Every two years, Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research release The State of Theology—a massive survey that reveals what Americans (including evangelicals) actually believe about God, the Bible, Jesus, and culture. The 2025 report is out, and some of the numbers are… surprising.

In this episode of Thinking Christian, Dr. James Spencer is joined by longtime friend and theologian Dr. Ashish Varmafor a wide-ranging conversation about what the data shows—and what it doesn’t show—about the theological landscape among evangelicals today. Rather than panicking over headline-grabbing statistics, James and Ashish analyze the deeper trends beneath the numbers.

Together they explore:

Why young evangelicals differ sharply from older generations on questions like the Bible’s literal truth and whether science conflicts with Scripture.
Why nearly all evangelicals still say the Bible is their highest authority, even when their answers elsewhere seem to contradict that claim.
How access to information, cultural context, and community shape belief—for better or worse.
The surprising power of church attendance and affiliation in reinforcing core doctrines (and where that influence seems to break down).
Why political theology may be quietly distorting how Christians answer moral questions—especially younger believers.
Which troubling survey results actually matter—and which ones may simply reflect fuzzy categories or ambiguous wording.
How churches should respond: not with panic or doctrinal hammering, but with thoughtful discipleship, richer community life, and deeper formation.

James and Ashish also dive into the complexities of interpreting theological surveys at all—how beliefs are shaped by cultural habitus, how people understand (or misunderstand) terms like myth, literal, or love, and why surveys often reveal more about our formation than our formal theology.

If you’re curious about what evangelicals really believe—and what the church can do about it—this episode offers a hopeful, nuanced, and deeply thoughtful guide through the data.

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To read James's article on this topic, check out his author page on Christianity.com.

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