Cohort Details
DATES & TIMES
8 Weekly Sessions
Wednesdays, February 28, 2024 — April 17, 2024
8:30 to 10 p.m. ET
7:30 to 9 p.m. CT
5:30 to 7 p.m. PT
Cohort Description
This online learning cohort will offer a broad and practical overview of cultural apologetics and allow for participants to learn from and interact with leading scholars and practitioners who serve as fellows at the Keller Center.
The course will define cultural apologetics, explain its biblical and historical grounding, and demonstrate how it is an important resource for the church today. Participants will learn not only how to better exegete contemporary cultural narratives but also how to more effectively challenge these narratives and appeal holistically to the goodness, beauty, and truth of Christianity. By also sampling some of the most frequent Western objections to Christianity, the faculty will offer ways to respond to these challenges, which participants will be encouraged to personalize for their own contexts. Finally, the course will explore practical ways cultural apologetics can be used in teaching, preaching, Bible studies, and day-to-day conversations.
Those who sign up for this cohort will receive complimentary copies of:
* We are unable to offer refunds for The Keller Center cohorts
* Books will be mailed in late February 2024, and there is no required reading for the cohort
* All sessions will be recorded and available for streaming or download at your leisure for 60 days after that session
* Registration closes on February 15, 2024. If you have any questions pertaining to signing up for your cohort, group rates, or church rates email [email protected]
Define cultural apologetics and gain a deeper understanding of its importance for apologetics, evangelism, and discipleship
Learn about the history and development of the challenges we now experience
Gain skills in our ability to tell the gospel story in even more compelling ways
Be equipped with answers for common defeater beliefs surrounding things like sexuality, slavery, science, and naturalism
Develop a plan for how to employ cultural apologetics in your neighborhood and church
Joshua Chatraw is the Beeson Divinity School Billy Graham chair for evangelism and cultural engagement at Samford University. His recent books include The Augustine Way, Surprised by Doubt, and Telling a Better Story. He also serves as an inaugural fellow with The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics and a fellow at The Center for Pastor Theologians.
Glen Scrivener is an ordained Church of England minister and evangelist who preaches Christ through writing, speaking, and online media. He directs the evangelistic ministry Speak Life. Glen is originally from Australia and now he and his wife, Emma, live with their two children in England. They belong to All Souls Eastbourne. He is the author of several books, including The Air We Breathe: How We All Came to Believe in Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality (The Good Book Company, 2022) and 3-2-1: The Story of God, the World, and You (10Publishing, 2014).
Trevin Wax is vice president of research and resource development at the North American Mission Board and a visiting professor at Cedarville University. A former missionary to Romania, Trevin is a regular columnist at The Gospel Coalition and has contributed to The Washington Post, Religion News Service, World, and Christianity Today, which named him one of 33 millennials shaping the next generation of evangelicals. He has taught courses on mission and ministry at Wheaton College and has lectured on Christianity and culture at Oxford University. He is a founding editor of The Gospel Project, has served as publisher for the Christian Standard Bible, and is the author of multiple books, including The Thrill of Orthodoxy, The Multi-Directional Leader, Rethink Your Self, This Is Our Time, and Gospel Centered Teaching. He and his wife, Corina, have three children. You can follow him on Twitter or Facebook, or receive his columns via email.
Content Summary
WEEK 1 - WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28 (8:30–10PM ET)
Cultural Apologetics: Retrieving for Renewal - Josh Chatraw
In this opening session we will define and illustrate the importance of cultural apologetics. We will show how cultural apologetics is rooted biblically (especially with the apostle Paul) and within the church’s tradition (especially with Augustine).
WEEK 2 - WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6 (8:30–10PM ET)
The When and the Who - Trevin Wax
In this session we will explain broadly where we are culturally in the West and how we arrived here. This will include an overview of a holistic anthropology (storying, thinking, believing, and desiring beings). We will connect how the first two points relate to each other and how they relate to apologetics.
WEEK 3 - WEDNESDAY, MARCH 13 (8:30–10PM ET)
Telling a Better Story: Inside Out Apologetics - Keith Plummer
In this session we will explain how story is particularly relevant in persuasion. We will summarize the philosophical and theological reasoning for an Inside Out approach to apologetics and use examples of how Inside Out works.
WEEK 4 - WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20 (8:30–10PM ET)
Persuading with Mass - Josh Chatraw
In this session we will use the concept of “mass” (the weight of an argument, the ability to move someone) to explain why we need to look for ways to get at the heart. In doing so, we will demonstrate how key features of our humanity and cultural ideals along with Inside Out can be used in conversation and teaching/preaching
WEEK 5 - WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27 (8:30–10PM ET)
Reasons to Believe the Story: Creation, Fall, and Resurrection - Gavin Ortlund
In this session we will give an overview of signposts that support each major turn in the Christian story.
Creation: e.g., cosmological and fine-tuning arguments
Fall: e.g., arguments from evil and morality
Resurrection: e.g, historical and existential arguments
WEEK 6 - WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3 (8:30–10PM ET)
Responding to Defeaters Part 1: The Christian Story Isn’t Good - Rebecca McLaughlin
In this session we will outline ways to respond to defeaters focused on the moral vision of Christianity. This session will cover two particular defeater beliefs:
Does Christianity offer an antiquated and repressive sexual vision?
Does the Bible support slavery?
WEEK 7 - WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10 (8:30–10PM ET, 1:30–3AM UK TIME ON APRIL 4)
Responding to Defeaters Part 2: The Christian Story Isn’t True. Two Test Cases: Science and Naturalism - Glen Scrivener
In this session we will outline ways to respond to defeaters focused on the veracity of Christianity. This session will cover two particular defeater beliefs:
Modern science and Christianity: friends or foes?
Is there such a thing as the supernatural?
WEEK 8 - WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17 (8:30–10PM ET, 10:30–12 NOON SYDNEY TIME ON APRIL 11)
Cultural Apologetics in Your Neighborhood and Through Your Church - Sam Chan
In this final session we will examine how to use cultural apologetics in your teaching and preaching as well as what it looks like to lead a culture of evangelism in your church.