Instructor:

Dr. Jefrey Breshears

Time and Location:

Wednesdays, Aug. 28 – Nov. 20
7-8:30 PM
Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, Room 105

Course Fee:

$50 / $85 per couple.

Course synopsis:

“How Should We Now Live?” is a seminar in cultural apologetics that focuses on the current state of American culture and how Christians can live faithfully and responsibly in the midst of a society that is becoming increasingly hostile toward Christian beliefs and values.

Ours is a society that celebrates narcissism, hedonism and materialism, and one in which the forces of secularism are waging aggressive and unrelenting attacks on morality in general and Christianity in particular. As a result, virtually every aspect of American life is under assault, and as our moral and ethical standards collapse so goes our economy, our political system, and our cultural institutions.

As Bob Dylan sang in the 1960s, “The Times They Are A-changin’,” but no one back then could possibly foresee the tectonic shift that has radically altered American society and culture in the past 40 years, or just how far our nation has strayed from its religious, political and cultural origins and heritage during that time. We live in a society that increasingly calls evil good and good evil (Isaiah 5:20), and as philosopher J. Budziszewski has written, this is a strange and unprecedented time.

We are passing through an eerie phase of history in which the [moral truths] that everyone really knows are treated as unheard-of doctrines, a time in which the elements of common decency are themselves attacked as indecent. Nothing quite like this has ever happened before. Although our civilization has passed through quite a few troughs of immorality, never before has vice held the high moral ground. Our time considers it dirty-minded to great sexual purity as a virtue… [and] a sign of impious pride to profess humble faith in God. The moral law has become the very emblem of immorality….” [What We Can’t Not Know, p. 10]

“How Should We Now Live?” is an interactive study centered around directed readings and focused discussions on two seminal issues:

(1)The challenges of living in an increasingly dysfunctional and degenerate ‘post-Christian’ society
and culture; and

(2)The opportunities our current situation affords in terms of practicing a faithful and wholistic
vision of discipleship.

Topics and Readings:

• “The Times They Are A-Changin’”: Reflections on Contemporary American Culture A retrospective on Francis Schaeffer’s How Should We Then Live?
• Jefrey D. Breshears, “Was the Election of 2012 America’s Adrianople?” (article).
• Jefrey D. Breshears, “Countercultural Christianity and Spiritual Warfare” (article).
• Jefrey D. Breshears, “A Contemplative Response To the Culture War” (article).
• Henri M. Nouwen, The Way of the Heart: Connecting With God Through Prayer, Wisdom, and Silence (Ballantine Books, 1981).
• Jefrey D. Breshears, The Absolute Truth About Relativism: The Fundamental Heresy of Our Time (Areopagus Publishing, 2012).
• Jefrey D. Breshears, Natural Law: The Moral Foundation for Social Civility (Areopagus Publishing, 2012).
• Jefrey D. Breshears, The Ministry of the Watchman: Restoring a Vital Missing Link in the Ministry of the Church (Areopagus Publications, 2012).
• Francis Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto (Crossway Books, 1981).
• Charles Colson and Nancy Pearcey, How Now Shall We Live? (Tyndale House Publishers, 1999).