Join Dr. Paul Louis Metzger on Wednesday, February 13th at 7:30pm at the downtown Powell’s Books for a reading from his newest book, Consuming Jesus: Beyond Race and Class Divisions in a Consumer Church (Eerdmans Publishing). Book Description: “Many Americans think that race problems are a thing of the past because we no longer live under the Jim Crow laws that once sustained overt structures of segregation. Unfortunately, says Paul Louis Metzger, today we live under an updated version of segregation, through the subtle power of unchallenged norms of consumer preference. Consumerism affects and infects the church, reinforcing race and class divisions in society. Intentionally or unintentionally, many churches have set up structures of church growth that foster segregation, such as appealing to consumer appetites. Metzger here argues that the evangelical Christian church needs to admit this fault and intentionally move away from race, class, and consumer segregation. Challenging the consumerism that fosters ethnic and economic divisions and distorts evangelical Christianity, Consuming Jesus puts forth a theologically grounded call to restructure the church’s passions and practices, transforming the evangelical imagination around a nobler, all-consuming vision of the Christian faith.” Paul Louis Metzger is professor of Christian theology and theology of culture at Multnomah Biblical Seminary, Portland, Oregon, and founder-director of The Institute for the Theology of Culture: New Wine, New Wineskins. His other books include The Word of Christ and the World of Culture.
The Institute for Cultural Engagement, an official program of Multnomah University and Biblical Seminary