Aaron Renn’s professional career has been mostly as a management consultant. He is not a theologian, but he is a Christian who has written an insightful essay for First Things Magazine wherein he posits a framework for understanding the relationship between the church and the culture since the 1960s.

Aaron joins Paul on today’s episode of the Recovering Christian Mind Podcast to discuss the reality that secular culture holds a negative perception of Christians (especially conservative evangelicals) and what we might do about it.

Connect with Aaron on Substack: https://aaronrenn.substack.com/

Read Aaron’s Essay at FirstThings.com: The Three Worlds of Evangelicalism

In his book, “Woke Racism: How A New Religion Has Betrayed Black America,” John McWhorter provides one of the most cogent responses to date to the visceral “woke mob” which has been muffling America’s civil discourse on race since before the killing of George Floyd in the summer of 2020.

In episode one of this new God & Culture Podcast, “Recovering the Christian Mind,” Pastor Paul Edwards laments Professor McWhorter’s comparison of the woke mob to Christianity. McWhorter does so in order to make a broader point – a legitimate one – that the woke mob are motivated and animated by the tenants of a new religion. But Pastor Paul fears that Christians – especially of the conservative evangelical variety – will be so put off by this comparison, they will not get passed it to see the legitimate points about “woke racism” Professor McWhorter is making.

The First Episode of our new weekly podcast drops on Monday, January 24th.

Dr. John McWhorter’s Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America is one of THE best responses to the woke mob I have read to date. It’s a masterclass on how to respond to the social justice warriors who intimidate us into silence on social media by calling us “white supremacists” and racists when we dare to challenge their idiocy.

Professor McWhorter posits that the woke mob are not advancing an ideology or political agenda, but a religion. To prove his point, he compares the dogma and practices of the woke mob to Christianity, and throws Christianity under the bus in the process (McWhorter, it should be noted, is an atheist.

Many Christians might respond with outrage to his aligning their beliefs and practices with those of the woke mob and totally miss the broader point he is making.

How do we think Christianly about Professor McWhorter’s (mis)characterization of the Christian faith while at the same time affirming his arguments about the woke mob?

The link to the first episode of Recovering the Christian Mind will post here on Monday!