Recently I had the privilege of leading two seminars at the 2020 FEUER Academic Speakers Network.

I tackled the question of how to read our culture through the categories and patterns of the Bible, specifically through the creation-fall-redemption framework of biblical theology.

The videos below are slightly amended versions of these two seminars.

Video 1: creation and fall

Too often, all our contemporary culture sees in Genesis 1 and 2 are problems involving Darwin, dinosaurs, and the length of days, while the Trinity is dismissed as irrational or as an invention of the early church. But a loss of confidence in these doctrines would be a disaster for thinking Christians, since the foundational, biblical truths of the Trinity and creation are among the richest sources of insights and tools for robust and sensitive engagement with contemporary culture. Let us reclaim the Trinity and creation from their cultural despisers and show how these foundational doctrines speak into, question, and reorient some of the most important debates in today’s society.
Our culture attacks sin and judgment as hate speech, leaving Christians befuddled, embarrassed or even in denial about these foundational biblical truths. But what confused Christians and the condemning culture both fail to see is that a recognition of the presence of sin and the prospect of judgment actually strengthens and humanises a society, promoting democracy, equality and human flourishing, dignity, hope, and care for the environment. Culture-making Christians cannot afford to be embarrassed by sin and judgment, much less to avoid them, and there is no trade-off between biblical faithfulness and social sensitivity. Put at its simplest: making more of sin is good for society.

 

Video 2: redemption

The basic rhythm of Christian reality is the threefold pattern of creation, fall, and redemption. This pattern shapes the Christian’s understanding of, and engagement with, everything in the natural and cultural worlds. This session concludes our exploration of how this distinctively Christian pattern of understanding and engaging with the world yields unique insights into the most pressing contemporary social and intellectual problems. We will see that the incarnation and the cross of Christ, far from being doctrines of merely theological interest, have profound cultural implications and help shape a Christian public voice that is distinctive, fresh, constructive and biblically faithful.