Cross and Culture: Can Jesus Save the West?

Our civilisation is unstable. Everyone can feel it. We face a looming mental health crisis. Slavery, censorship and superstition are back. Our politics are polarising. All the affluence in the world can’t seem to quench our thirst for meaning and purpose.

But maybe there is hope—if we know where to look.

In this timely book, Kurt Mahlburg shows how profoundly the West has been shaped by the life and teachings of Jesus—from our democratic freedoms and our pursuit of reason and science to our belief that every life is precious. Could rediscovering Jesus be the answer to our crisis?

310 pages

Cross and Culture is a superb primer for the reader who wants to understand the West’s present malady and discern a way forward. The book is refreshingly accessible, yet deeply insightful. Most importantly, Kurt Mahlburg not only reminds us of the past—he also points us above, to revive our focus on the true source of the help we need for better days ahead.

—Martyn Iles, Managing Director, Australian Christian Lobby

In Cross and Culture, Kurt Mahlburg provides a sweeping account of the historical, cultural, and intellectual path to our present post-Christian age. He shows how all these changes have led to many of the crises that we are facing today, including our violent social divisions and also attacks on religious freedom. As a book introducing readers to key historical events and ideas, it is excellent. But Mahlburg also offers a way in which Christians can think creatively to be agents of change in this post-Christian—or perhaps pagan?—age. In this respect, Cross and Culture is not just a book of profound insight, but it is a book of hope.

—Dr Stephen A Chavura, Author, Lecturer in History, Campion College, Sydney

In this very readable and engaging book, Kurt Mahlburg has skilfully identified the key factors that are influencing Western culture, and he issues a challenging call to Christians and non-Christians alike to seriously consider where we are heading. The Judeo-Christian heritage on which the West stands is the key to the extraordinary benefits Western society enjoys. But these are under threat from philosophies and practices that run contrary to those foundations. What can be done? Kurt Mahlburg’s encouraging and insightful work points to an achievable solution and provides an inspiring call to action.

—Dr Mark Harwood, Scientist, Creation Ministries International (Australia)

Cross and Culture is a very inspiring and enlightening book. Kurt Mahlburg’s thought-provoking volume calls for a response from us as servants of Christ, especially in these troubled times. The question is, “What shall we do?”—or as Francis Schaeffer asked many years ago, “How shall we then live?”

—Hon Rev Fred Nile MP, Member of the Legislative Council, New South Wales, Federal President, Christian Democratic Party

In this well-written and well-referenced volume, Kurt Mahlburg offers us both the big picture as well as the fine detail as he examines post-Christian Western culture. How did it get to its current state of malaise—and can it recover? Specifically, can it regain its Christian roots and flourish, or will it continue to disintegrate and decline? Part history, part apologetics, and part cultural commentary, the threads of this useful volume make for a coherent whole, and offer us hope for the way ahead.

—Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch

In an easy-to-read style, Kurt provides an excellent analysis of the historical, cultural, political and spiritual condition of Western culture. There is a wealth of information within these pages! If you’re in any way interested in the current malaise we are in—and want to know what to do about it—then this is a great place to start. Take and read. You won’t be disappointed.

—Right Rev Mark Powell, Former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory

Watch our Bookcast episode with Kurt Mahlburg here: