Church & Culture Podcast

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss how misunderstood the cultural history tied to Halloween really is. For many people, Halloween offers an excuse to dress up in a costume, for kids to rack up an insane amount of candy, or a reason to dust off an old horror film for a night's worth of adrenaline. But there are a lot of Christians who gra...

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a topic that was highly requested by our faithful podcast listeners - why are there so many translations of the Bible out there? Some common follow-up questions are: Do all of these translations mean that we've deviated from the original texts? Is there one translation that is better than all the others...

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss both the startling rise of cultural Christianity in the West, as well as the incurably churchy desires of our souls. While there is an upward trend in America for people to identify themselves as religiously unaffiliated, they don't actually seem to want to disaffiliate themselves from all things relate...

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a recent statement made by the Surgeon General that parenting is now considered a health hazard. He said that stress, loneliness and financial woes are so acute as to limit the ability of parents to function in every day life. To be sure, there are some new parenting dynamics today that parents haven't...

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they continue last week's conversation on why people get divorced. If you missed the previous episode, we encourage you to go back and listen to that first. You can access that podcast HERE . In today's episode, we turn to what the Bible has to say about divorce and remarriage. Jesus essentially delivered a bombshel...

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a recent USA Today article exploring the current divorce rates in the United States. The stats seem to vary based on state, religious affiliation, race, sexual orientation, occupation… even the number of times that someone has been married. They also noted that divorce rates tend to peak around t...

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the controversy surrounding the release of the movie adaptation of the book by Colleen Hoover It Ends With Us . While the book attempts to shine a light on the issue of domestic violence and the many faces that it can take, the movie - largely due to comments in the press from lead actress Blake Lively...

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a topic that was frequently suggested through our online form - whether it's okay for a Christian to use profanity. And the questions went beyond the individual level to the church at large. Because there has been a recent trend where churches seem to have become much more lenient when it comes to cursi...

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a topic that's surprisingly not been tackled yet on the podcast: miracles. Today's conversation dives into the definition of miracles, their prevalence and purpose in Scripture, the Catholic Church's stance on miracles, and whether they still happen today. Episode Links The Catholic Church is trying to...

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss prebunking, the concept of trying to expose falsehoods before they even come about. The concept of prebunking is modeled after the way vaccines work, but targeted at false information. It involves creating an immune response in the brain to counter the disease of false information, hoaxes and conspiracy...

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a recent article in Christianity Today titled “ The Loosening of Evangelicalism ” written by Brad East. As the title implies, he gives his observations on the loosening of social norms within the church that has taken place for the last 25 years or so, particularly when it comes to changes i...

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they continue the discussion from last week's episode about jobs and our work. While part one of this conversation focused on our vocation and calling, part two examined how we, as Christ followers, are called to engage with our coworkers. Because as it stands right now, we appear to be struggling in this area. Epis...

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they began a discussion about jobs and work but on a deeper level, delving into the ideas of calling and vocation. The effects of the pandemic can be seen in so many spheres of life, particularly through the lens of the American workforce. What seems to be missing is an understanding of the biblical view of work - s...

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss France's ongoing struggle between the French State and organized religion. Their embrace of laïcité , which is best translated as secularism, means they really have adopted a freedom from religion mentality within the public sphere. This goes well beyond the idea of separation of church and...

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a relatively new term on the cultural scene - metamodernism. For decades, the term “postmodern” has been used to define the cultural mood of Western society. Well according to scholars, postmodernism has been dead for years. Taking its place is the new era of metamodernism. Episode Links Tod...

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss what is now the fastest growing Christian movement in the U.S. - the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) - and one that many people don't seem to be aware of. This group of leadership networks that include supposed modern-day apostles and prophets believe they have been called by God to take over the world....

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the subject of a recent Christianity Today article written by Russell Moore titled, “ Why Young Men Are Failing to Launch .” The phrase “failure to launch” is not new on the cultural scene; however, it is increasingly becoming reflective of Gen Z men. This is a generation that Dr...

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the data coming from the CDC finding that the worldwide birth rate that had seen an uptick during the pandemic has slowed way, way down. In fact, between 2007 - 2022 the birth rate has fallen 22% with the average woman today having 1.6 children. This is something that we need to pay attention to because...

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a string of recent articles exploring the growing trend among Generation Z students who are deciding to forego college and instead head to vocational schools. There are a number of reasons for this to be sure - everything from the rising tuition costs of a four-year college education to feelings that th...

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the widespread campus protests that have been dominating the headlines of late. More than 2800 students have been arrested across 50 campuses across the U.S. Many Americans are unsure about what to think about all of these protests, and have mixed feelings about the response from college administrators...

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss what may seem like a surprising topic - hell. An AP/NORC study last year found that belief in heaven and angels is more common than belief in the devil or hell. For many, this may be because culture often portrays hell in a comedic or cartoonish way through various media platforms. Even some Christians...

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a recent study from the PRRI titled “ Religious Change In America .” One of the biggest headlines from the study is that more and more, Americans are saying “no” to organized religion, and the number of those identifying as atheist and agnostic are on the rise. In fact, since Dr....

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the fact that as culture becomes less and less rooted in Christianity, and people (sadly) have more and more encounters with Christians who are not very Christlike, misconceptions and caricatures of the Christian faith seem to be growing. Today's discussion, which was a listener-submitted topic, will wa...

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they reflect on the four years that have passed since the U.S. declared a national emergency in response to COVID. The pandemic upended our lives and our world, and four years later its effects are still being felt. Episode Links Julie Bosman wrote an article in the New York Times titled, “ Four Years On, Covi...

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a recent Gallup poll that found that 7.6% of Americans now identify as LGBTQ+ - a figure that has more than doubled over the last 12 years. When you dive into the generational data from this poll, it revealed that for Generation Z, 22.3% now identify as LGBTQ+, which is a percentage far beyond Millennia...