Allison Oster
Public Relations Manager
(626) 815-4518
Respected Christianity Today Editor
Addresses Evangelicals and Matters of Culture at APU
September 20, 2007
AZUSA, Calif. –
Do the words "evangelical" and "culture-maker" align? Andy Crouch believes they do and a three-year, multi-dimensional project substantiates this claim. Crouch, editorial director for The Christian Vision Project, an endeavor that examines evangelical engagement in culture, mission, and the Gospel, advocates the idea of evangelicals participating in cultivating culture, or maintaining healthy aspects of it, while actively creating new culture. For the last 18 months, he has traveled nationwide and internationally sharing the vision, and discovering the thought leaders in this arena. On Monday, September 24, he arrives at Azusa Pacific to engage in rigorous discussions on how faculty, staff, and students can play an important role in cultural engagement and creation.
Crouch will dialogue with justice-minded and socially concerned students at 10:30 a.m. about how they can be a part of culture without forfeiting their faith. At 12:30 p.m., he will also meet with faculty from the Cinema and Broadcast Arts, Communication Studies, and Theology departments to discuss the intersection of faith and culture, followed by a leadership summit with key campus leaders at 3 p.m.
Crouch expressed excitement over his upcoming visit to APU, a place he views as a key stopping point on the roadmap of evangelicals engaged in culture, and rich with dynamic voices that hold specific expertise in a variety of fields.
"I know I'm going to come back [from visiting APU] with new perspectives on culture and new perspectives on how Christians engage with the world," shared Crouch, who hopes to learn from APU through dialogue in addition to sharing his thoughts and learning from The Christian Vision Project in addition to his own forthcoming book, tentatively titled Culture Makers.
Crouch is also executive producer of Where Faith and Culture Meet, a series of short documentary films on Christians creating "a counterculture for the common good." He is a senior fellow of the International Justice Mission's IJM Institute, and serves as a member of the editorial board of Books and Culture. Crouch's writing has been featured in several editions of Best Christian Writing and Best Spiritual Writing.
From 1998-2003, Crouch implemented his culturally creative concepts into Re:generation Quarterly, a magazine for an emerging generation Christians. Prior to that, he served as a campus minister with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Harvard University. He studied classics at Cornell University and received an M.Div. from Boston University School of Theology.
Featured in TIME magazine and ranked as one of the nation’s best by U.S.News & World Report and The Princeton Review, Azusa Pacific is a comprehensive, Christian, evangelical university, committed to God First and known for excellence in higher education. Azusa Pacific’s main campus lies just 26 miles northeast of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley, while its seven Southern California regional centers bring convenience and extend quality programming. The university offers more than 50 areas of undergraduate study, 23 master's degrees, and 7 doctorates to a total student population of more than 8,100.
