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S. Michael Craven (July 11, 1960 in Houston, Texas) is a Christian author, speaker and apologist

S. Michael Craven is a Christian cultural apologist, author, columnist, and speaker. Craven is the founder and president of the Center for Christ & Culture located in Dallas, Texas.

The Center for Christ & Culture is a ministry of renewal that works to equip the church to engage the culture with the redemptive mission of Christ. The vision of Craven's ministry is not to “moralize” society or culture but rather to demonstrate the life-giving relevance of Jesus Christ to every aspect of life and culture. Craven is respected for his ability to reason and relate with those of differing viewpoints in thoughtful and gracious manner.

Among the many positions that he supports is barring same-sex couples from adopting children. Craven opposes adoption by same-sex couples on the grounds that adoptions should be limited to the natural family, which better serve the interest of children rather than using adoptive children as a means for legitimizing homosexual relationships. In a 2002 Fort Worth Star-Telegram article, Craven compared the reasons for banning gays and lesbians to adopt to those barring pedophiles from adopting. [1] He also takes the stance that modern Islam is an oppressive socio-political-religious system that results in human rights abuses and hinders human flourishing producing societal deficiencies such as poverty and illiteracy. It is "ultimately the love of Christ that will overcome the tyranny of Islam." [2] Craven however distinguishes between the ideology of Islam and Muslim people. He is critical of the former and calls for love and charity toward the latter. He concedes that there are moderate interpreters of Islam but they are largely silenced by more radicalized voices.

Craven is critical of the modern Christian reliance on politics and the politicization of the American Christianity. Craven reasons that "due to the disintegration of common values, worldviews, and the like that now animate our pluralistic culture, our society is increasingly polarized as competing interests seek to establish their respective views as the right view. As a consequence, persuasion is thought to be an inadequate way of competing; in order to defend our view, we resort to forms of power, namely political power, which is inherently polarizing" [3]. Craven is part of a new generation of Christian thinkers, writers, and leaders working for renewal and reformation in the American church.

Craven is the author of Uncompromised Faith: Overcoming Our Culturalized Christianity published by Navpress. Craven also authored the popular Cultural Apologetic Series published by the National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families. Craven writes a popular weekly commentary, which through subscription and syndication on Crosswalk.com, Christianity.com, and The Christian Post reaches more than four and half million readers each week.

Craven speaks on university campuses, national conferences and seminaries, appeared on Fox News, CNN, ABC, NBC, and many other national television and radio programs.

Craven is an occasional guest host of the nationally-syndicated radio program, Point of View and serves as an adjunct professor at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon. Craven serves as a Senior Fellow of Cultural and Family Issues at the Center for Cultural Leadership in Santa Cruz, California and served as Moderator of the Fellowship of Mere Christianity in 2007-2008.

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Michael Craven", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0