A Review of “Gray Matters” by Brett McCracken

“Christians have a hard time with nuance,” writes Brett McCracken. He continues:

Gray areas are not our strong suit. It’s way easier to just say yes or no to things, rather than “well, maybe, depending…” But simple responses to complicated questions are exactly what lead to extremists…(8)

It is McCracken’s goal to help us think more carefully about the gray areas of the Christian life. He wants to help us “navigate between legalism and liberty” in a healthy way. This is no small task, but McCracken is up for the job. Not only is McCracken an engaging author, but he is also an astute Biblical thinker, and that is really the strength of this book. In Gray Matters Brett McCracken puts those skills to use in helping us think about culture. He wants to urge us to use our brains in engaging the world around us. The best way to navigate between legalism and liberty is to use your God-given, Biblically informed brain.

The book seeks to provide us with some essential tools for thinking critically and carefully about our culture. To help us see the tools in action McCracken tackles four controversial elements of our culture and seeks to demonstrate what Biblical critical engagement looks like. These four elements make up the four divisions of the book and cover the subjects of food, music, movies, and alcohol. In each division McCracken helps us to walk a fine line between rejection of all and acceptance of all. The Christian way, the Biblically informed way, must be more thoughtful that this. The principles he outlines for us aren’t hard and fast, they have some flexible application – as should be expected in a via media of this nature. There are no lists of what you should or shouldn’t watch, no hard and fast rules – except where Scripture makes hard and fast rules. He is sensitive to weaker and stronger brother scenarios, and conscious of the sinful tendencies of many. The book itself is the right balance between oppressive and hedonistic, between vague and unclear.

In the introduction McCracken lists the recurring themes that guide his discussion of the specific cultural elements. These 6 themes include a wide arrange of guiding principles. He states that we ought to keep in mind our role as ambassadors for Christ, which makes cultural engagement all the more important. “As missionaries tasked with the spreading of Christ’s kingdom and the stewardship of God’s creation,” he writes, “we simply cannot make a dent if we are lazy cultural interpreters” (21). We also need to consider our role as “stewards” of God-given resources. “Consumer power is economic power, and what we choose to support with our money says a lot about the kind of consumers, we are” (21-22). Third, he emphasizes the role of community in our cultural engagement. Fourth, he argues that enjoying God’s creation is an act of worship. Fifth, he establishes the importance of cultivating taste and discernment. Finally, he stresses the importance of moderation in all things. Whatever topic he is addressing these six themes will guide his approach.

One of the more interesting discussions is the chapters on food. This is not generally one of the areas of culture about which Christians think carefully. We have had lots of conversations about music and movies, and certainly plenty of heated discussions about alcohol, but we don’t generally think carefully about food. Food is something we just consume without thinking about what it means to consume food to the glory of God. His discussion here starts with this idea of eating as an act of worship. He does a tremendous job of drawing out from the Scriptures the relationship between food and faith. I was struck by this chapter. This is at some level a safe place to start the discussion. After all we don’t have very many heated debates about food in the church. At one level much of what McCracken says here will be appreciated by all. On the other hand it’s also a dangerous place to start. He exposes an area where the church as a whole has generally be negligent and thoughtless. What we do with food is actually a good barometer of what we do with a host of cultural elements and McCracken won’t spare us even this one. He wants us to think critically about all of life! This is a great starting place for what becomes an overall great discussion about legalism and liberty.

Not everyone will agree with the conclusions the draws on music or movies, certainly plenty will disagree on his approach to alcohol. The author doesn’t necessarily want to convince you of his own position as much as he wants to encourage you to think Biblically about yours. That requires us to recognize nuance. It requires us to understand Biblical freedom and Biblical responsibility. It requires us to appreciate the rights we have and the importance of deferring those rights for the sake of others. It requires us, in short to use our brains.

Many of the questions that are raised in this text do not have simple answers. Gray matters can’t be resolved simply by compiling lists of do’s and don’ts or by parroting the hyperbolic rhetoric of extremists. We need to use the clear Biblical principles we have been given to help inform the more ambiguous areas of life. That requires us to think about our lives, not to simply exist in them. The greatest strength of this book is really that it doesn’t tell us exactly what to do. It doesn’t answer all the questions we might have. Even on something as perhaps plain and simple to us as “Should Christians Smoke Pot” (92-94) McCracken urges us to think about our conclusion. If it is true that Christians are generally terrible at nuance than this is a great resource to compel us to work towards it. It’s a call to use our brains. In fact, I think McCracken might say that apart from Scripture the greatest tool we have for engaging our culture is our God-given, Biblically informed minds. Read Gray Matters because it encourages us to use our minds in some very practical ways.