The first time I read Christ & Culture I was certain I knew what Niebuhr meant by the ampersand. I was skeptical about what he meant by Christ, and I knew he was wrong about culture. So I put it back in the closet believing the thing was way too baggy to be worn in public.

Later I perused it thinking the material might have shrunk and was perhaps wearable. After all, the book was only a year older than I was, and I was willing to concede that my knowledge of culture at the time of my mother's pregnancy was spotty. Maybe since then I learned something about his culture.

Nope. Back on the rack it went.

By the third time I had had enough. It was a book worth having read, but I got the impression that even the people who said it was wonderful hadn't been noticeably benefited by it. Too many exceptions and not enough rules. When people referred to it or quoted from it, it was nice to know the context, but even people who said it was "seminal" seemed to be talking rubbish. Certainly better things could be said. Longinus, Sidney, Bacon, Pope, Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Poe, Arnold...could clarify a lot of nice points and explain Man & Culture reasonably well. Niebuhr in explaining Christ & Culture seemed to be nailing a lemon meringue pie to the wall.

If you are a good reader and if you make notes of your reading, I would say it is worth the price. I'm not sure I would put it on anyone's short reading list. If there were a Cliff Notes version of it, I'll bet you could read that and come up with some tough questions for those people who thought it was wonderful.

So here is D. A. Carson with a tape measure around his neck, pins between his lips and a piece of chalk in his hand. I think he has taken the best measure of the thing, and I think my first reaction was fair. I'm going to say you should read Christ & Culture Revisited [Eerdmans]. And I would say (especially following the short exchange here on Remonstrans about the emergents' "eschatological hope") that this is something worth nailing down in your mind. If all you read is chapter two, it's worth it.

Evangelicals are back at it again trying to explain what it is they want to do in the public square, what needs to be done with "culture". As far as they are concerned the best thing you can do is to smile at them, ask them what qualifies them as critics of culture and walk away. But you might come across someone who has read some evangelical bafflegab and he might ask you what you think. Since culture is important, you might want to be braced for the discussion.

I haven't finished Carson yet so I'm not sure he can make this suit entirely presentable, but I have read enough to know that whether or not you end up agreeing, you'll have had the categories sorted properly.

And these days that's saying a lot.