Kevin J. Vanhoozer's Everyday Theology

Kevin J. Vanhoozer begins the first part of his book, Everyday Theology: How to Read Cultural Texts and Interpret Trends, by giving two definitions of theology. On the one hand, theology is bringing the Bible to bear on all areas of life. Thus, people study the history of Scriptures with an emphasis on the original languages to be able to understand what the Bible meant in the context where it was written. In addition, there must be some kind of application of the Word of God to the daily lives of people. On the other hand, the author uses Anselm’s definition of theology -faith seeking understanding- to introduce his main thesis that “faith should seek to understand not only the Word but our everyday world” (p. 16). Then the author calls Christians to interpret the signs of the times after learning how to read and write culture; something he calls cultural literacy. In order to read the signs of the times, people need to engage with their context in an active and critical way. Context refers to the physical places where people live their daily lives, and also the moral, intellectual and spiritual atmosphere in which they find experiences. Thus, everyday theology equips Christians to understand and interpret

He begins by saying that culture is “a means through which visions of the meaning of life are expressed, experienced, and explored through diverse products, which he calls cultural texts” (p. 27). Christians must avoid two temptations when relating to culture: first, becoming uncritically fascinated by everything the culture presents, and also avoiding writing the culture off as one more symptom of sinful rebellion. On the contrary, Vanhoozer affirms Christians should read culture because: it contains signals of the transcendent, the Christian faith is incarnational, people can know what is forming one’s spirit, and to be competent proclaimers and performers of the