Written by an Australian scholar trained in literary criticism, this is an accessible handbook written for the Christian who wishes to understand the culture that all are embedded in. “Figures”, as used by Watkin, are all those patterns that shape us: 1. Language, ideas and stories 2. Time and space. 3. Structure of reality. 4. Behaviour that is expressed within our culture. 5. Relationships that we experience with friends, family, strangers, the media and institutions.  6. Objects in our lives that range from the cars we drive to the smartphones that we use. These figures are us. The past two thousand years Christianity has been imprinted on our culture even if Christian teaching is now largely unknown. Culture and Christianity is entangled and there is no easy separation. The figures of the culture and the figures of the Bible are explored through a process that Watkin calls “diagonalization”; by this a radical intervention is proposed whereby, for example, the Absolute-Personal dichotomy is shown to be false and is overcome by an “Absolute personality theism” as revealed in the biblical account. Likewise, taking an example from the biblical witness, the seemingly at odds books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes are brought together by a diagonalization that introduces the message of Job into the mix. When these three books are “woven together they provide “a rich, complex, and existentially authentic view of the world.” The Incarnation is the ultimate diagonalization, going against the ahistorical assumptions of modern thought, when the “Word became flesh” and entered into human “calendar history”. Extensive diagrams bring clarity to at times difficult concepts. A book that is enthusiastically endorsed by Tim Keller.