In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss how one of the best ways to step forward into something new - particularly the new year and all of the possibilities it brings - is to reflect on the past. This episode is devoted to looking back at some of the biggest headlines or takeaways from the past year to get a better sense of what we need to leave behind, and what we need to bring forward with us as learnings into the year ahead.

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On the global stage, one of the biggest events from the past year is definitely the war in Ukraine. In fact, TIME magazine just named Volodymyr Zelensky and the “spirit of Ukraine” as their person of the year for 2022. This was a topic featured both on the podcast in our second episode titled “CCP2: On Ukraine, Russia and the Orthodox Church,” as well as in a two-part blog series. The blogs were titled “Ukraine, Russia and the Orthodox Church – Part 1” and “Ukraine, Russia and the Orthodox Church – Part 2.”

In conjunction with the war in Ukraine and the religious aspects of the conflict, on the homefront there seemed to be a growing rise of the idea of Christian nationalism - that the US was founded as a Christian nation and that we must get back to that. You can listen to the podcast conversation “CCP37: On Christian Nationalism.” But counter to this trend is how the United States is increasingly separating itself from the church. You'll want to check out “CCP32: On a Non-Christian America.”

In this episode they discussed themes that seemed to come out of movies and music this past year, but how much of what is really affecting culture is social media. You can pop over and listen to “CCP25: On ‘Doing' Social Media” to review best practices in what we should and should not share on our socials.

There was a lot of discussion on topics tied to Christian subculture and some of the heated issues that surfaced in 2022. There are three podcasts here that you should check out: “CCP4: On Pastors and Moral Failings,” “CCP9: On Unchurched Christians,” “CCP15: On Denominational Decline” and “CCP31: On Celebrity Pastors.” Dr. White mentioned how so much of these issues are tied to an ever-declining understanding of the doctrine of ecclesiology. In 2022 he released a Church & Culture Course called “Theology on Tap” that would absolutely serve churches to ground themselves in solid Christian theology.

For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the twice-weekly Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday.

Episode 07: Sylvia Sessions