"I’m grateful," reports John Esau in Mennonite Weekly Review, "for a book that offers models by which Christians can move in positive directions to care for the world and culture in which we live. It’s not the whole story, but it’s a needed counterweight to our more common impulses toward separatism."

Summary: Rejecting both Christian withdrawal from and confrontational approaches to culture, this book calls for engaging others by coming alongside them, building relationships of trust through which to seek mutual treasure. In addition to the editors, contributors include (in order of appearance) Stephen V. Monsma, James E. Waller, Paul DeWeese, Susan Emmerich, David Thom, Jack Hafer, Marvin R. Wilson, Tammy Krause.

Comment: “These essays show us concrete ways in which Christians can authentically engage culture without simple condemnation or compromise.”
—Jeanne Heffernan Schindler, Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities, Villanova University. More. . . .

“Representing a variety of theological streams within the larger evangelical family, the authors provide practical suggestions for engaging our culture in dialogue about some of the most challenging issues we face.”
—Loren Swartzendruber, President, Eastern Mennonite University 

“These contributors speak with authority; they link practice with principle creatively; they are seeking out new paths for linking faith and scholarship. The book deserves careful attention—read it and think!”
—Mark Noll, Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History, University of Notre Dame

The editors do not just argue that Christians can be more effective agents of redemption by respectful dialogue than by confrontation; they present eight highly diverse and imaginative case studies in which this actually happened.”
—Nicholas Wolterstorff, Noah Porter Professor Emeritus of Philosophical Theology, Yale University

“In an era in which biting partisanship has come to characterize what passes for public discourse, the contributors offer a very different, irenic model.”
—Randall Balmer, Professor of American Religious History at Barnard College, Columbia University, and Rector of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Washington, CT

Market: College, seminary, or graduate students; theologians; scholars; church leaders; pastors; anyone interested in transcending “culture-wars” communication.

Shelving: Christian social ethics; Communication, Conflict Studies; Theology—of culture. BISAC: Religion, Social Sciences. RTM: 690 Religion/Ethics, 750 Sociology

The Editors: Harold Heie, Orange City, Iowa, was the Founding Director of the Center for Christian Studies at Gordon College (MA), where he now serves as a Senior Fellow. He is also a trustee of the Center for Public Justice (MD) and a Senior Fellow at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.He served for forty years as a teacher and academic administrator at Gordon College, The King’s College (NY), Northwestern College (IA), and Messiah College (PA). Michael A. King, Telford, Pennsylvania, is a publisher and editor of DreamSeeker Magazine. In addition to many articles, King has had published such books as Preaching about Life in a Threatening World  (with Ron Sider, Westminster, 1987) and Fractured Dance: Gadamer and Mennonite Conflict Over Homosexuality (Pandora Press U.S., 2001).  He is editor of Stumbling Toward a Genuine Conversation on Homosexuality (Cascadia, 2007) and co-editor of Anabaptist Preaching: A Conversation Between Pulpit, Pew, and Bible  (Cascadia, 2004). 

Publisher: Cascadia Publishing House LLC
Copublisher: Herald Press, Scottdale, PA
Publication date: June 2009 (copies available now)
Approximate Pages: 208
Tentative Format: 5.5 x 8.5" trade paper
Prices: $19.95 US/Can. ISBN 13:  978-1-931038-57-7; ISBN 10: 1-931038-57-0