Cohort Details
DATES AND TIMES
8 weekly sessions
Wednesdays February 28, 2024 — April 17, 2024
8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET
7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. CT
5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. (Pacific Time)
Description of the cohort
This online learning cohort will provide a broad and practical overview of cultural apologetics and allow participants to learn from and interact with leading scholars and practitioners who are members of the Keller Center.
The course will define cultural apologetics, explain its biblical and historical foundations, and demonstrate why 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 those narratives and holistically appeal to the goodness, beauty, and truth of Christianity. Also sampling some of the most common Western objections to Christianity, the faculty will suggest ways to respond to these challenges, which participants will be encouraged to personalize for their own context. Finally, the course will explore practical ways in which cultural apologetics can be used in teaching, preaching, Bible studies, and everyday conversations.
Those who sign up for this cohort will receive free copies of:
*We are unable to offer refunds for 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 to stream or download at your convenience for 60 days after that session.
*Registration closes February 15, 2024. If you have any questions about registering 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
Discover the history and evolution of the challenges we face today
Gaining skills in our ability to tell the gospel story even more compellingly
Be equipped with answers to common beliefs of the vanquished regarding things like sexuality, slavery, science, and naturalism.
Develop a plan for how to employ cultural apologetics in your neighborhood and church
Content Summary
WEEK 1 – WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28 (8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET)
Cultural Apologetics: Recovering 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 in the Bible (notably in the Apostle Paul) and in the tradition of the Church (notably in Augustine).
WEEK 2 – WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6 (8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET)
The when and the who – Trevin Wax
In this session we will broadly explain where we are culturally in the West and how we got here. This will include an overview of a holistic anthropology (telling, 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 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET)
Telling a Better Story: Apologetics in Reverse – Keith Plummer
In this session, we’ll explain how story is particularly relevant to persuasion. We will summarize the philosophical and theological reasoning of a Upside down approach to apologetics and use examples of how Upside down works.
WEEK 4 – WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20 (8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. 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 must look for ways to reach the heart. In doing so, we will demonstrate how key characteristics of our humanity and cultural ideals as well as Upside down can be used in conversation and teaching/preaching
WEEK 5 – WEDNESDAY, MARCH 27 (8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET)
Reasons to Believe History: Creation, Fall, and Resurrection – Gavin Ortlund
In this session, we will provide an overview of the signposts that support each major turning point in Christian history.
Creation: for example, cosmological and refined arguments
Fall: for example, arguments related to evil and morality
Resurrection: for example, historical and existential arguments
WEEK 6 – WEDNESDAY, APRIL 3 (8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET)
Responding to the Defeated, Part 1: The Christian Story Is Not Good – Rebecca McLaughlin
In this session we will present ways to respond to the defeated by focusing on the moral vision of Christianity. This session will cover two particular beliefs of the defeated:
Does Christianity offer an outdated and repressive sexual view?
Does the Bible Support Slavery?
WEEK 7 – WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10 (8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET, 1:30 a.m. to 3 a.m. UK time, April 4)
Responding to the Vanquished, Part 2: The Christian Story Is Not True. Two test cases: science and naturalism – Glen Scrivener
In this session we will present ways to respond to the defeated by focusing on the truth of Christianity. This session will cover two particular beliefs of the defeated:
Modern science and Christianity: friends or enemies?
Does the supernatural exist?
WEEK 8 – WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17 (8:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET, 10:30 a.m. to noon SYDNEY time, April 11)
Cultural apologetics in your neighborhood and through your church – Sam Chan
In this final session, we’ll look at 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.