It seems like there have never been so many issues dividing the culture--or so many issues dividing the church. The issues may change, but the way in which we engage these issues with each other and with the world does not change. It's not just what we think, but how we think through these issues and challenge ourselves as well as others, that is part of our call as Christians.

Dr Karen Swallow Prior

Karen Swallow Prior, PhD, is Research Professor of English and Christianity and Culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Her academic focus is British literature, with a specialty in the eighteenth century, a period she loves for its emphasis on philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, and community, as well as its efforts at correcting the universal human impulse to gravitate toward extremes.

She is the author of “Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me”, “Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More—Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist”, and “On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books.” She is co-editor of “Cultural Engagement: A Crash Course in Contemporary Issues” and has contributed to numerous other books.

Dr Prior is a prolific public communicator. Her writing has appeared at Christianity Today, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, First Things, Vox, Relevant, Think Christian, The Gospel Coalition, Religion News Service, Books & Culture, and other places. She is a founding member of The Pelican Project, a Senior Fellow at the Trinity Forum, a Senior Fellow at the International Alliance for Christian Education, a Senior Fellow at the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture, and a member of the Faith Advisory Council of the Humane Society of the United States. She and her husband live on a 100-year old homestead in central Virginia with sundry horses, dogs, and chickens. And lots of books.