"Culture is not a territory to be won or lost but a resource we are called to steward with care. Culture is a garden to be cultivated."
Many bemoan the decay of culture. But we all have a responsibility to care for culture, to nurture it in ways that help people thrive. In Culture Care artist Makoto Fujimura issues a call to cultural stewardship, in which we become generative and feed our culture's soul with beauty, creativity, and generosity. We serve others as cultural custodians of the future.
This is a book for artists, but artists come in many forms. Anyone with a calling to create--from visual artists, musicians, writers, and actors to entrepreneurs, pastors, and business professionals--will resonate with its message. This book is for anyone with a desire or an artistic gift to reach across boundaries with understanding, reconciliation, and healing. It is a book for anyone with a passion for the arts, for supporters of the arts, and for "creative catalysts" who understand how much the culture we all share affects human thriving today and shapes the generations to come.
Culture Care includes a study guide for individual reflection or group discussion.
Table of Contents:
Foreword by Mark Labberton
Preface
1. On Becoming Generative
2. Culture Care Defined
3. Black River, Cracked Lands
4. From Culture Wars to a Common Life
5. Soul Care
6. Beauty as Food for the Soul
7. Leadership from the Margins
8. "Tell 'em About the Dream!"
9. Two Lives at the Margins
10. Our Calling in the Starry Night
11. Opening the Gates
12. Cultivating Cultural Soil
13. Cultural Estuaries
14. Custodians of Culture Care
15. Business Care
16. Practical Advice for Artists
17. Tilling Our Cultural Soil in the Age of Anxiety
18. New Vocabularies, New Stories
19. What If?
A Gratuitous Postscript
Acknowledgments
Discussion Guide
Notes
Review Quotes:
"When I first opened up Culture Care one night in Taipei and began reading, I knew that it was an important and essential work for today's artists. As I read, the book kept opening up like a flower of revelation. It helped define for me what I have been doing for a long time: culture care. I never had a word for it before. It has also helped me see myself differently as an artist. Culture Care gives the artist dignity and purpose, something that the church and society never gave me. The church never acknowledged art as a worthy vocation with a godly purpose, and society never fully recognized me either. So that's where I've always lived and worked--on the outside. But we are not alone and we are right where we belong!"--James Elaine, artist and curator
"Christian readers will find this book instructive and encouraging. Fujimura's work is instructive in that beauty is not a commodity to bargain with or exploit, and it is encouraging in that everyone has something to offer. The arts provide the church with an eclectic array of voices, talents, and experiences necessary for a robust approach to culture care."--Justin L. McLendon, Calvin Theological Journal, 52.2
"Makoto Fujimura's Culture Care is invaluable for a global business leader dealing with multiple cultures and challenging business and cultural decisions every day. I found it to be not only an inspirational reminder to seek beauty in all things, but a practical help in servant leadership."--Carl Chien, MD and head of global investment banking, North Asia, JPMorgan
"It is a very readable book, full of thought-provoking and helpful ideas, and 'must-reading' for anyone interested in the arts and culture, either as a practitioner or a consumer."--David McKay, The Covenanter Witness, July/August 2017
Makoto Fujimura is an internationally renowned artist, writer, and speaker who serves as the director of Fuller Theological Seminary's Brehm Center for Worship, Theology, and the Arts. He is also the founder of the International Arts Movement and served as a presidential appointee to the National Council on the Arts from 2003 to 2009. His books include Refractions: A Journey of Faith, Art and Culture and Silence and Beauty.Recognized worldwide as a cultural shaper, Fujimura's work has been exhibited at galleries including Dillon Gallery in New York, Sato Museum in Tokyo, The Contemporary Museum of Tokyo, Tokyo National University of Fine Arts Museum, Bentley Gallery in Arizona, Taikoo Place in Hong Kong and Vienna's Belvedere Museum. In 2011 the Fujimura Institute was established and launched the Qu4rtets, a collaboration between Fujimura, painter Bruce Herman, Duke theologian/pianist Jeremy Begbie and Yale composer Christopher Theofanidis, based on T. S. Eliot's Four Quartets. A popular speaker, Fujimura has lectured at numerous conferences, universities and museums, including the Aspen Institute, Yale and Princeton Universities, Sato Museum and the Phoenix Art Museum. Among many awards and recognitions, Bucknell University honored him with the Outstanding Alumni Award in 2012, and the American Academy of Religion named him as its 2014 Religion and the Arts award recipient. He has received honorary doctorates from Belhaven University, Biola University, Cairn University and Roanoke College.
Mark Labberton is president of Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He previously served as Lloyd John Ogilvie chair for preaching and director of the Lloyd John Ogilvie Institute for Preaching. Labberton came to Fuller after sixteen years as senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, California. He has served as chair of John Stott Ministries (now Langham Partnership) and co-chair of the John Stott Ministries Global Initiative Fund. Today he continues to contribute to the mission of the global church as a senior fellow of International Justice Mission. He is the author of The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor and The Dangerous Act of Worship.
Pub Date: January 14, 2017
0.6" H x 8.2" L x 5.5" W
160 pages
paperback