers" are served by particular cultural texts or trends by discovering whose material interests are served.
5. Seek the "world hypothesis" and/or "root metaphor" implied by the cultural text.
6. Be comprehensive in your interpretation of a cultural text; find corroborative evidence that makes best sense of the whole as well as the parts.
7. Give "thick" descriptions of the cultural text that are nonreductive and sensitive to the various levels of communicative action.
8. Articulate the way of being human to which a cultural text directly or indirectly bears witness and gives commendation.
9. Discern what faith a cultural text directly or indirectly expresses. What convictions about God, the world, and ourselves does a cultural text and/or trend commit us?
10. Locate the cultural text in the biblical creation-fall-redemption schema and make sure that biblical rather than cultural texts have the lead role in shaping your imagination and hence your interpretative framework for your experience.

Interpreting trends:
After Vanhoozer's introduction, the book is then a series of papers that cover: grocery store magazines, Eminem, UN's declaration of human rights, megachurch architecture, Gladiator, busyness, blogging, transhumanism, designer funerals, and weddings. This book gives quite an assortment and quality analysis. Reminds me of a former Christian adviser that gave incredible insight on how air conditioning has impacted society.

This book is a truly helpful collection of essays and not from all the same authors we always read (Vanhoozer excepted). Excellent stuff - especially nice is the glossary at the end. Some discussion questions would be nice, but I guess if you have this be a discussion book, then most of the questions might just present themselves. Also, it is too bad that the website didn't quite pan out. This could certainly be an ongoing series; there is always a need to examine and interpret culture through a Christ-centered lens.