DO YOU GET TODAY'S CULTURE?

It has been stated that if we are to truly engage with our non-Christian neighbours we need to understand their worldview and their underlying values and assumptions. This introduction to the series provides an overview of these worldviews and some perspectives on pitfalls for Christians as we seek to engage with people who hold them.

John Woodhouse outlines a framework for viewing the world through a biblical lens. He demonstrates that we need to have a deeper understanding of key values such as freedom, love, justice, sexuality and forgiveness from both a Christian and a secular perspective.

We gain a deeper understanding of the values underlying the secular worldview as we listen to a conversation between John Anderson and Professor Stephen Hicks. We have included two articles from the Gospel Coalition which will challenge us as Christians to understand both the gospel and secular metanarratives. They also challenge us to live out the gospel faithfully and engage with our neighbours with truth and love.

We have also included some questions that will help you and your home-group focus on the content.

Timothy Keller has recently published a short book called How to Reach the West Again. It is available free to download at https://redeemercitytocity.com/reachthewest. Keller outlines the challenges we face as a church and a vision and strategy for 21^st Century evangelism.

Getting a World That Does Not Get It

In this address, John Woodhouse provides a pragmatic view on the cultural environment in which we, as followers of Jesus Christ, currently live. Over the past years the world has become increasingly hostile to Christians. Christianity is seen as evil and oppressive. Christians are called unjust, bigoted, hateful, intolerant and cruel. Faithful Christians find themselves feeling uncomfortable and embarrassed by some teachings and we fail to see the goodness in God’s ways.

While many of us would like to avoid the problem or revise it away John challenges us to engage with the world. He encourages us to understand prevailing worldviews and their underlying values and assumptions as well as gaining a deeper understanding of the values underlying the teachings that we are finding so difficult to explain. In his address John looks at some of the core secular values such as human rights, equality, identity and freedom and shows how their meanings have been changed and distorted. He also compares them with the biblical values and meanings and in doing so demonstrates that the moral underpinnings of Christianity are best for the flourishing of individuals and our society.

We thank John for preparing and delivering this address to launch this series of Christians Engaging Culture.

This video has been republished as a podcast on the Christians Engaging Culture podcast channel. Because of its length, it will be published over two weeks. You can subscribe to the Christians Engaging Culture Podcast in your favourite podcast app.

Conversations with John Anderson: Professor Stephen Hicks – Postmodernism and Nazism.

A core objective of this series is to provide us with knowledge that will help us think critically about the world and gain greater clarity about our Christian faith. This video, which is foundational to the series, provides insights into the reasons why western democracies are experiencing increasing social conflict. Professor Hicks has the insight to explain our world from many interrelated perspectives.

Hicks clearly articulates an intellectual and well-researched understanding of the philosophies which have emerged over the 20^th and 21^st centuries and the factors underlying their development. He also exposes how different understandings and beliefs about human nature result in different worldviews that cannot be reconciled or synthesised. One view of human nature is based on a belief that individuals can think for themselves; that we are rational; that we seek the truth; that we gain knowledge and understanding through discussing and contesting ideas; that we have agency over our own lives. The alternative view is that humans are irrational and moulded by a social context and we can be used as vehicles for social reform. That is, we do not have agency over our lives.

These viewpoints result in very different political and social systems. The bottom line is that the underlying values behind what we often describe as the far right and the far left are based on the clashing of rights and based on the belief that the use of power leads to change. Through this framework Hicks explains the development and rise of identity politics and the rights culture that is self-evident today.

Professor Hicks is a Canadian-American philosopher who teaches at Rockford University Illinois, the Director of the Centre for Ethics and Entrepreneurship, is the Senior Scholar for the Atlas Society and has lectured world-wide.

We thank John Anderson for permission to use this video and commend his extensive series “Conversations with John Anderson”, in which he interviews experts about many aspects of our society today. You can subscribe to them on your favourite podcast app and YouTube.

This video has been republished as a Christians Engaging Culture podcast. You can subscribe to the Christians Engaging Culture Podcast in your favourite podcast app.