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Gospel After Christendom: An Introduction to Cultural Apologetics [Hardback]

General editor , General editor , General editor
  • Formāts: Hardback, 224 pages, height x width: 229x152 mm, 1 Hardback
  • Izdošanas datums: 23-Oct-2025
  • Izdevniecība: Zondervan
  • ISBN-10: 031017547X
  • ISBN-13: 9780310175476
  • Formāts: Hardback, 224 pages, height x width: 229x152 mm, 1 Hardback
  • Izdošanas datums: 23-Oct-2025
  • Izdevniecība: Zondervan
  • ISBN-10: 031017547X
  • ISBN-13: 9780310175476
"The Gospel after Christendom is a guide for Christians, churches, and leaders who desire to create missionary encounters and see hearts transformed by the power of the gospel. It defines cultural apologetics, explains its biblical and historical grounding, and demonstrates its importance for the church today"-- Provided by publisher.

Even after Christendom, our culture is fertile ground for gospel renewal. We need apologetics for the whole church tailored to this moment.

Since the fall of Christendom, Christians in Western countries can no longer assume their neighbors share basic familiarity with the Bible or even a sense for God. We now face a strange mixture of apathy and antagonism toward the gospel. Some people view Christianity as yesterday's news. For others, it's the source of today's problems. Lately, though, more and more are open to the idea that Christianity may be tomorrow's hope.

Amid these confusing and conflicting shifts, we need apologetics for the whole church and not just for those who enjoy arguing. Cultural apologetics can help uncover opportunities to proclaim the gospel as the only way to fulfill longings for truth, beauty, and goodness. Churches that embrace this approach can be strengthened and renewed as they demonstrate an appealing and convicting way of life that stands out in the world.

In The Gospel after Christendom, scholars and practitioners from the Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics define cultural apologetics, explain its biblical and historical grounding, and demonstrate its importance for the church today. Their diverse viewpoints, united in the gospel, offer a balanced approach that can guide Christians to share the Good News with their neighbors in this challenging but exciting time.

With contributions from: 

  • Sam Chan
  • Joshua D. Chatraw
  • James P. Eglinton
  • Skyler R. Flowers
  • Rachel Gilson
  • Collin Hansen
  • Rebecca McLaughlin
  • Ivan Mesa
  • Alan Noble
  • Gavin Ortlund
  • Derek Rishmawy
  • Daniel Strange
  • Bob Thune
  • Christopher Watkin
  • Trevin Wax


The Gospel after Christendom is a guide for Christians, churches, and leaders who desire to create missionary encounters and see hearts transformed by the power of the gospel. It defines cultural apologetics, explains its biblical and historical grounding, and demonstrates its importance for the church today.

Recenzijas

'Apologetics has perennially endeavored to persuade about the Christian hope. The best approach has been Cultural apologetics, meaning recognizing whole persons, their history, and their circumstances. This anthology introduces us in a superb manner to the need for the vindication of the Christian faith in a post-Christendom world. It a must-read for anyone concerned to explain the faith to outsiders and insiders alike in these perplexing times.' * William Edgar, professor emeritus of apologetics, Westminster Seminary * 'Christian witness requires, among other spiritual capacities, a kind of biliteracy. We must be fluent in the truth of the Scriptures and in our cultural contexts. The Gospel After Christendom is an essential primer in this fluency that enables powerful gospel proclamation, and I highly recommend its collected wisdom.' * Jen Pollock Michel, author and speaker * 'Cultural apologetics is not new; it retrieves a historic, holistic, and hopeful approach to Christian witness. This volume helps us reckon with the cross-pressures of our secular age, its apathy and activism, hubris and despair. These authors show us how to listen more carefully and testify more convincingly to the beauty, goodness, and truth that is found in Christ alone.' * Justin Ariel Bailey, dean of chapel and professor of theology, Dordt University * 'For many of us, the word apologetics started to leave a bad taste in our mouths, since it too often reflected Enlightenment assumptions and sensibilities while also generating a tone and attitude that seemed more combative than loving, more arrogant than thoughtful. Our apologetics must be holistic (head, hands, and heart), culturally informed, and gospel saturated. Consequently, I am especially thankful for this volume, which is both substantive and generous in content and tone. There is much here for all of us as we seek to give a reason for the hope that lies within us.' * Kelly M. Kapic, Covenant College * 'In an increasingly unpredictable world, which throws up phenomena from 'culture wars' to 'vibe shifts,' Christians need more than ever to understand the deep currents at work in our culture. The Gospel After Christendom explains what cultural apologetics is, the various ways in which it can be pursued, and the kinds of big questions that it can address. Readers will find elucidating, encouraging, and helpful chapters from experts in a variety of areas who are continuing the legacy of Tim Keller in understanding, and speaking the gospel into, our cultural moment.' * Dr. Sarah Irving-Stonebraker, associate professor of history at Australian Catholic University and author of Priests of History: Stewarding the Past in an Ahistoric Age * 'It's no secret that Christianity has receded significantly in the West. So what does faithful witness look like in this age? Collin Hansen, Skyler Flowers, and Ivan Mesa convene the brightest Christian minds to offer theologically rich, biblically faithful, and pastorally wise direction to help God's people discern the times. Neither cynical nor naive, this resource will both encourage and challenge any believer who earnestly desires revival and gospel advance. Every pastor should have this book on his shelf.' * Daniel Darling, director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Seminary, author of several books, including, The Dignity Revolution, Agents of Grace, and the forthcoming In Defense of Christian Patriotism * 'Just like the weather, culture is changing rapidly, and Christians are quickly discovering how challenging it is to navigate the emerging cultural climate. The Gospel After Christendom is an excellent resource to help them chart a way forward. Drawing from a diverse group of Christian thinkers, it not only frames the key issues but also offers practical wisdom for cultural engagement. I encourage pastors and Christian leaders to pick up a copy and explore how Christianity can thoughtfully and faithfully engage in cultural apologetics.' * Stephen O. Presley, Ph.D., associate professor of Church History * 'The label may be relatively new, but from the time Paul first set foot in Athens, if not before, Christians have engaged in cultural apologetics. It is perennially necessary, but especially important for the church's witness in the West today. This book helpfully covers the what, why, how, and where of cultural apologetics with material that is fresh, insightful, and eminently practical.' * James N. Anderson, Carl W. McMurray Professor of Theology and Philosophy, Reformed Theological Seminary, Charlotte * 'This book is a marvelous primer in an age-old practice with a catchy new name: cultural apologetics. It takes us behind the arguments and proofs often debated by those assessing the intellectual merits of Christianity and explores the more basic, instinctual, imaginative, and affective lives of those seeking goodness, truth, and beauty. It offers a witness designed not merely for the head but for the heart and hands as well--helping us address the inclinations and assumptions of our post- Christian age and reorient our loves in the way of Jesus Christ.' * Douglas A. Sweeney, Beeson Divinity School, Samford University * 'What an outstanding guide to the practice of cultural apologetics! The Gospel After Christendom equips church leaders to live as wise cultural climatologists, adapting their witness to the unchanging glories of Jesus to face the challenges of ever- changing cultural contexts. The authors are well aware of the challenges of our current moment, but they do not give in to pessimism or panic. The result is a resource that is clear and yet kind, uncompromising but still meek, concerned with current challenges and still rich with hope.' * Timothy Paul Jones, PhD, C. Edwin Gheens Professor of Christian Family Ministry and chair of apologetics, ethics, and philosophy, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary *

Introduction (Collin Hansen): What Is Cultural Apologetics?
Description: In a time when many Christian voices look outside and tell the
weather of the day, in this introductory chapter, Hansen conceives of
cultural apologetics as climatology. Cultural apologetics is the proactive
study by Christians of the deep-rooted values, ideologies, narratives, and
patterns at work in their culture. These aspects of a culture are, at their
core, religious in nature. They are the pursuit of meaning and eternal life.
Understanding them in this way helps the cultural apologist, rooted in the
gospel, to correct and connect so unbelievers can see their sin and need for
a Savior. Done properly, this means that cultural apologetics presents a
vision of Christianity that compels the non-believer to see the Christian
faith as truth, good, and beautiful even before they have believed. This is
not a call to redeem the culture, and the task must constantly be attuned
to the ways the church itself needs to be challenged and edified by a
cultural apologetic that by scripture. Every culture in its self-serving
idolatry thinks it can have the benefits of Christianity while subtracting
actual faith in it. The ultimate task in cultural apologetics is to not only
to comprehend and critique the ways the culture does this, but also to
consummate their own story in the story of Jesus Christ.
Top Choice:
Collin Hansen serves as vice president for content and editor in chief of The
Gospel Coalition, as well as executive director of The Keller Center for
Cultural Apologetics. He hosts the Gospelbound podcast and has written and
contributed to many books, most recently Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and
Intellectual Formation and Rediscover Church: Why the Body of Christ Is
Essential. He has published with the New York Times and the Washington Post
and offered commentary for CNN, Fox News, NPR, BBC, ABC News, and PBS
NewsHour. He edited Our Secular Age: Ten Years of Reading and Applying
Charles Taylor and The New City Catechism Devotional, among other books. He
is an adjunct professor at Beeson Divinity School, where he also co-chairs
the advisory board.

Part I: The Concept of Cultural Apologetics
These first three chapters serve to introduce the conceptual underpinnings of
the task of cultural apologetics. This section will include a precise
definition, drawing on theological and philosophical resources, a biblical
presentation of the methodologys scriptural basis, as well as a historical
analysis of its employment through various thinkers. Each chapter will serve
the projects goal of presenting cultural apologetics as a means by which the
church articulates the gospel truth in light of its cultural context for the
sake of renewal in churches, hearts, and homes.

Chapter 1 Why Cultural Apologetics?
Description: We are living in the largest religious transformation in
American history. Forty million Americans have left the church in the last 25
years. Many other countries have already seen similar declines. With this
massive shift in religious demographics comes an equal shift in the
underlying beliefs, desires, and hopes of a culture. For centuries in the
West, these fundamental aspects of human life were largely understood within
the concepts of Christiendom, making the task of evangelism the relatively
simple task of connecting the dots. With the advent of post-Christendom,
these shared cultural touch points no longer exist. Christianity is not
merely rejected but is thought to be unbelievable. This need calls for a
reassessment of evangelistic practice in the modern world. This chapter
offers cultural apologetics as the needed corrective to effectively share the
gospel and form Christians today. Cultural apologetics steps into this
situation bring the truth, goodness, and beauty of the gospel as the
fulfillment to these shared beliefs, desires, and hopes. Thus, cultural
apologetics makes Christianity comprehensible, commendable, and compelling t
Collin Hansen serves as vice president for content and editor in chief of The Gospel Coalition, as well as executive director of The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. He hosts the Gospelbound podcast and has written and contributed to many books, most recently Timothy Keller: His Spiritual and Intellectual Formation and Rediscover Church: Why the Body of Christ Is Essential. He has published with The New York Times and The Washington Post and offered commentary for CNN, Fox News, NPR, BBC, ABC News, and PBS NewsHour. He is an adjunct professor at Beeson Divinity School, where he also cochairs the advisory board.

Skyler R. Flowers is an associate pastor at Grace Bible Church in Oxford, Mississippi, and the associate program director at The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics. He earned a master of divinity from Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando, Florida, and he is currently a PhD student at the University of Aberdeen. Skyler and his wife, Brianna, have two children.

Ivan Mesa (PhD, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is editorial director for The Gospel Coalition. Hes editor of Before You Lose Your Faith and coeditor of Scrolling Ourselves to Death and Faithful Exiles. He and his wife, Sarah, have four children, and they live in eastern Georgia.