Darling uses Scripture to guide teaching, responses to cultural issues

Ethics and cultural engagement are two things many Christians do not think about on a daily basis, but for Daniel Darling, director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Seminary and assistant professor of faith and culture at Texas Baptist College (TBC), these topics are part of his everyday life. Darling spends his time helping students understand how to best interact with culture.

Growing up in Chicago, Illinois, Darling was exposed to Christianity at a young age. Though neither of his parents grew up in the church, they did raise him in the church and to understand God’s love for him.

“My dad actually became a Christian at a Billy Graham crusade,” Darling said. “My mom is actually Jewish and she became a Christian after marrying my dad. We were raised in a Baptist church in Lake Zurich, Illinois, and I became a Christian at age four.”

He said that after he gave his life to Christ at Quentin Road Baptist Church, in Lake Zurich, Illinois, he has had a love for the church and the ministry of the church.

Darling eventually felt called to Dayspring Bible College in Mundelein, Illinois, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree. He continued his studies by receiving a Master of Arts from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.

Darling has served in several different capacities such as being a writer and editor. He served as a pastor of Gages Lake Bible Church in Gages Lake, Illinois, and on pastoral staff at Green Hill Baptist Church in Mount Juliet, Tennessee. Darling has also been the vice president of communications at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, and the senior vice president of communications for the National Religious Broadcasters.

Since joining Southwestern and TBC in 2022, Darling has continued to write for various publications on the issues of ethics and how Christians can be involved in cultural matters. His love for ethics and the discussion of how to practically use the knowledge of ethics are part of why he enjoys teaching.

“I have always felt like God has called me to teach, preach, and help Christians think through how to apply Scripture,” Darling said. “I love to connect the Gospel to moral and ethical issues and help steward our citizens to live faithfully in this present age.”

Darling said that he felt that he was pursuing this calling while he was preaching, but that the calling is still being pursued now that he is in a teaching role.

“It is really fulfilling to kind of shape the minds of students and think about how they’re going to live faithfully in this generation. There are a lot of confusing ideologies out there and messages about everything, so I think Christians are wondering how to apply Scripture,” Darling added.

In the classroom, Darling likes to make his lectures a “mixture of lecture and question and answer.” He said he enjoys receiving feedback and questions from students to understand how well they are processing the information.

As an assistant professor of faith and culture at Texas Baptist College, Dan Darling tries to provide his students with a biblical framework for how to think. He not only wants his students to know right from wrong, but to also understand from Scripture the Lord’s heart about what is right and wrong.

“I like to give students a biblical framework for how to think because they may face questions and issues that we don’t face now,” Darling said. “If you have a moral and ethical framework based on Scripture, you’ll be able to work through those issues and think through it on the philosophical side.”

Darling added that he wants students to have that framework based on Scripture so that they can go into the world, not just knowing right and wrong, but knowing God’s heart behind why certain things are right and wrong.

Alayna Petty, a Bachelor of Arts in Humanities graduate of TBC from Weatherford, Texas, said that she receives the most from Darling’s teaching when he is “talking about his passions.”

“It is very clear when he is talking about his passions as it comes out in his teaching,” Petty said. “He’s able to talk from his experience pastorally and through his work in D.C. that he has done.”

Petty described his teaching style as “lectures that move throughout different topics that face the world and Christians today.” She said that Darling would talk about human dignity one day, then he will discuss how Christians should view the economy and interact with it.

“He definitely, as a teacher, always points back to Scripture verses,” Petty said. “Yes, he is involved in a lot of cultural things, but he makes sure those things that he is involved in align with Scripture.”

Outside of teaching, Darling enjoys writing, public speaking, and watching sports.

“I love writing, so I write articles and books, and I do a lot of public speaking,” Darling said. “But I also love sports. I am a huge Cubs fan, and unfortunately, a long-suffering Bears fan.”

Another pastime Darling enjoys is reading American history. He said that reading about American presidential history is what he considers to be a “leisure activity” throughout his week.

Outside of his hobbies, Darling, his wife, Angela, and their four children attend Travis Avenue Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. While he and his wife are not in ministerial roles in the church, Darling said his wife is “pretty involved” in the children’s ministry. He also said that he preaches “from time to time.”

As the director of the Land Center for Cultural Engagement at Southwestern Seminary, Darling actively seeks to help the seminary best interact with different cultural issues that arise. Through this, he said he enjoys interacting with students to help them “understand the best way to think through these things” and not just the right thing to say.

“The Land Center for Cultural Engagement exists to train the next generation of Christian leaders to engage society with Gospel truth that results in human flourishing through educational pathways, thoughtful events, relevant content, and critical research,” according to Darling.

Darling added that “more specifically, we have content, we host events on campus, conduct research, and offer a faith-and-culture concentration at TBC.”

Darling serves TBC and Southwestern Seminary both in the classroom and in helping Christians shape the cultural debate in America. While he does this, he is always looking for ways to find the best scriptural answer to guide his response.