I still remember when I presented my research paper at the University of Iowa on Shusaku Endo's cynicism about the institution of the Catholic Church (which mirrored his cynicism about postwar authoritarian Japan). One of the professors at U of I asked me during the Q&A if I thought power could be a force for good since it has such a corrosive effect. I had half-baked answers about how I believed that the kingdom of God is a kingdom of humility, and that the paradox of the Christian faith is that power is found in weakness. I realize now that I was kind of unprepared to answer that question as I've never really pondered it before.

I wish I would've read more of Crouch's work then (or, at least, pushed through Milbank's Theology and Social Theory) because Crouch is quickly becoming my go-to practical theologian. He even applies and simplifies Milbank's Theology and Social Theory for me by making a case for "creational" power. Instead of seeing power as a means of abusing, hoarding, and looting, he argues that true power actually builds and empowers the communities around those who exercise power. God's creative act in Genesis 1 is a great example which he points to, an act which does not lessen God's own power, but rather multiplies it.

This goes hand-in-hand with Crouch's Culture Making. In both books, Crouch seems to speak against the "spiritual but not religious" crowd who are anti-all forms of institutional religion because he believes institutions have been granted the opportunity to "play God" rightly by creating lasting "cultures" in imitation of God's creational act in Genesis. Rather than repeating Lord Acton's mantra that "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," Christians ought to embrace the gift of power and wield it wisely and responsibly.