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The second Person of the triune God added a human nature to His divine nature a little more than 2,000 years ago. This stupendous and miraculous event was revealed to God’s people from the beginning of the world. God announced to Satan not long after the creation of Adam and Eve (which occurred “at the beginning,” Matt. 19:4): “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed [the unbelieving community of mankind] and her seed [all true believers represented by their Savior]; [He] shall bruise thy head [a fatal, judicial blow delivered to Satan at the cross—John 12:31], and thou shalt bruise His heel [the crucifixion of Christ]” (KJV, Gen. 3:15).

Especially noteworthy is the emphasis on “the woman” (rather than “the man” or even “the man and the woman”). If Adam was the responsible head of that family unit (“by one man sin entered into the world,” Rom. 5:12; and “by man came death,” 1 Cor. 15:21), what function was Eve to have in the light of this prophetic announcement? Adam perceived that his wife, though instrumental in the fall (1 Tim. 2:14), would, by the amazing grace of God, be instrumental in bringing their Savior into the world. Therefore he named her Eve (i.e., “life” or “living”) “because she was the mother of all living” (Gen. 3:20).

Our first parents could not, of course, have understood when or how this wonderful seed would accomplish their delivery from the power of Satan. Eve may have thought that her first son would be that person (“I have gotten a man from the LORD,” Gen. 4:1). And the name Adam gave to her (“life”) shows that he also believed God’s promise. This is confirmed by the fact that “the LORD God made coats of skin, and clothed them” (Gen. 3:21).

By shedding the blood of innocent beings in order to symbolically provide coverings to protect them in their sinful state from His holy wrath, God demonstrated to Adam and Eve that their sin was atoned for—temporarily covered or passed over.

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The evangelical world is sailing in new cultural waters. While it can be argued that the fundamentalist movement never got on the boat, evangelicalism at large has been “engaging culture” for years. They have been accustomed to dealing with culture on equal footing—accustomed to hearing and being heard, respecting and being respected. But the waters are troubled. Once unified by common causes (abortion, family values), supported by a political party (the Republicans) and following vocal leaders (Dobson, Fallwell, etc.), they now find themselves fragmented by disagreements, abandoned by the GOP and virtually leaderless. Concurrently, society’s reaction to expressions of the Christian faith has moved from bemused tolerance toward snarling animosity.

Attempting to explain the current situation and provide a roadmap through the current cultural morass to his fellow evangelicals is James Emery White with this book Christ Among the Dragons (IVP, 174 pages plus notes). White is the founder and pastor of Mecklenburg Community Church in Charlotte, NC and professor of theology and culture at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.

Some might ask, “Professor of Culture? Why would we want to learn anything about that?” And other aspects of the book—like the dedication at the end to Billy Graham—might cause some fundamentalists to reject the book out of hand.

But that would be unfortunate.

There is much we can learn from White’s insights. His motif is the medieval mapmakers’ practice of writing “Here be dragons” upon reaching the end of the known world. His thesis is that the Church is navigating previously uncharted waters. How are believers to confront the cultural dragons of our time?

White begins his book with a discussion of society’s abandonment of the concept of truth. His conclusion will (or should) ring true with every fundamentalist: