At a Glance
As wokeness becomes more and more prominent in today’s culture, it becomes harder and harder to know how to respond. Many react by joining in and advocating for “social justice,” but is that the proper response? Is postmodernism the correct worldview? Owen Strachan, author of Christianity and Wokeness, joins us this week to defend the truth and stand for what is right.
For more discussions on this topic, listen to our episode, “Faithfulness in a Post-Christian Culture.”
What You'll Hear
Chapter 1: Owen Strachan (1:11)
- Owen is the author of Christianity and Wokeness.
- He is a teacher and provost at Grace Bible Theological Seminary.
- He became concerned about critical race theory leading up to Spring 2020 and got involved in researching and talking about it after George Floyd died.
Chapter 2: Postmodernism (19:29)
- Satan is against the truth.
- Currently, we are heading to “hard” or “reified” postmodernism which views itself as morally imperative, as opposed to “soft” postmodernism which encourages everyone to do their own thing.
- Postmodernism claims there is no definite truth or morality but also that people are morally wrong if they are not “woke.”
Chapter 3: Cultural Engagement (34:34)
- Not everyone is called to cultural engagement, but it is still an important task for the church.
- The Bible addresses every part of life, including interaction with culture.
- We should use the Bible’s understanding of concepts like justice, not the world’s understanding.
- Love is not necessarily doing what people want you to do, but what is right.
- We need to declare the truth.
Chapter 4: Winsomeness (51:57)
- “Winsomeness” has been the idea that Christians should be “nice” in order to attract people to the gospel.
- But being thought well of should not be our goal.
Using the link above, you can read the transcript, listen along, and adjust the speed of the podcast while you listen.
If we're not defining justice, somebody else is. And that's exactly what's happened. It's been redefined.
Scott (38:17)
Special Guest
Owen Strachan is associate professor of Christian theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and serves as a senior fellow of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood. In addition to being a contributing writer for the Gospel Coalition, he has written for The Atlantic, The Washington Post, OnFaith, First Things, Christianity Today, The Federalist, and the Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology. Owen also regularly speaks to media outlets, including FOX News, the Hugh Hewitt Show, and the Eric Metaxas Show, and works as a research fellow of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. He is married and is the father of three children.
Connect with Owen on Facebook (@OwenDStrachan) and Twitter (@OwenStrachan).
Go Deeper
Christianity and Wokeness
A book by Owen Strachan
The Antithesis
A podcast by Owen Strachan
Why Social Justice Is Not Biblical Justice
A book by Scott Allen
A Toxic New Religion
A book by Scott Allen, Darrow Miller, and Stan Gurthrie
Quotes
“‘Hard’ postmodernity still keeps the foundation-less reality of ‘soft’ postmodernity, but it acts as if the body of ideas it promotes is grounded. So it argues that, for example, that social justice is an imperative.” Owen (21:24)
“We’ve all got to be ‘grace and truth’ people. We tend to err on one side or the other. But we should always be striving and praying, and be confessing and repenting where we’re not being both.” Owen (26:11)
“If we’re not defining justice, somebody else is. And that’s exactly what’s happened. It’s been redefined.” Scott (38:17)
“It’s not just that we have this minimal, very sketchy concept of justice to offer people and the people in the Big Bad Ivy League universities have this really thoughtful developed, traditional understanding… Absolutely not. We not only have the strong hand, we have the only hand that will win at the table. We have the truth.” Owen (39:48)
“Love your neighbor means at the base, at the very minimum, standing on God’s truth, and then operating out of grace as much as you can towards your neighbor to try to help them from that standpoint of truth.” Owen (42:54)
“It’s not that we stoically, angrily, are supposed to proclaim. It’s that we’re supposed to proclaim truth, speaking in love.” Owen (46:42)
“I’m not the guy who has a lot of nuance to offer in terms of speaking truth when it’s going to cost us because I think that is exactly the call.” Owen (49:39)
