Why We Should Recover Cultural Apologetics

For many, apologetics is associated with arguments over rational, philosophical proofs. It’s a matter of the head instead of the heart, a debate over facts instead of feelings. But no matter what kind of apologetics you practice, you’re arguing according to a certain set of rules, in a particular language, attuned to what you expect to resonate in your time and place. In other words, it’s always cultural, never purely timeless. And it’s never purely rational. We need to recover apologetics as a matter of the heart and hands as well as the head. We need to recover apologetics as a project for the whole church and not just for those who enjoy arguing. What we call cultural apologetics is not a new academic discipline. It’s a means to reconnect the church to the best biblical and historical resources for presenting and defending the faith “once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). That’s the vision behind a new book, The Gospel After Christendom: An Introduction to Cultural Apologetics , which I edited for Zondervan Reflective and The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. I’m joined now by two of the contributors, both fellows for The Keller Center. Josh Chatraw is the Billy Graham chair for evangelism and cultural engagement here at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama. Visiting us here at Beeson this week is Christopher Watkin, associate professor of French and Francophone studies at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. ——— In This Episode 02:00 — Apologetics as Cultural: Head, Heart, and Hands 03:00 — Biblical Models for Cultural Apologetics 05:10 — Retrieval: Learning from Church History 09:16 — Augustine, Rome, and Biblical Critical Theory 13:00 — Diagonal Thinking, Third-Way Debates, and Politics 16:00 — Confrontational vs. Winsome Apologetics 20:00 — How Jesus Engaged Different People 26:00 — Apologetics for the Whole Church and for Pastors 34:00 — Retrieval Models: Pascal, Montaigne, and Modern Idols 41:00 — Audience Q&A: Out-Narrating, Doubt, Catholicism, Facts vs. Heart Issues 51:46 — Closing Reflections Resources Mentioned The Gospel After Christendom by Collin Hansen, Ivan Mesa, & Skyler Flowers Telling a Better Story by Josh Chatraw Biblical Critical Theory by Christopher Watkin City of God by Augustine Confronting Christianity Podcast with Rebecca McLaughlin The Speak Life Podcast with Glen Scrivener Truth Unites Podcas t with Gavin Ortlund ——— SIGN UP for my newsletter, Unseen Things Help The Gospel Coalition renew and unify the contemporary church in the ancient gospel: Donate Today Don’t miss an episode of Gospelbound with Collin Hansen: Apple Podcasts Spotify YouTube TGC Updates Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Why We Should Recover Cultural Apologetics is an episode from Gospelbound by The Gospel Coalition.

This episode is 00:52:18 long.

This episode was published on Dec 2, 2025.

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