Persuasion in a Post-Truth Age

There was a time when a good argument could change a mind. You laid out the facts, made your case, and trusted that reasonable people would follow the evidence where it led. That time is gone. Today a person is just as likely to ask “Does this affirm who I am?” as “Is this true?”, and the most carefully reasoned case can bounce off a listener who has already decided you are the enemy. For Christian leaders, this is not just an academic problem. It shows up in the sermon that doesn’t land, the conversation with a friend that ends in silence, the school board meeting where nobody is listening, and the family dinner where one wrong word ends the evening. Persuasion in a Post-Truth Age is a six-week course for pastors, educators, Christian leaders, and thoughtful citizens who refuse to give up on the truth or on the people who need to hear it. Over six sessions, you will trace how we got here, from the collapse of shared truth to the rise of identity as the lens through which people judge every claim. Then you will learn how to respond: how to rebuild trust, how to communicate across deep disagreement, and how to persuade without manipulating or giving ground.