Polly Singleton says:

I did not like the book. I found it a struggle to read. He quotes C.S. Lewis too much. It seems like he is giving everyone elses opinion instead of his own. And when he does give it he reserves the meat until the last chapter. Additionally, I believe his opinions are very antiquated. The book was written in 1989 but it seemed like it was the early '80s.

The book was more interesting to read than to listen to on audio. The person reading it showed little inflection in his voice. He did not seem to read it as the author wrote it. I would not recommend this book to anyone to buy for listening in their car or on an MP3 player. The download does not have defined tracks therefore you must remember the time stamp where you left off. #

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Stephen Allen says:

Ken Myers is required reading for a person in ministry in the 21st Century. His work cites many important and relevant cultural shifts that have taken place in the landscape of the church and culture with reference to our art, music, film, literature, and popular attitude.

My favorite part of the book is chapter 4 "Popular Culture and the Restless Ones" wherein he expounds on the way in which we live in a "culture of diversion" which leaves us chasing one fresh new enterprise after the next. Sensuous and bored, we have found ways as a society to entertain and amuse ourselves in an society that has removed the need for a God.

In all, the work is scholarly yet easily adapted to the broader readership in the way in which it lays out what has failed in a secular-modernist worldview and what must be understood and practiced by the church if she is going to remain a light to truth in such a dark and unsettled culture.

As for the comment by Polly about the book seeming "very antiquated," I would say that although he specifically cites TV and music from 20 years ago, his ideas run the gamut of the cultural paradigm shifts that have taken place since the radical 1960's, so in this sense, the names are outdated, but the problem remains the same. I am 33 and this book is required reading at my seminary for Church and Culture. I found it dead on. #

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