Church & Culture Podcast

Dr. James Emery White
  • 4.8 (73)
  • Christianity

The Church & Culture podcast is a weekly discussion with Dr. James Emery White on the latest trends happening in culture, and where and how the church should respond. While this podcast reflects on the church's part in what may be going on in the world, it is very much a show that anyone, no matter what walk of life you may have come from or are currently in, can glean useful information. Some episodes may be an extended conversation based off one of Dr. White's bi-weekly blog posts, as he does not shy away from the controversial hot topics. So to be ready for full context, be sure to subscribe to the Church & Culture Blog at ChurchandCulture.org.

  1. 3h ago

    CCP214: On the Friendship of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien

    As you heard last week, we’re taking a break from our usual format on the podcast since we’re gearing up for the 2026 Church & Culture Conference on Thursday, October 15. Last week, we featured an interview between Dr. White and Dr. Christian Smith. In today’s episode, we’re airing the conversation between Dr. White and author and illustrator John Hendrix. They’re exploring the friendship that formed between two men who have gifted so much to the world through their writings - C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Episode Links John wrote an exceptionally well-informed and researched book, creatively presented as a graphic novel, on their lives titled The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. It explores their personal biographies, their friendship, their creativity, their thinking, their motivations, and, of course, their faith. In this conversation, they discuss the key revelations, insights and ongoing significance of their lives. And specifically, the great ideas of the "myth that came true" from Lewis and Tolkien's shared project. You can get all of the details about this year’s Church & Culture Conference, including the six conference sessions, tiered pricing and more, by visiting the conference website HERE. For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we’d love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the Church & Culture blog and to check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We’d also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you’d like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

    CCP214: On the Friendship of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien

  2. 6d ago

    CCP213: On Americans Losing Faith in Traditional Religion

    We’re taking a break from our usual format on the podcast this week. In case you haven’t heard, we’re gearing up for the 2026 Church & Culture Conference on Thursday, October 15. We thought it would be fun for the next two weeks to give you a peek into the type of learning that comes from this annual event. In today’s episode, we’re featuring a conversation between Dr. White and Dr. Christian Smith - one of the leading sociologists of our day - on how Americans seem to be losing their faith in traditional religion. Episode Links The conversation focused on Dr. Smith’s latest book, which may be his tour de force. While the “rise of the nones” is now commonly understood, what Smith did in his most recent book - Why Religion Went Obsolete: The Demise of Traditional Faith in America - is to examine “why” this has happened. Drawing on extensive survey data and hundreds of interviews, Smith offers the best analysis to date of why so many Americans have lost their faith in traditional religion. You can find his book HERE. You can get all of the details about this year’s Church & Culture Conference, including the six conference sessions, tiered pricing and more, by visiting the conference website HERE. For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we’d love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the Church & Culture blog and to check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We’d also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you’d like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

    CCP213: On Americans Losing Faith in Traditional Religion

  3. Sep 18

    CCP212: On Interfaith Marriages

    In this week’s conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss how more and more families are facing questions regarding the religious upbringing of their children, particularly when they don't share the same faith. According to the most recent Religious Landscape Study (RLS), 26% of married US adults say their spouse has a different religious identity from their own. This can lead to more complexities than people may realize. Episode Links In addition to the Pew Research Center article looking at the results of the RLS (which you can find HERE), they discussed another article at the top of the podcast titled “Maine’s high court rules father can restrict daughter’s church attendance.” This serves as just one example of how complicated the dynamic can get between parents who don’t share the same faith - especially if the marriage ends. Dr. White mentioned the importance of passing on your faith to your children, particularly for those who would consider themselves Christ followers. He is currently in a six-week series at Mecklenburg Community Church called “iParent: The New Challenges of Family in an Online, Non-Stop, Information-Overloaded, Broken, Unchurched World.” Among the installments is one titled “Rise of the Nones,” which would be helpful for a deeper dive into today’s topic. You can find that series on Church & Culture HERE. The conversation turned to marriage, and how important it is - again, especially if you are a Christian - to find a partner who shares the same faith. There are a number of series that Dr. White has given at Mecklenburg Community Church on the topic of marriage and relationships (you can find those all HERE), but there are two series in particular that we would like to suggest. The first is called “Significant Other” and explores the levels of intimacy you should be looking for in a partner. The second is called “Holy Matrimony,” which focuses on what makes that bond more than simply a marriage through the lens of the Bible. Finally, Dr. White mentioned a book written by Lee and Leslie Strobel, which he explained has so many helpful takeaways for people who are wrestling with an interfaith marriage. It’s titled Spiritual Mismatch: Hope for Christians Married to Someone Who Doesn’t Know God, and you can find it on Amazon HERE. For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we’d love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News mentioned above. We’d also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you’d like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

  4. Sep 11

    CCP211: On Socialism

    In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a news story that was recently posted to Church & Culture's Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe shared each weekday. This story was an opinion piece written by Peggy Noonan for The Wall Street Journal titled “Socialism Is Here—and It's Serious.” Not surprisingly, many people in today's culture don't really seem to have a clear understanding of what socialism is. Episode Links You heard Dr. White mention some data from the Harvard Caps/Harris poll in the episode. Much of this is fleshed out in another article in The Wall Street Journal written by Mark Penn and Andrew Stein titled “Socialism and the Dumbest Generation.” The subtitle of this article is very telling: “Young people embrace an ideology that goes against everything they actually believe.” It's hard to touch on a conversation about politics and not also have it bleed into religion these days, and that's not the first time this has been a part of the podcast. We'd encourage you to go back and listen to two very helpful episodes: CCP82: On Christians and Politics and CCP83: On Christians and Government. For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News mentioned above. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

    CCP211: On Socialism

  5. Sep 4

    CCP210: On Larping and the Hunger for Authenticity

    In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a term that may be new to many of our listeners - “larping.” Larping has been adopted by Gen Z and redefined as a slang word that refers to people who are inauthentic or performative. And the use of this slang term speaks to how highly Gen Z values authenticity in others; that is, how much they long for people who are genuine. Episode Links There are two articles that were referenced in today's conversation. Here they are if you'd like to do some more reading on this topic: Rachel Hale, “All of Gen Z is larping. It's not what you think it is,” USA Today. Rachel Hale and Owen Carry, “'Polyester' is Gen Z's newest viral insult. Here's what it means.” USA Today. Gen Z is big on assigning labels (like larping) to people, but, ironically, they often struggle with their own self-identity and seemingly want to reject labels that culture would put on them. This is part of what led to the trend discussed last week on the podcast. If you missed it, be sure to check out CCP209: On the Rise of Bisexual Men. Finally, if you want to go to school on Gen Z, we'd encourage you to check out Dr. White's book called Meet Generation Z, which you can find on Amazon HERE. For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

    CCP210: On Larping and the Hunger for Authenticity

  6. Aug 28

    CCP209: On the Rise of Bisexual Men

    In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss the latest gender-related topic on the podcast - the rise of bisexual men. This is a somewhat new face of masculinity that is dominating Hollywood in particular, as evidenced by an article in The Wall Street Journal titled “Why the Bisexual Man Is Hollywood's Breakout Star.” So why is bisexuality becoming so dominant in today's culture and media? And why is it being specifically targeted at Generation Z? Episode Links As Alexis mentioned, this is not the first time that a conversation on or related to gender has been featured on this podcast. Here are some past episodes that we'd encourage you to go back and listen to : CCP21: On Gender CCP72: On Toxic Masculinity CCP78: On Trad Wives CCP156: On a Theology of Sexual Identity CCP200: On Masculinism In addition to the article from WSJ above, there was another article highlighting the latest shows that feature bisexual men: “The Bi Renaissance: 21 shows with amazing bi male representation.” And as noted above, Gen Z has become the cohort that Hollywood seems to want to influence the most, probably because one of the marks of Gen Z is their sexual fluidity. Dr. White explores this and other culturally relevant marks of this generation in his book Meet Generation Z, which you can find on Amazon HERE. Finally, Dr. White mentioned some statistics about the rise of LGBTQ+ in the U.S. You can read the article titled “LGBTQ+ Identification in U.S. Now at 7.6%” from Gallup HERE. For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

    CCP209: On the Rise of Bisexual Men

  7. Aug 21

    CCP208: On GLP-1s

    In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss one of the most dominant cultural medical news stories over the last several months - GLP-1 weight-loss drugs. In the U.S., 42% of adults and nearly 20% of children are clinically obese. And if you incorporate factors such as waist measurement and fat distribution, then the rates of obesity go up even higher. Being overweight is linked to more than 40 chronic conditions including diabetes, heart disease, stroke and various cancers. So how are we to consider the impact of these drugs from a Christian worldview? Episode Links As Dr. White mentioned, here are the links to a number of articles that are related to today's conversation that we suggest you take a moment to read: Christopher Rowland, “Americans are taking GLP-1 drugs in record numbers,” The Washington Post. Ariana Eunjung Cha and Aaron Steckelberg, “13 surprising ways GLP-1s may benefit the body, according to science,” The Washington Post. Christopher Rowland, “3 ways GLP-1 drugs could be getting better,” The Washington Post. Kelsey Kramer McGinnis, “Christians Debate Drugs vs. Discipline in the Age of Ozempic,” Christianity Today. Shelby Grad, “Why we've become so suspicious of people who lose weight. John Goodman's trending moment,” Los Angeles Times. For those of you who are new to Church & Culture, we'd love to invite you to subscribe (for free of course) to the Church & Culture blog and check out the Daily Headline News - a collection of headlines from around the globe each weekday. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

    CCP208: On GLP-1s

  8. Aug 14

    CCP207: On Cultural Caricatures of the Christian Faith (Summer Rerun)

    In this week's summertime rerun, Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye 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 walk through four of the most common caricatures in today's culture. Episode Links Here are some series given by Dr. White at Mecklenburg Community Church related to the caricatures covered in today's discussion that you may be interested in taking a look at: “The Science of God” “Astrophysics… for People Who Are Open to God” “Don't Check Your Brains at the Door” “When God Makes Us Laugh” “Why?” And then here are a few past podcast episodes that you can go back and listen to in case you missed them that may add to today's discussion: CCP103: On the Sudden Rise of LGBTQ CCP92: On Challenges to Believing the Bible CCP63: On Why Christians Are So Mean CCP49: On Faith vs. Science Finally, Dr. White mentioned a book that he wrote in the conversation today that you may want to check out: A Mind for God. It should also be noted here that he discussed a book by author Philip Yancey. Following the news that broke about Yancey's shadow life, we released another podcast episode you may want to go back and listen to: CCP179: On When a Beloved Leader Falls. 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. We'd also love to hear from you if there is a topic that you'd like to see discussed on the Church & Culture Podcast in an upcoming episode. You can find the form to submit your questions at the bottom of the podcast page HERE.

    CCP207: On Cultural Caricatures of the Christian Faith (Summer Rerun)
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About

The Church & Culture podcast is a weekly discussion with Dr. James Emery White on the latest trends happening in culture, and where and how the church should respond. While this podcast reflects on the church's part in what may be going on in the world, it is very much a show that anyone, no matter what walk of life you may have come from or are currently in, can glean useful information. Some episodes may be an extended conversation based off one of Dr. White's bi-weekly blog posts, as he does not shy away from the controversial hot topics. So to be ready for full context, be sure to subscribe to the Church & Culture Blog at ChurchandCulture.org.

Information

  • Creator
    Dr. James Emery White
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    214
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 by Dr. James Emery White
  • Show Website
    Church & Culture Podcast

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