Christians In A Consumer Culture

The total land space in Britain given over to retailing has increased by one fifth in the last decade. We enjoy the involvement of choosing and buying so much that we have left materialism behind to embrace consumerism.Consumerism is an exaggerated form of materialism that involves our five senses. It holds out the prospect of happiness through the exercise of personal choice and it's appearing now in a church near you!As Christians we should not be wholly negative because Christianity is a materialistic faith, we believe that God made the material world and will one day renew it. Yes, it has been hi-jacked by the devil but there is an essential goodness about God's plan for creation. On the other hand we need to be concerned about consumerism in three areas - ecology, justice and spirituality. Consumerism has had a bad impact on all three.John Benton, pastor, author, and editor of Evangelicals Now, brings us a devastating critique of a cultural phenomenon that has enthusiastically been taken up as the new paradigm, and which the church has literally sold out to. He looks at Post-modernism, the cult of self, self-worth, personal freedom, the role of the media and demonstrates the slow death of radical Christianity as commitment is replaced by choice.

John Benton