Cultural Engagement: A Crash Course in Contemporary Issues

How should Christians approach important contemporary issues like war, race, creation care, gender, and politics?

Christians in every culture are confronted with social trends and moral questions that can be difficult to navigate. But, the Bible often doesn't speak directly to such issues. Even when it does, it can be confusing to know how best to apply the biblical teaching.

In Cultural Engagement: A Crash Course in Contemporary Issues authors Joshua D. Chatraw and Karen Swallow Prior first offer a broadly accessible framework for cultural engagement and then explore specific hot topics in current Western culture including:

• Sexuality
• Gender Roles
• Human Life and Reproduction Technology
• Immigration and Race
• Creation and Creature Care
• Politics
• Work
• Arts
• War, Weapons, and Capital Punishment

Featuring contributions from over forty top thinkers, proponents of various views on the specific topics present their approaches in their own words, providing readers an opportunity to fairly consider options.

Unique in how it addresses both big-picture questions about cultural engagement and pressing current issues, Cultural Engagement provides a thorough and broad introduction useful for students, professors, pastors, college ministers, and any believer wanting to more effectively exercise their faith in the public square.

Joshua D. Chatraw (PhD, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the Billy Graham Chair of Evangelism and Cultural Engagement at Beeson Divinity School, Samford University. He is the author of Telling a Better Story and co-author of Cultural Engagement, The Augustine Way, A History of Apologetics, and The Gospel After Christendom.

Karen Swallow Prior (PhD, SUNY Buffalo) is the 2025-26 Karlson Scholar at Bethel Seminary. She is the author of You Have a Calling; The Evangelical Imagination; On Reading Well; Fierce Convictions; and Booked. She is coeditor of Cultural Engagement: A Crash Course in Contemporary Issues and has contributed to numerous other books. Prior is a frequent speaker, a senior fellow at the Trinity Forum, a contributing writer at The Dispatch, a research fellow for Comment, and a monthly columnist at Religion News Service.