Book details
In God’s Good Image
Culture is all around us. Nothing we think, do, or say exists outside of it. But the story of God is clear: We are all made in God’s good image, and God’s people are meant to be a diverse community. Looking to the example of Jesus, author J. W. Buck offers practical insights into how cultural identity fits into our walk as Christians. No matter where we come from and no matter how complex our cultural narratives, the Scriptures point to the One who embodied a particular identity—of a Jewish man in first-century Palestine—in order to shape our own.
Jesus teaches those formed by majority culture to humbly embrace their identity as they foster space for others. And he empowers those from minority cultures to resist pressure to assimilate in unhealthy ways and instead live into their God-given identity. God dignifies our culture and wants us to shape it to look more like Jesus. We are meant to be like Jesus in our home culture, in our heart language, and throughout our collective journey to understand how our diversity points us to a better expression of God’s good image.
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...Foreword
Introduction
PART I: UNDERSTANDING CULTURE
1. The Jewish Jesus
2. A Sacred Cultural Identity
3. Jesus, Our Key to Cultural Identity
PART II: OLD TESTAMENT AND CULTURE
4. Imago Dei (Genesis 1:26–28)
5. The Table of Nations (Genesis 10)
6. The Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1–9)
7. Blessed to Be a Cultural Blessing (Genesis 12:1–3)
8. Cultural Exclusion and Violence (Deuteronomy 7:1–4)
9. Jewish Minorities in Exile (Daniel and Esther)
10. Glimmers of Cultural Inclusion (1 Kings 17:8–15, 2 Kings 5:1–14)
PART III: NEW TESTAMENT AND CULTURE
11. The Cultural Christ (John 1:9–14)
12. The Gospel for All Cultures (Luke 4:17–29)
13. The Greatest Cultural Command (Luke 10:25–28)
14. Cultural Freedom in Christ (Acts 10:9–28)
15. The GOspel and Cultural Inclusivity (Galatians 2:11–14)
16. Dignity for Minority Identities (Colossians 3:9–11)
17. A Cultural Tapestry for Jesus (Revelation 7:9–10)
PART IV: PRACTICAL TAKEAWAYS
18. Cultural Discovery Process
19. God's Good Image for Individuals
20. God's Good Image for Churches
21. God's Good Image for Pastors
Appendix: The Cultural Spectrum
Acknowledgements
Notes
The Author
