📄The Areopagus Update – Aug/Sept 2020
American Crisis
Cultural Marxism and the Culture War:
A Christian Response
by Jefrey D. Breshears
(Centre•Pointe Publishing, 2020)
Available at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08DDRM6JQ
The Purpose
American Crisis is an incisive study and analysis of the origins, the manifestations and the consequences of America’s culture war – and what Christians can and should do in response.
The purpose of the book is:
- To reveal and analyze the great spiritual, moral and cultural challenges facing America today;
- To explore the historical and philosophical origins of America’s culture war;
- To expose the serious consequences of the erosion of Christian influences in our society; and
- To challenge Christians to become better informed and actively engaged in the great issues of our time in keeping with our calling to be a source of Love, Light, Hope and Truth in the midst of a society and culture that is rapidly disintegrating and descending into spiritual darkness.
This book is written primarily, but not exclusively, for Christians who take their faith seriously and are concerned about the spiritual, social, cultural and political condition of America. This is a critical time in our nation’s history. The moral and spiritual influences of the past are dissolving, and there are insidious forces at work that are literally hell-bent on destroying anything good and decent that remains in our society and culture. The result is that America is increasingly immoral, chaotic and dysfunctional to an extent unimaginable just a few decades ago.
As the theologian R. C. Sproul observed, “I doubt if there has been a period in all of Christian history when so many Christians are so ineffectual in shaping the culture in which they live as is true right now in the United States.” What is desperately needed today is a new Christian consciousness and a wholistic understanding of discipleship.
The question is: Will Christians rise up and meet the challenges of our day, or will we meekly submit and go with the flow? Will we exhibit the faith and courage necessary to confront the ominous forces that are corrupting every aspect of our society and culture, or are we so acculturated, so compromised and so caught up in the values, the priorities and the agenda of this world as to have little time, energy and resources left for the things that truly matter? That, stated succinctly, is the essential message of this book.
The Contents
Chapter 1: In the Beginning – The Origins of America’s Culture War is a brief historical account of the first skirmish in America’s 400-year-long culture war between the “Pilgrims” of Plymouth colony and the secular hedonists who settled in nearby Mount Wollaston.
Chapter 2: Natural Law – The Moral Foundation for Social and Political Civility presents an overview of the history and philosophy of Natural Law – those fundamental moral principles that provide an elementary level of justice and civility conducive to the flourishing of both individual civil liberties and the general welfare of society.
Chapter 3: Origins of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness – Part 1 is an overview of the history and philosophy of cultural Marxism (a.k.a. “neo-Marxism,” “political correctness,” “progressivism,” etc.) – an insidious force designed to undermine traditional culture and institutions so as to transform America into a secular socialist state.
Chapter 4: Origins of Cultural Marxism and Political Correctness – Part 2 continues the history and philosophy of neo-Marxism, including an analysis of Critical Theory and the origins of the New Left and the sexual revolution. The chapter concludes with biographical sketches of some of the most influential neo-Marxist intellectuals of the 20th century.
Chapter 5: How Neo-Marxists Corrupted American Popular Music… and Culture focuses on the Marxist influences in Hollywood and the entertainment industry in the post-World War II era, with particular emphasis on popular music. The “Epilogue: Ruminations on Aesthetics” offers a critique and assessment of the proper role of art.
Chapter 6: What’s Wrong With Socialism is an analysis of socialist theory, its general tenets and defining goals, the six fundamental fallacies on which socialism is based, and the vast disparity between the utopian pretensions and the harsh historical realities of this social and political ideology. This chapter also offers the case for, and a critique of, Christian socialism.
Chapter 7: A Political Odyssey – Part 1 recounts my political journey from evangelical conservatism to my involvement in the Christian Left. The Jesus movement of the 1970s reinforced
my belief that true Christianity should be countercultural, which in turn influenced my drift toward a Christian socialist orientation.
Chapter 8: A Political Odyssey – Part 2 continues with my search to integrate a rational, ethical and realistic socio/political philosophy into a wholistic Christian worldview. In this chapter I discuss three basic political principles that should guide the thinking of thoughtful Christians, and six philosophical propositions that provide a solid foundation for a defensible political philosophy. The chapter concludes with the case for cultural conservatism as the most rational, ethical, realistic and responsible option for conscientious Christians.
Chapter 9: The Culture War and the Two Americas offers a sober assessment of the perilous state of contemporary American society and culture, including the fundamental issues that divide cultural liberals and conservatives. For many Americans, the idea of a culture war is an uncomfortable subject, and the tendency is to minimize its significance or even deny its existence. But in fact the culture war is real whether we prefer to acknowledge it or not. In reality, the conflicts
that we see manifest in our society and culture today are merely the surface-level expressions of a titanic struggle between good and evil being waged in the spiritual realm.
Chapter 10: Was the Election of 2012 America’s Adrianople? In 2016 the election of Donald Trump unexpectedly crashed the party of the Washington, D.C. establishment and temporarily disrupted their secular socialist agenda. Nonetheless, America is certainly doomed unless the nation experiences a spiritual and moral revival unprecedented in both its depth and breadth.
Chapter 11: A Contemplative Response to the Culture War offers a new way forward for those who are troubled and perplexed by the secularization of American society and culture. Without a major spiritual and moral renewal, America’s cultural collapse is inevitable. However, in many respects the true church of Jesus Christ is being liberated to fulfill what it was originally intended to be: a radical countercultural spiritual community that offers the only hope of true salvation and redemption in a lost and broken world.
Chapter 12: Countercultural Christianity and Spiritual Warfare connects many of the themes in this book with the most formidable forces that we encounter in everyday life. In biblical terms, these are “the world, the flesh and the devil.” The solution to these forces is to cultivate a countercultural lifestyle of wholistic discipleship through the systematic practice of the traditional spiritual disciplines and by entering into intentional relationships with other committed Christians with whom we can have open and honest dialogue and mutual accountability.
Chapter 13: The Ministry of the Watchman – A Vital Component in America’s Culture War is an urgent call for Christians to become actively involved in the great social, cultural and political challenges of our time. To change our culture, we must first change the culture in our churches. For the church to minister effectively in the midst of an increasingly confused, chaotic and dysfunctional society, it must exercise its prophetic role at the local level. For that to happen, every church should encourage and support the formation of a watchman-style ministry to keep members informed and, when necessary, to mobilize them for proactive responses to the challenges of our day.
