Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power

"Perhaps no question with such urgent life-and-death consequences is more poorly understood among Christians in our era than the stewardship of power; but gloriously, in Playing God, Andy Crouch provides the clarity we need in this once-in-a-generation work of sweeping theological and sociological depth. It is fresh, rigorous, profoundly helpful and a delight to read."

"How are power and idolatry related? What can we learn from powerful people in our business culture like Steve Jobs? How can a Christian in power be a good steward and use it to help solve injustice in the world? These are just a few of the questions that readers will ponder from Crouch’s deeply layered study."

"If this book hadn’t been by Andy Crouch, I wouldn’t have read it. A book on power? No thanks. But a book on power by Andy Crouch? Yes, I’ll give it a try, maybe a bit reluctantly. Glad I did. (So much so that I started over immediately and read it a second time.)

"Readers will find plenty of insight and inspiration here. As a journalist, Crouch places high value on clarity of style and usefulness for everyday life. He brings in stories from his personal life and from popular culture that sustain interest and shed important light. And he illuminates his theme through multipage explorations of key biblical passages, which will be helpful to readers with preaching responsibilities. Crouch’s evangelical perspective bears provocatively on a conversation pertinent to everyone."

"Andy Crouch’s Playing God goes a long way to helping a wide variety of audience members understand networks of power and the power they personally hold. Having power is one thing. How one uses power is a whole other matter and strikes at the heart of what Crouch is seeking to argue in his worthwhile read."

"A good book prompts you to ask questions you wouldn’t have otherwise. A great book embeds some of those in your gut so that you can’t shake them for a while. On that score, Playing God is a great book. It provoked nagging questions I haven’t been able to shake (or answer!). . . . Playing God’s proclamation of the good news about power is crucial and timely--an antidote to both our penchant to seize power exclusively as well as our allergy to assume responsibility."

"Playing God is an excellent resource for pastors who are afraid to use the power at their disposal. Crouch contrasts God-given power that brings light, hope and goodness to the world with a different kind of authority: that which corrupts and can be abused."

"In the end, power is for human flourishing, and it takes the shape of the cross. As Crouch says, ’. . . We are meant to pour out our power fearlessly, spend our privilege recklessly, and leave our status in the dust of our headlong pursuit of love,’ like Christ, who loved us and gave himself up for us. That is our calling. That is what it means to play God in the truest sense."

"Playing God will be an important resource for undergraduate and graduate classes on leadership, reconciliation, and service. . . . It will also be helpful for organizational leaders in CCCU schools, helping them to think about how they view power and how their institutions organize the flow of power. Crouch is an evangelical thought leader, offering wise and intelligent advice here for Christians engaging a rapidly changing society and world."

"Playing God is an audacious, admirable work. Crouch’s first book, Culture Making, aspired at nothing less than offering an alternative to Reinhold Neibuhr’s seminal Christ and Culture. But the sequel is even bolder in targeting the philosophical giants Michel Foucault and Friedrich Nietzche, whose influence on the modern world defies superlatives. Crouch’s contention is that the philosophers are right that power is everywhere--but perversely wrong in seeing it as essential coercive and violent. . . . Per Crouch, those called to redeemed lives, freed by the promise of resurrection from the prison of seeking status, can regard their power as a very good gift to be given away for the flourishing of all."