Playing God: A Discussion of Power

Speaker(s): Andy Crouch
Date: June 5 2014
Length: 1h33min
Product ID: RGDL4402F

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Description

Power corrupts - as we've seen time and time again. People too often abuse their power and play god in the lives of others. Shady politicians, corrupt executives, and ego-filled media stars have made us suspicious of those who wield influence and authority. They too often breed injustice by participating in what the Bible calls idolatry. Yet power is also the means by which we bring life, create possibilities, offer hope and make human flourishing possible. This is "playing god" as it is meant to be. If we are to do God's work - fight injustice, bring peace, create beauty, and allow the image of God to thrive in those around us - how are we to do these things if not by power?

Andy Crouch unpacks these ideas from his book Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power. Andy facilitates and leads a conversation about humanity's role in God's economy. What are the implications to our day to day lives if we re-enact our creative, life-giving and redeeming role that we were originally ordained with?

See All Audio by Andy Crouch

Andy Crouch is executive editor of Christianity Today. He is also the author of Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling, winner of Christianity Today's 2009 Book Award for Christianity and Culture and named one of the best books of 2008 by Publishers Weekly, Relevant, Outreach and Leadership. In 2011 he became special assistant to the president at Christianity Today International, where he has served as executive producer of the documentary films Where Faith and Culture Meet and Round Trip. He is a member of the editorial board of Books & Culture, a senior fellow of the International Justice Mission's IJM Institute, and a member of the Board of Advisors for the John Templeton Foundation. He lives with his family in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania.

From 1998 to 2003, Andy was the editor-in-chief of re:generation quarterly, a magazine for an emerging generation of culturally creative Christians. For ten years he was a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Harvard University. He studied classics at Cornell University and received an M.Div. summa cum laude from Boston University School of Theology. A classically trained musician who draws on pop, folk, rock, jazz, and gospel, he has led musical worship for congregations of 5 to 20,000.

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