Webinars

In today’s heated debates over “gender,” it’s easy to lose sight of everything that came before these debates. Where did the concept of gender (and the word “gender” itself) originate? How have philosophers and theologians and everyday people thought about maleness and femaleness over the millennia, from the Garden of Eden to 2026? Most importantly, how can putting “gender” into its broader context help us engage today’s conversations with greater wisdom and greater compassion for every human being who bears God’s image? In this webinar, we’ll tackle all these questions and more with Dr. Abigail Favale, author of The Genesis of Gender and professor at the University of Notre Dame.

Over the last several decades, younger generations have tended to be more socially and politically progressive than their elders. This trend describes some Gen Z young adults too—but new data suggests that other young people are abandoning the far left in favor of the far right. The online “manosphere,” for example, has proven adept at drawing in young men, encouraging them to enhance their masculinity by achieving domination over women. As our world grows increasing polarized—with people from every generation drifting away from centrism in favor of either the far left or the far right—what can we as Christians do to pursue constructive conversations about sexuality and gender? How can we best share Christ’s love and truth in a secular culture shaped by both far-left and far-right attitudes? Joining us to grapple with these questions is Dr. Tim Muehlhoff, professor of Communication and Senior Director of Biola’s Winsome Conviction Academy.

Lots of Christian parents want to protect their kids from pornography—and their strategy for protection begins and ends with porn-blocking software. Blockers certainly have their place, but relying only on blockers can be a bit like treating the symptoms of a disease without ever addressing the disease itself. How might our family habits and underlying mindsets contribute to an unhealthy relationship with technology and addictive behaviors overall? And how might we change our family mindsets and habits to help our kids (and us) respond better to pornographic materials whenever we stumble across them? In this webinar, we’ll hear from Matt Krieg, a counselor with years of clinical experience helping individuals and families navigate sexuality, address sex addiction, and cultivate healthy patterns.

What can our capacity for sex and our desire for sex teach us about being human? More importantly, what can these things teach us about God? What does the New Testament’s concluding vision of eternity as a marriage—the wedding feast of Christ and his Bride, the Church—have to do with our lives and our bodies right now? And what about for Christians who aren’t married: Why would God design our bodies with sex organs, make the vast majority of us want to have sex with each other, and then tell us that we shouldn’t? In this webinar, we’ll be joined by Dr. Julia Hejduk and The Center’s own Dr. Greg Coles, coauthors of the new book Sexuality Beyond Sex, as we explore these questions through the lenses of Scripture, literature, philosophy, and Church history.