In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss another significant anniversary happening this year. We recently aired CCP165: On the Nicene Creed as 2025 marks the 1700th anniversary of the creed. This year also marks the 100th anniversary of what's known as the Scopes Trial (or the “Monkey Trial”) - a sensational trial in American history where the debate over creation vs. evolution entered the courtroom. Set in the small town of Dayton, Tennessee back in 1925, the trial set defenders of evolutionary theory against those who wanted public schools to teach what was considered to be a biblical view of the origin of the world's inhabitants.

As Dr. White mentioned, the church plays a huge role when it comes to apologetics - helping people to know why they believe what they believe and to be able to give an account of their faith to others. This has always been a priority at Mecklenburg Community Church. In fact, you may be interested in checking out the following series that were given by Dr. White, all related to apologetics and/or faith vs. science:

“Doubt”

“Don't Check Your Brains at the Door”

“The Science of God”

“Astrophysics… for People Who Are Open to God”

“Why Believe?”

There are two resources we'd suggest you check out related to the conversation today. For a better understanding of the Hebrew mindset, we'd suggest Our Father Abraham written by Marvin R. Wilson. And then for more on the interplay between faith and science, we suggest you read How I Changed My Mind About Evolution, edited by Kathryn Applegate and J.B. Stump.

Finally, today's discussion was sparked by an article on NPR by Scott Neuman and Nell Greenfieldboyce titled “100 years after evolution went on trial, the Scopes case still reverberates” outlining the cultural ramifications of this trial even 100 years later. You can read or listen to that article 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 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.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they discuss a recent article in the New York Times written by Claire Kane Miller titled, “What Happens When Most of the Adults in Boys' Lives Are Women.” Studies show that children struggle acutely from the lack of a father figure in their lives and, according to the US Census Bureau, nearly one in four children lives without a father in the home. Today's conversation explores the impact and significance of not only fathers, but also positive male role models in the lives of young boys in particular, and how the church can play a role as well.

There are two books that Dr. White mentioned in today's episode that would be helpful for fathers and men to read to understand the impact they can have on the lives of their boys, as well as other young men. John Trent and Gary Smalley wrote a book titled, The Blessing: Giving the Gift of Unconditional Love and Acceptance. And John Eldredge wrote a book titled, Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man's Soul.

He also discussed two articles that highlight both the impact and role of men in the lives of boys, and also the challenge today in knowing what it even means to be a man:

Demaryius Thomas, “For Mamma,” The Player's Tribune.

Glenn Stanton, “Manhood Is Not Natural,” Public Discourse.

Finally, Dr. White noted how the church needs to step in and cast the vision for manhood, fatherhood, and the way that men can step up and be father figures in the lives of young boys within the church. There are several series that Dr. White has given at Mecklenburg Community Church that you may be interested in checking out: “Father Figure,” “Man Up,” and “The Sins of the Fathers.”

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.

In this week's conversation between Dr. James Emery White and co-host Alexis Drye, they dive into the Nicene Creed, as this year marks its 1700th anniversary. As the early church absolutely exploded in growth - from about 7,500 followers in A.D. 100 to around 30 million by A.D. 310 - the challenge and question facing them was this: How would they stay united? How would this fast-growing, quickly expanding movement remain unified in vision and values, mission and purpose? The answer became clear, and led to the Nicene Creed being written in A.D. 325 by the Council of Nicaea.

Modern-day churches are increasingly turning to the words of this ancient creed to ground themselves in the foundations of the Christian faith. In fact, Daniel Silliman recently wrote an article in Christianity Today titled, “How the Nicene Creed Became Cool Again” that you may be interested in reading.

In honor of the Nicene Creed's 1700th anniversary, Dr. White recently kicked off a series at Mecklenburg Community Church titled “Credo,” which is the Latin word for creed. If you're interested in checking out this series, you can find it HERE. It's particularly important in our world today to ground the church in the words of the creed, especially in light of the findings of the most recent “State of Theology” survey showing that culturally, there has been a significant lapse in our understanding of what it means to be a Christian - among Christians. You can find that study HERE.

Finally, if you are interested in doing some additional study about the Nicene Creed, there are a few books that we would recommend on this topic: Mark Noll, Turning Points; Phillip Cary, The Nicene Creed; Jared Ortiz and Daniel A. Keating, The Nicene Creed; and J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrines.

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.