Contending for the Faith: The Church's Engagement with Culture

In this book Ralph Wood calls for churches to offer a sustained and unapologetically Christian witness to a postmodern world. Wood carefully chronicles how the church is watching the complete destruction of post-Christian institutions and practices that once shaped human character toward fulfillment in goods larger than humanity's own self-interest - the chief of these being the worship and service of God. Wood contends that Christian existence can never be taken for granted, and so the church itself must seek to create a Christian culture that offers the world a drastic alternative to its own cultureless existence.

"Ralph Wood gifts us with this powerful book. He forcefully engages our confused culture and helps us face the challenges of being God's people."
- Stanley Hauerwas, Gilbert T. Rowe Professor of Theological Ethics, Duke Divinity School

"Ralph Wood's clarity, passion, and integrity as an essayist are justly renowned. What a feast for soul and mind. This is intellectual edification of absolutely the best kind."
- Mark Noll, McManis Professor of Christian Thought, Wheaton College