Disruptive Witness: Speaking Truth in a Distracted Age

Exploring faithful spiritual practices in a distracted and secular age.

We live in a distracted, secular age. These two trends define life in Western society today. We are increasingly addicted to habits—and devices—that distract and "buffer" us from substantive reflection and deep engagement with the world. And we live in what Canadian philosopher Charles Taylor calls "a secular age"—an age in which all beliefs are equally viable, and real transcendence is less and less plausible. Drawing on Taylor's work, Alan Noble describes how these realities shape our thinking and affect our daily lives.

Too often, Christians have acquiesced to these trends, and the result has been a church that struggles to disrupt the ingrained patterns of people's lives. But the Gospel of Jesus is inherently disruptive: like a plow, it breaks up the hardened surface to expose the fertile earth below. In this talk, Noble will lay out individual, ecclesial, and cultural practices that disrupt our society's deep-rooted assumptions and point beyond them to the transcendent grace and beauty of Jesus.

Speaker Bio:

Dr. O. Alan Noble is Assistant Professor of English at Oklahoma Baptist University, editor-in-chief of Christ and Pop Culture, and author of numerous articles in publications ranging from Modern Reformation, InTouch Magazine, and Christianity Today to VOX, Buzzfeed, and The Atlantic. He is a frequent speaker at colleges, churches, and youth groups on the intersection of the Church and culture, and the creative opportunities this presents to Christians. He holds both a B.A. and M.A. from California State University, Bakersfield and a Ph.D. from Baylor University.