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Andy Crouch. Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2013. 288 pp. $25.00, ISBN 9780830837656.
Power is not what it used to be. At a point in time we now vaguely remember, a handful of newspapers provided an authoritative look at the affairs of the day. Such details were then supplemented by nightly news broadcasts of no more than 30 minutes on the major networks. For the inspired, PBS offered the MacNeil/Lehrer "NewsHour." The advent of the Internet cast the power these outlets once possessed into a sea of chat rooms, discussion boards, blogs, and even a few legitimate websites. Having a voice in such matters no longer depended upon garnering the respect of an established outlet. You simply need some initiative and the hope that if you metaphorically shout loud enough, someone might listen.
One person who understands the present and future value of power is Andy Crouch. As a follow-up to his highly regarded Culture Making, the Executive Editor of Christianity Today offers Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power. What this new book lacks in quantifying the changes power has undergone up to the present moment, it more than makes up for in terms of the manner in which Crouch wrestles with the normative claims defining and redefining power. As a result, his book will prove to be worthwhile reading to anyone concerned with how to discharge most faithfully the influence God bestowed upon him or her.
While prevailing sentiment is that power ultimately corrupts, Crouch argues from the very beginning that "Power is a gift" (9). By their very nature, he contends gifts are good and they require a giver (and a receiver). With the giver in this case being God and the receiver being humanity, the corrupted side of power is not inherently a quality of power but the result of its exposure to human depravity. Idolatry and injustice plague us and power can quickly devolve from its original role as an agency for blessing. In order to try and rectify this challenge, Crouch then contends, "Power is rooted in creation, the calling of something out of nothing and the fruitful, multiplying abundance of our astonishing world" (12). The bulk of what then follows in...