We have had an amazing team of experts review the Understanding the Times textbook and offer helpful guidance and encouraging support. Here’s what some of them are saying:
The Lord used Understanding the Times to change the course of my life when I was at the White House. Subsequently, I made it the primary reading text in my seminary courses and it continues to be a major resource in my own personal worldview studies. Of all my worldview textbooks, it sits at the top. This newest version is a superb continuation of a worldview classic. It should be an active part of every Christian’s personal library.
-Del Tackett, D.M.
Architect and Teacher of The Truth Project
Congratulations are in order to Dr. Jeff Myers, in leading the great work of Summit ministries in training over half a million Christian youth to be the future leaders of America. The students have learned the indispensable Christian worldview through the study of Dr. Nobel’s classic book, Understanding the Times, now expanded in this updated, and easily read expansion of this great book. I can testify to the life changing affect this material can have on a young person’s life, as one of my own grandsons has been through the Summit program. I pray all Christian youth will read this great book! It will change their life!
-Tim LaHaye, D.M.
Founder, Tim Lahaye Ministries and author of How to Study the Bible for Yourself
As Christians, we’re surrounded by worldviews and perspectives that clash with the precepts taught in the Bible. This new edition of the classic Understanding the Times will help any believer who wants to grasp the nuances and implications of these cultural trends—and respond to them with grace and wisdom.
-Jim Daly
President, Focus on the Family
Everywhere I travel defending the Christian world view I meet Summit students standing courageously for the Lord because of the confidence and insight they received from the material in Understanding the Times. This updated version—vetted by some of the best Christian thinkers in the country—raises the bar in both in content and convenience to equip the next generation of Christian ambassadors.
-Gregory Koukl
President, Stand to Reason and author of Tactics and Relativism—Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air
No one has trained more students to think clearly about the world than Summit Ministries. Understanding the Times has been and continues to be the standard resource for comparing worldviews. If I had my way, this book would be on the shelf of every Christian home, on the desk of every pastor, and in the hands of every Christian student headed off to college. It’s that important.
-John Stonestreet
Executive Director of the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview and co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.
This updated classic will help all Christians, and especially students, respond to the social and ethical challenges presented by 21st-century secularists.
-Hugh Ross, Ph.D.
President, Reasons to Believe
Understanding the Times has been one of the most important and influential youth curricula for years. Jeff has done a remarkable job updating it for a new generation. It will now be one of my top recommendations for students–period.
-Sean McDowell, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Biola University, editor of The Apologetics Study Bible for Students, and co-author author of Same-Sex Marriage: A Thoughtful Approach to God’s Design for Marriage
This book is good, and I’d give it five stars. There is a worldview battle raging all around us, and this book can help you win that battle … and the war, too. Understanding the Times has a great history, and its influence is vast. You will learn a little about that history and influence in this new and updated version of Understanding the Times… and the other volumes that follow in its wake. Read for your own and others’ good.
-David Naugle, Th.D, Ph.D.
Distinguished University Professor, Chair and Professor of Philosophy, Dallas Baptist University, and author of Worldview: The History of a Concept
Understanding the Times was, ironically, ahead of its time when it was first published in 1991. Its central thesis is that the deep cultural, political, and moral disagreements that seem like permanent fixtures of our contemporary world did not arise by accident, but are tightly tethered to more fundamental disagreements that cut across religious and philosophical lines. This approach to our present discord—even if you disagree with some of its particulars or do not share the faith of its authors—is much more respectful and intellectually engaging than what one usually finds in the superficial spats that dominate social media and, increasingly, the mainstream media. For Understanding the Times takes ideas and their consequences seriously.
-Francis J. Beckwith, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy and Church-State Studies, and Associate Director of the Graduate Program in Philosophy, Baylor University
This revision of Understanding the Times is a thorough, engaging explanation and assessment of leading worldviews. This book shows how the Christian faith makes better sense than its competitors of the way things are and of our human experience; it reveals how our faith brings illumination and coherence where others fall short. Containing a wealth of information and insight, this work will serve as a helpful guide for believers to think more Christianly and to live faithful lives in this world.
-Paul Copan, Ph.D.
Professor and Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics, Palm Beach Atlantic University
Congratulations to Summit Ministries on the completion of their massive update of Understanding the Times. I encountered the original volume a couple of decades ago when my in-laws gave me a copy. The value of a book like this one is that it provides a framework for visualizing the contest of worldviews occurring about us at all times. We do not experience some simple divide between reason and superstition as many secularists would have us believe. Instead, there is a tournament of philosophies which are more or less convincing. Figuring out where to stand requires rigorous and determined work. Summit Ministries’ project helps to illuminate the shape of the intellectual terrain. One of the great things about a book such as this one is that the footnotes alone will provide the seeking student with abundant avenues of exploration.”
-Hunter Baker, J.D., Ph.D.
Academic Dean and Associate Professor of Political Science, Union University, and author of The End of Secularism, and Political Thought: A Student’s Guide, and The System Has a Soul
I am delighted to see the new edition of Understanding the Times come out–it will be a great service to students and all who care about a Christian worldview. It furthers the impact of Summit Ministries and will serve the church well for some time to come.
-Scott Rae, Ph.D.
Professor of Christian Ethics, Biola University, Dean of Faculty, Talbot School of Theology, and author of Moral Choices: An Introduction to Ethics
Understanding the Times has stood the test of time. This is because gets to the bottom of the great issues of our day by explaining and critiquing the leading worldviews on offer. It is thorough, clear, and well-documented. Long live Understanding the Times!
-Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D.
Professor of Philosophy, Denver Seminary, and author of Christian Apologetics.
Christians are often implored to “get involved”, “engage”, and “make a difference.” These admonitions are all about putting sanctified boots on the cultural ground. But, as any military officer will confirm, one can’t put boots on the ground until one knows the ground. Understanding the Times superbly, incisively, and accurately tells us about the ground like no other resource, but then Understanding the Times goes further by contrasting that ground with the redemptive truth of God’s word; and this sort of contrast is the mother of clarity. Understanding the Times is an indispensable resource for effectively and increasingly being salt and light, and this is not optional: Jesus saves us from something for something. Get equipped and get at it!
-Jeffery J. Ventrella, J.D., Ph.D.
Senior Counsel and Senior Vice-President, Alliance Defending Freedom
Amazing! The changes and additions to Understanding the Times, both in content and tone, take it to a new level. I have never seen a work so encyclopedic be so insightful and motivating. This is the curriculum for the next generation.
-William (Bill) Brown, Ph.D.
Former president of Bryan College and Cedarville University and co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.
Jeff Myers, and the staff of Summit Ministries, has produced a tour de force for defending the Christian worldview in the 21st century. For many decades the Christian worldview has been challenged on several fronts in the world religions, the academy, the public schools, and by secularists in various academic disciplines. Young people still in secular public schools and universities are regularly at the mercy of bigoted and hostile professors in the classroom, seeking to mold the minds of students to radical ideology and anti-Christian ideas. This book from Summit Ministries provides the type of training, and carefully crafted arguments, needed by the youth of the church, and even adults, to be able to withstand the torrent of bad thinking from world views that seek to destroy the Christian religion, and belief in the Lord Jesus Christ. I highly recommend this work.
-H. Wayne House, Th.D., J.D.
Distinguished Research Professor of Theology, Law, and Culture, Faith Evangelical College and Seminary
As a young youth minister in the 1990s, Summit Ministries and, especially, Understanding the Times, were invaluable resources as I sought to help my students navigate the world in which they lived. That is why I am so delighted to see this new edition for a new generation of students and teachers. In the course of daily living, each of us has our Christian faith challenged and questioned as we seek to live wisely in the world. Understanding the Times will help readers make sense of the underlying assumptions of the worldviews they encounter and will help them mount a sound and reasonable response as they seek to be “salt and light” in their families, schools, workplaces and communities.
-Skip Burzumato
Instructor of Sociology, Bridgewater College
Understanding The Times is a resource that should sit on the desk of every Christian college student. Its pages offer extensive, valuable primary resource information, embedded in thoughtful analysis from a biblical world view perspective. And here’s something unusual for such a comprehensive study: its conversational style makes it enjoyable to read.
-Gary Phillips
Th.D., Senior Pastor, Signal Mountain Presbyterian Church and co-author of Making Sense Of Your World: A Biblical Worldview
To the best of my memory, I heard the word ‘worldview’ for the first time in 1995 during my first year of seminary. By God’s grace I had just survived four years at a secular university—which were also my first four years as a Christian (having been converted at the end of high school). Looking back, I wish I had been exposed to the concept of worldview, and I would’ve chosen Understanding the Times as my first resource. I’ve witnessed the fruit of this book first-hand, especially through my involvement with Summit Ministries (from which Bryan College has gained some of its best students over the years). Students who’ve read and digested the concepts in this book are light years ahead of their fellow Christians (which include many parents and pastors!). They also exhibit a certain optimism and confidence in entering the ‘real world’ with a mindset of influence for the sake of the Kingdom.
-Kenneth Turner, Ph.D.
Professor of Bible, Bryan College and contributing author to Reading Genesis 1-2: An Evangelical Conversation