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Articles by Joshua Chatraw
The Absurdity of Autonomy
“All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” If you’d like empirical evidence to support Pascal’s quip, I present to you the 2020 lockdown. “Sitting quietly in a room alone” was the one thing we found we could not do well—at least not the “quiet” part. The global pandemic, confinement to our homes, the ticker on the news counting deaths, and the uncertainty of when it all would end made for a year most of us would just as soon forget.
Self-Creation Is Exhausting. Here’s Where to Find Rest.
When Alexis de Tocqueville visited America in the 19th century, he observed that despite our prosperity, there was a “strange melancholy in the midst of abundance.” Fast forward to the 1990s. In the movie Fight Club, Tyler Durden (played by Brad Pitt) captured his generation’s growing sense of discontent: We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War is a spiritual war. Our Great Depression is our lives.
Barba-Kay admits digital technology has improved and will continue to improve our lives in particular ways. However, he doesn’t leave us guessing about his basic evaluation: “I regard the digital revolution as a basically dehumanizing force”. Our digital devices are history’s first “natural” technology. The printing press and the telephone, for example, each changed the world by doing a particular task.
Want to Grow as a Cultural Apologist? Learn from Augustine.
The North African bishop Augustine of Hippo (354–430) is one of Christianity’s most formidable thinkers. Many esteem him as a great theologian, others as an insightful pastor. More recently, a growing number are turning to Augustine as a model for how to read culture and do apologetics. If you’re looking to grow in your ability to do apologetics, let me commend two of Augustine’s works for you to consider. But first, a word of caution.
Review: ‘A Web of Our Own Making’ by Antón Barba-Kay
Our digital devices are history’s first “natural” technology. The printing press and the telephone, for example, each changed the world by doing a particular task. But digital technology doesn’t do a singular thing; it’s the medium on which we do nearly everything. We use it for driving, working out, entertainment, conversations, dating, school, worship, shopping, and planning vacations. Unlike past world-changing inventions, digital technology is involved in every area of our lives.
Surprised by Doubt: How Disillusionment Can Invite Us into a Deeper Faith
More Episodes How to Hope in Hard Times Narcissism Is Toxic for Pastors. But So Is Lack of Confidence. Hold On to Faith amid Doubts Do You See Her? How to Care for the Women in Your Church Even those who live by faith experience doubt, but it doesn’t have to end your faith.
On My Shelf: Life and Books with Joshua Chatraw
On My Shelf helps you get to know various writers through a behind-the-scenes glimpse into their lives as readers. I asked Joshua Chatraw—the Beeson Divinity School Billy Graham chair for evangelism and cultural engagement and author or coauthor of various books including The Augustine Way and Surprised by Doubt—about what’s on his bedside table, favorite fiction, favorite biographies, and much more. Advertise on TGC What’s on your nightstand right now? I’m taking this question quite literally.
Augustine’s Apologetic Vision and How Doubt Can Lead to Faith
The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy. Collin Hansen What if the best way to defend our faith can actually be found by visiting pre modern North Africa? That’s the premise of the latest book by that dynamic apologetics duo of Josh Petro and Mark Allen. It’s called the Agustin way retrieving a vision for the church’s apologetic work. Witness excuse me, published by Baker academic.
Exhorting Christians Who Are Hostile Online
The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy. Sam Allberry given if there’s a Christian who’s being hostile online, what what’s the best way to respond to them to exalt them? Gavin Ortlund I make a distinction if someone is under my pastoral care. Back when I was a youth pastor, we would have times where someone was being bullying on Facebook or something like that.
Addressing Pastoral Misconduct on Social Media
The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
C. S. Lewis Shows Us How to Care for Doubters
In A Grief Observed, C. S. Lewis records his psychological suffering in the wake of his wife’s death. In his scattered, grief-stricken account, he explores the tenuous nature of the human condition. Humans are contingent, fleeting, and vulnerable, living lives fraught with pain. In the face of his loss, Lewis—though perhaps the greatest apologist of the 20th century—has moments where he doubts a good God really exists.
How Christians Can Deal with Doubt
The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy. Mike Kruger Sometimes students asked me as a professor, you probably get this too whether I’ve ever had a time of doubt. I know that for our students, they can view us as sort of these, you know, pristine professors who know it all and have all the answers. And I think it’s really important sometimes for them to hear that we don’t. Yeah.
This Isn't How They Told Us It Would Be
It seemed easy to believe in Christianity when I (Jack) was surrounded by friends who were all devoted believers. My youth-group years taught me to believe that Christianity was transparently true; doubt was portrayed as an embarrassing and possibly deadly disease. So, if we had doubts, we kept them to ourselves. None of us wanted to be seen as a project. Of course, we knew people who weren’t Christians and had heard some of their objections, but these were hardly to be taken seriously.
Joshua D. Chatraw and Jack Carson
Surprised by Doubt Brazos Press, 2023 By Joshua Chatraw and Jack Carson WHO: Joshua Chatraw, the Billy Graham Chair of Evangelism and Cultural Engagement at Beeson Divinity School; and Jack Carson, executive director of the Center for Apologetics and Cultural Engagement and as an instructor at Liberty University.
The Great Dechurching
Read by the authors. We are currently experiencing the largest and fastest religious shift in US history. It is greater than the First and Second Great Awakening and every revival in our country combined...but in the opposite direction. Yet precious little rigorous study has been done on the broad phenomenon of dechurching in America.
How We Can Learn from the Persecuted Church
The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy.
The Augustine Way
“Far more than a thoroughly researched, beautifully written work of retrieval, this book is a sorely needed plea to mend what has come undone in our attempts to defend and commend the faith to our late-modern contemporaries. Herein is a theologically informed approach to apologetics that takes seriously the fact that we are doxological creatures with disordered desires, that we are more than intellects but are storytelling, story-consuming, and culturally situated creatures.
What was it about Tim Keller?
(RNS) — “Tim Keller saved my faith.” Those were the words of a lawyer who sheepishly approached me one evening after Bible study. He explained that while he had never met Tim Keller, he considered him a kind of spiritual father figure. Even though I hadn’t even mentioned Tim in my talk that night and this man was not typically expressive, I wasn’t surprised.
The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics
The Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics helps Christians share the truth, goodness, and beauty of the gospel as the only hope that fulfills our deepest longings. Learn More ARTICLES FROM THE KELLER CENTER Gospel Resources About Knowing God's Will Explore My Dad (Tim Keller) Listened to History to Speak the Gospel Tim Keller’s son reflects on how Keller contextualized the gospel without reinventing it.
Rethink the Self
The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy. Trevin Wax: We’ve all been there. The graduation ceremony where young people stride across the platform, celebrate their achievements, and hear or feel good message about how to make the world a better place.
18th Annual Celebration of the Best
For the 18th year, Outreach magazine is celebrating some of the best outreach-oriented books and curricula by honoring them as Outreach Resources of the Year. The Outreach Resources of the Year aims to highlight valuable resources for church leaders and bring deserved attention to resources that can help churches better engage in effective outreach to share the gospel and reach their communities for Christ.
How Do I Respond When Someone Rejects Scripture as Trustworthy?
The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy. Heather Calvillo:: Welcome back to TGC Q&A, a podcast from the Gospel Coalition where each week you’ll hear conversations between members of our council and friends who provide their unique perspective on your most pressing spiritual questions.
What Does Ineffective Apologetics Look Like?
The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy. Mark Allen: Does ineffective apologetics look like in today’s world? Josh Chatraw: Yeah, well, one of the things we’re dealing with culturally at this moment is this incredible polarization. Now, I think in some ways there’s been a divide in our nation, for awhile.
Gospelbound: We Have a Better Story
The following is an uncorrected transcript generated by a transcription service. Before quoting in print, please check the corresponding audio for accuracy. Collin Hansen: What’s most important about humanity never changes. We’re made in the image of God and separated from our creator by our sin. We need a savior lest we fall under God’s judgment. It doesn’t matter where you travel or what time period you study, this story doesn’t change.
Looking Back So We Can Move Forward in a Secular Age
After growing up in a Christian home, I began to experience doubts about Christianity in college. Struggling through some nagging questions, one thing that brought relief was realizing I wasn’t alone. The church had raised, reflected on, and responded to similar questions for 2,000 years. Christians hadn’t been sticking their head in the sand, trying to hide from these challenges.
Why Unbelievers Are Probably More ‘Christian’ Than They Realize
Editors’ note: Our longform series invites readers to engage a wide range of topics with depth. In an age of lots of noise, this series seeks to help equip, inform, and encourage our readers to live as disciples of Christ. This piece is adapted from Joshua Chatraw’s Telling a Better Story: How to Talk About God in a Skeptical Age (Zondervan, 2020). At one time in the West, Christianity seemed plausible because elements of the Christian story were woven into the fabric of everyday life.
Why listening matters. Even if you think the other side is wrong.
(RNS) — Just a few years ago, the church was battling the secular culture on controversial issues like abortion, homosexuality and religious freedom. Now, we within the church seem to be battling each other on these issues, more and more. One doesn’t have to search far — or even search at all — to encounter a professing Christian who not only holds views that have long been considered outside the bounds of historic Christianity, but who will attempt to support such views from Scripture.
Outreach Magazine Names Resources of the Year
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO—For the 16th consecutive year, Outreach magazine is celebrating some of the best outreach-oriented books and curricula by honoring them as Outreach Resources of the Year. The Outreach Resources of the Year aim to highlight valuable resources for church leaders and bring deserved attention to resources that can help churches better engage in effective outreach to share the gospel and reach communities for Christ. More than 170 resources published between Nov.
Should I Stay at a Christian Organization That Doesn’t Seem Christian?
I work for a Christian organization that doesn’t look Christian from the inside. I’ve been trying to patiently change the culture from within, but I’m just one person, and I’m getting worn down. Is it worth it to stay in a job at a Christian organization that is currently culturally unhealthy because of what the organization could be or was intended to be?
The Dignity Revolution: Reclaiming God's Rich Vision for Humanity
Daniel Darling is Vice-President for Communications of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Pastor of Teaching and Discipleship at Green Hill Church, Mt Juliet, Tennessee. He writes regularly in a range of publications, including The Washington Post and Huffington Post, and hosts the weekly podcast The Way Home. Dan is married to Angela and they have four children.
Stop Apologizing for Apologetics
In an episode of the second season of the Netflix series Stranger Things, the four junior-high heroes of the hit series dress up as characters from Ghostbusters for Halloween. In their ghost-fighting jumpsuits with blasting packs on their back, they quickly realize they have, quite embarrassingly, failed to pick up on the unwritten rules of the middle school coming-of-age process.
A Letter to My Students the Day after the Paris Terror Attacks
Saturday, November 14, 2015 By Dr. Joshua Chatraw As I write this, less then 24 hours after the ISIS terrorist attacks in Paris, I am still processing the events. In the aftermath of this shocking evil, many of you are no doubt also still processing. The ocean standing between France and us makes no difference; our attention has been captured. You might be tempted to turn your head away to escape to the upcoming holidays, football games, and finals.
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