Plowing in Hope: Toward a Biblical Theology of Culture 2nd edition

Culture is a continuing, forward process?the gradual unveiling of truth as life. But often we get ensnarled. We can only imagine culture as a war, a gritty ideological and religious struggle where every arena is bloody with strife: art, philosophy, cuisine, music, literature, science. But at its foundation, culture is about building, not conflict. The time has come for us to beat our swords into plowshares.

By realizing the Bible's vision for a cultivated earth, we can build a more comprehensive, radical, holistic culture, resistant to compromise and dedicated to a Trinitarian aesthetic. What does this culture look like? It is the development of the earth into a global fabric of gardens and cities in harmony with nature?a glorious garden-city.

Our "cultural mandate" finds its roots in God's command for us to rule the earth and till the ground, causing hidden potential to flourish. The New Testament boldly reverberates this calling. God has given central preeminence to our cultural "plowing," weaving it into the whole tapestry of mankind's history, from the very beginning to the consummation and beyond. Plowing in Hope provides a positive, clear, and colorful introduction to this transformational topic.