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The Center for Christ & Culture exists to:

▪Educate Christians with solid arguments in defense of biblical truths related to every aspect of life that will stand up in the intellectual marketplace.

▪Edify Christians by teaching them why what they believe is true and how to translate those truths into every sphere of life and culture.

▪Enable Christians to engage culture intelligently and persuasively in an effort to transform it.

▪Equip Christians to bring faith and reason together in order to render Christian faith relevant to modern life.

▪Expose false pretensions that hinder the reception of the Gospel and Christian living.

...Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from My people's way.

Isaiah 57:14

The Center for Christ & Culture represents the teaching ministry of S. Michael Craven.  Michael is a respected Christian cultural apologist, author, columnist, and speaker who works to challenge the spiritual apathy and cultural indifference of the Church in our generation through serious research, writing, speaking, and teaching. Listen to Michael's Greeting & Welcome

-Norman L. Geisler, Ph.D.

Subscribe to the critically acclaimed Truth in Culture Weekly, a weekly e-commentary with more than 3 million online readers. Offering insightful cultural critique, these commentaries help Christians better understand and engage the culture for Christ.

"The weekly e-mails I receive from you have shaped and influenced my paradigm and worldview more than anything else for almost 20 years. Thank you!”

-Selase Kwawu, University of Ghana, West Africa

----SOON TO BE RELEASED----

Michael's groundbreaking book:
Uncompromised Faith: Overcoming Our Culturalized Christianity
published by Navpress

In many ways, the times in which we live are not dissimilar to those of the sixteenth century reformers. They, like us, found themselves living in a cultural context in which Christianity had been reduced to little more than religious ritual and personal piety. Gone was the majesty and radical reality of God’s amazing grace—grace that transforms not only our outward behavior but reorients every aspect of our lives and thinking. Similarly we find ourselves living within a cultural context in which the majesty and radical reality of God’s amazing grace has been subdued, culturalized and rendered largely impotent—in other words, "a form of religion but denying its power."

In Uncompromised Faith, Michael peels back the layers of contemporary culture to expose the unwitting cultural captivity of the American Church and offers a route to freedom that is rooted in historical orthodoxy.

Christ & Culture Bookstore  •  This month's recommendations:

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A Mind for God by James Emery White The apostle Paul calls us to "take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Cor 10:5). But James Emery White fears that Western Christians are failing in this task. Because we have not developed good intellectual habits, our minds instead have been captured by our culture. A Mind for God is written to help us break free from this cultural captivity through the spiritual and intellectual disciplines of reading, study and reflection. On Sale for $10.30

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A Practical View of Christianity by William Wilberforce Wilberforce's classic work, A Practical View of Christianity, is concerned with convincing those who call themselves Christians to pursue "the real nature and principles of the religion which they profess." Christianity is not a mere morality, to be held in private. Christianity is revelation from God, bringing new rights and correspondent duties. It is an entire way of life that requires diligence and study and that should affect every aspect of the Christian's public and private life. On Sale for $9.46

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View other recommended resources at our online Bookstore HERE

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Schedule & Events  July 6 - Sunday 9:00 am Trinity Presbyterian Church  July 13 - Sunday 9:00 am Trinity Presbyterian Church  July 17 - Thursday 11:00 am Fellowship of Mere Christianity 2008 Convocation  July 18 - Friday 11:00 am Fellowship of Mere Christianity 2008 Convocation  July 19 - Saturday 11:00 am Fellowship of Mere Christianity 2008 Convocation  July 20 - Sunday 9:00 am Trinity Presbyterian Church  July 27 - Sunday 9:00 am Trinity Presbyterian Church more...

News & Features TRUTH IN CULTURE WEEKLY THIS WEEK: From Political Pessimism to Gospel Hope -  I am amazed at the level of pessimism among so many Christians that I encounter. I think this may also be a product of too much reliance on politics. This is, after all, the pressing concern of the population whose frustrations center mostly on the failed expectations of their political leaders and government: the economy, the war, fuel prices, and so on. Add to that concerns over the moral direction of the nation, and the church often appears indifferent or defeated. There is a cure for this pessimism...   Read this week's Article Subscribe to the Weekly View Archives SUPPORT THE CENTER EVERY TIME YOU SEARCH THE INTERNET There is no cost to you, no software to download, simply use GoodSearch and designate the Center for Christ & Culture as your charity and they will donate a penny every time you search the Internet. That may not sound like alot but if we as a community were to all use GoodSearch—the numbers could add up quickly! BECOME A MINISTRY PARTNER If you long for renewal in the Church and you desire to see the Christian faith, once again, made relevant to shaping the moral and social consensus then please consider becoming a Ministry Partner. Your financial support can make a difference in the battle for Truth! I want to become a Ministry Partner! Why Support this Ministry? UPDATE YOUR SUBSCRIPTION Need to update your subscription to the Truth in Culture Weekly? Click HERE

Listen Online From Political Pessimism to Gospel Hope 06-30-2008   I am amazed at the level of pessimism among so many Christians that I encounter. I think this may also be a product of too much reliance on politics. This is, after all, the pressing concern of the population whose frustrations center mostly on the failed expectations of their political leaders and government: the economy, the war, fuel prices, and so on. Add to that concerns over the moral direction of the nation, and the church often appears indifferent or defeated. There is a cure for this pessimism... Christians, Politics, and the Fate of the Nation 06-23-2008   In this heightened political season, there are many, including some Christians, who believe the fate of the nation rises and falls on the outcome of November’s presidential election. That is not to say that politics and elections are inconsequential—the nation prospers from good leaders and suffers from the inept—but are government and political leaders really the hope or ruin of a nation? Being the Church in a Time of Troubles 06-16-2008   It was into the sexually immoral environment of the first century Roman world that Christians would bring forth a radically different sexual ethic. The concern for the Christian today is that unlike our early brothers and sisters, the church all too often appears similar to the surrounding culture. This is especially true among the forthcoming generation. Knowing this, what hope does the church have of restoring the dignity of marriage? We must reclaim the subject of sex by giving our young people a comprehensive theology of sex... A Time of Troubles 06-09-2008   The famous historian, Arnold J. Toynbee observed that civilizations arose in response to some set of challenges of extreme difficulty prompting “creative minorities” to devise solutions that would reorient the entire society. When a civilization responds to challenges, it grows. Conversely civilizations declined when their leaders stopped responding creatively or with wisdom. Toynbee points out that in the wake of an inadequate response, the civilizations in question then sank owing to either nationalism, militarism or the tyranny of a despotic minority. It seems we, as a nation, have sunk to the level in which a “despotic minority” is in the process of reorienting our entire society, that minority being those who advocate a natural and now constitutional right to homosexual behavior. Recent decisions in California and New York demonstrate that the line in defense of traditional marriage continues to erode. To the Class of 2008 06-02-2008   Adolf Hitler once said, “It is the luck of rulers when men do not think.” The writer of Proverbs underscores this truth by saying, “Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse.” (2:12) This begs the question; what role does the intellect and scholarship have in our faith? What role does a consciously Christian education play in seeking first, the kingdom? Expelled: Exposing the Darwinian Paradox 05-12-2008   The thing which most offended critics and reviewers of Ben Stein’s film, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, was his attempt to link Darwinism to the Holocaust. It is here, in the area of moral philosophy, that the Darwinian paradox is revealed. On the one hand, modern Darwinians posit that the universe is the result of impersonal, amoral, natural forces while on the other denying this undermines objective moral standards. However, the Nazi’s understood what modern Darwinians do not; if you reject the Creator you cannot hope to live within the safety of the Creator’s rules. It is either God’s loving law or the law of the jungle. Hope for a Christian Renaissance? 05-05-2008   Two years ago I wrote that we may be seeing the first signs of what could be a new cultural renaissance in Italy. Recent events in Italy seem to indicate that this "renaissance," if you will, has not only continued but may be gathering momentum. Could this indicate the revival of Christian influence in Europe? Why Theology Matters 04-27-2008   I think many in the American church know God in the same way they know the President—they know some facts about him, where he lives, what he does, etc.—but they do not have a relationship with him. This could be described as a cultural theology but a biblical theology is more akin to the relationship between a child and a good parent. The child in this sense has a much more intimate knowledge that, through time and maturation, reveals the loving nature of the parent. Experience only confirms this knowledge and this produces trust, which in turn fosters obedience. Failure to develop a coherent and systematic theology affects our ability to live as faithful followers of Christ. The High Cost of Immorality 04-21-2008   For more than five decades, self-proclaimed experts and so-called sexual reformers have worked to advance the belief that there are no public consequences to private sexual behavior. And Americans, for the most part, have bought into this notion, proving what Lenin said, “A lie told often enough becomes the truth!” However, first-ever research reveals the fallacy of this notion and quantifies the high cost of immorality in America to be more than $112 billion each year! In Pursuit of Community: What Can We Do? 04-10-2008   If Christians living within a distinct community is an essential witness to the mission of God, and because so many of us seem unwilling to surrender the independent self, and since our present understanding and expression of this community falls painfully short; what can we do to remedy this situation? What hinders this community is NOT a weakness of the institutional church and its leadership but rather the radical individualism of its members. This is not simply a matter of concern over sporadic church attendance or mediocre participation in the church potluck dinner; this is a central underlying principle, which nullifies the witness of God’s people and opposes the redemptive mission of God!  So, I am asking you: What practical steps can churches and individuals take to foster and promote a healthy, distinctively biblical, and witness-bearing community? Contribute your ideas at the end of this article. more...

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