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Christian Apologetics is the field of study concerned with the systematic defense of Christianity. The word "apologetic" comes from the Greek word apologia, which means in defense of. A person involved in Christian or Bible Apologetics is a defender of Christianity. Someone who engages in Christian apologetics is called a Christian apologist.

This Classical Greek term appears in the Koine (i.e. common) Greek of the New Testament. The apostle Paul employed the term "apologia" in his trial speech to Festus and Agrippa when he said, "I make my defence" (Acts 26:2). In the English language, the word apology, derived from the Greek word "apologia", usually refers to asking for forgiveness for an action that is open to blame. Christian apologetics are meant, however, to argue that Christianity is reasonable and in accordance with the evidence that can be examined, analogous to the use of the term in the Apology of Socrates, written by Plato.

Purpose

First Peter 3:15 declares that Christians must be ready to give a reason for their faith. Christian apologetics are designed to present non-Christians reasons to adopt the Christian faith or to strengthen the belief of current Christians. Also, apologetics within the Christian community provide arguments that support and strengthen the doctrinal and ethical tenets of the Christian faith.

History of Christian apologetics

Evidentialist apologetics, such as today's Gary Habermas or the more introductory Christian apologetic works such as Josh McDowell or Lee Strobel, are the most popular apologetics and have been historically. This can be seen from the earliest times in Christianity, as the New Testament records the apostles appealing to eyewitness testimony.

Historically speaking, philosophical apologetics has not been very instrumental in the propagation of the Christian faith or had much interest to many Christians, although it has appealed to Christian intellectuals. The apostle Paul, who was well-educated, said to beware philosophy (Colossians 2:8), though there is evidence that he was acquainted with Greek philosophy himself (Acts 9:29). Evangelical Christian apologist Dr. Norman Geisler composed an essay entitled "Beware of Philosophy: A Warning to Biblical Scholars". Yet some apologists call themselves Christian philosophers, such as Michael Horner. [http://www.michaelhorner.com/ An explanation of this conflict is that Christians view some philosophy as being compatible with Christianity, such as the laws of logic, while other philosophy is not, such as nontheistic philosophy. Also, Francis Schaeffer, a conservative Protestant Christian apologist, argued that Christians needed to be more knowledgeable about philosophical questions, as he taught that only a Judeo-Christian view of man and the world provided satisfactory and consistent answers to the questions of being, knowledge and morals which philosophy addresses.

An influential Catholic apologist was Saint Thomas Aquinas, who presented five arguments for God's existence in the Summa Contra Gentiles. * Aquinas's approach, which adapted Aristotelian thought, is known as Thomism, and has dominated both Roman Catholic and Protestant approaches.

In the period between 1800 and the mid-1900s, there were a number of Christian apologist/scholars such as William Mitchell Ramsay (1851–1939), William Henry Green (1825–1900), James Orr (1844–1913), Robert Dick Wilson (1856–1930), and Oswald T. Allis (1856–1930) who argued for the historicity of the Bible.

A common concern in the history of Christianity is that apologetics deny the role of faith and, some would argue, seem to offer a way to "reason oneself" into the kingdom of Heaven. This was the argument of such authors as Søren Kierkegaard and Blaise Pascal. However, it could also be pointed out that Saint Paul actually commands the defense of the Christian faith by saying that one should always be ready with "A defense of the truth."

Christian apologetics today

Christian apologetics continues to the current day in various forms. The Roman Catholic G. K. Chesterton, the Anglican C. S. Lewis, the evangelical Norman Geisler, the Lutheran John Warwick Montgomery, and the Presbyterian Francis Schaeffer were among the most prolific Christian apologists in the 20th century.

Among the most widely read Christian apologists writing in English have been Josh McDowell and Lee Strobel. Another modern apologist is Ravi Zacharias, author of The Lotus and the Cross: Jesus Talks with Buddha, which argues for Christian truth over against world religions and other modern movements. Other leading Christian apologists include: Karl Keating, Jimmy Akin, Scott Hahn, Peter Kreeft, Patrick Madrid, Robert Sungenis, Stephen K. Ray, Dave Armstrong, Gary Habermas, F. F. Bruce, William Lane Craig, Kenneth Kitchen, Bruce Metzger, Gleason Archer, R. C. Sproul, Merrill Unger, Greg Bahnsen, Cornelius Van Til, Gordon Haddon Clark, J. P. Moreland, Edwin M. Yamauchi, and J. P. Holding.

Types of Christian Apologetics

There are a variety of Christian apologetic styles and schools of thought. The major types of Christian apologetics include: historical and legal evidentialist apologetics, presuppositional apologetics, philosophical apologetics, prophetic apologetics, doctrinal apologetics, biblical apologetics, moral apologetics, and scientific apologetics.

Historical and legal evidentialist apologetics

In the evidentialist tradition, empirical arguments about the supposed life, miracles, death and resurrection of Jesus are presented as probabilistic proofs.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, following the Thomist tradition of St. Thomas Aquinas and the dogmatic definition of the First Vatican Council, affirms that it is a doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church that God's existence can in fact be rationally demonstrated. Some other Christians in different denominations hold similar views. On this view, a distinction is to be drawn between (1) doctrines that belong essentially to faith and cannot be proved, such as the doctrine of the Trinity or the Incarnation, and (2) doctrines that can be accepted by faith but can also be known by reason; that is, truths revealed by special revelation and by general revelation. The existence of God is said to be one of the latter. As a theological defense of this view, one might cite Paul's claim that pagans were without excuse because "since the creation of the world * invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made" (Rom. 1:20).

The first Protestant textbook of apologetics was written by the Dutch legal scholar Hugo Grotius, On The Truth of the Christian Religion. This work, which remained in print until the late 19th century, defended the historicity of the Gospels and also addressed arguments to Jews and Muslims.

Christian scholar Gary Habermas is recognized as being one of the foremost defenders of the historicity of Jesus Christ's resurrection.

Various arguments have been put forth by legal scholars such as Simon Greenleaf and John Warwick Montgomery and others claiming that Western legal standards argue for the historicity of the resurrection of Christ. **" target="_blank" >In addition, legal authorities' opinions regarding the resurrection of Christ are appealed to. [http://www.ankerberg.com/Articles/apologetics/AP0302W3.htm

Christian scholar Edwin M. Yamauchi, James Patrick Holding and others argue against the pagan myth hypothesis for the origin of Christianity. *** In addition, Roman historian A. N. Sherwin-White, is often quoted by Christian apologists in regards to Christianity not being formed though myth.

Sherwin-White stated:

"The agnostic type of form-criticism would be much more credible if the compilation of the Gospels were much later in time.... Herodotus enables us to test the tempo of myth-making, that even two generations are too short a span to allow the mythical tendency to prevail over the hard historic core." - A.N. Sherwin-White, Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament, (Oxford: Clarendon Press), 1963. pp. 189-190.

In addition, Sherwin-White stated:

"For the New Testament of Acts, the confirmation of historicity is overwhelming. Any attempt to reject its basic historicity, even in matters of detail, must now appear absurd. Roman historians have long taken it for granted. - A. N. Sherwin-White, Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963), p. 189.

Prophetic Christian apologetics

Bible prophecy is used as an argument for Christianity. It is argued that only God knows the future and the Bible prophecy of a compelling nature has been fulfilled. Peter Stoner is often cited by Protestant apologetic works in regards to Bible prophecy. *

Biblical apologetics

Biblical apologetics include issues concerned with the authorship and date of biblical books, biblical canon, and biblical inerrancy. In addition, Christian apologists defend and comment on various books of the Bible. Some scholars who have engaged in the defense of biblical inerrancy include: Robert Dick Wilson, Gleason Archer, Dr. Norman Geisler, and R. C. Sproul. Also, there are several resources that Christians offer defending Bible inerrancy in regards to specific verses. *" target="_blank" >Some scholars who have defended the authorship and date of biblical books include: John Wenham, Norman Geisler, Kenneth Kitchen, and Bryant G. Wood. Wenham's work is well-regarded by those who supported the Augustinian hypothesis, which is the traditional view of Gospel authorship. Scholars who have defended biblical canon include F. F. Bruce and Bruce Metzger. In addition, there are a host of Bible scholars who have defended and commented on various books of the Bible. [http://www.tektonics.org/books/arsenal.html

Philosophical apologetics

Philosophical apologetics concerns itself primarily with arguments for the existence of God, although they do not exclusively dwell on this area.

These arguments can be grouped into several categories:

  1. Cosmological argument - Argues that the existence of the universe demonstrates that God exists. Various ancillary arguments from science are often offered to support the cosmological argument. ***
  2. Teleological argument (argument from design) - Argues that there is an intricate design in the world around us, and a design requires a designer. Cicero, William Paley, and Michael Behe employed this argument as well as others. *
  3. Ontological argument - Argues that the very concept of God demands that there is an actual existent God.
  4. Moral Argument - Argues that if there are any real morals, then there must be an absolute from which they are derived.*
  5. Transcendental Argument - Argues that all our abilities to think and reason require the existence of God.
  6. Presuppositional Arguments - Arguments that show basic beliefs of theists and nontheists require God as a necessary precondition.

Other philosophical apologetics include:

Presuppositional apologetics

Another apologetical school of thought, a sort of synthesis of various existing Dutch and American Reformed thinkers (such as, Abraham Kuyper, Benjamin Warfield, Herman Dooyeweerd), emerged in the late 1920's. This school was instituted by Cornelius Van Til, and came to be popularly called Presuppositional apologetics (though Van Til himself felt "Transcendental" would be a more accurate title). The main distinction between this approach and the more classical evidentialist approach mentioned above is that the Presuppositionalist denies any common ground between the believer and the non-believer, except that which the non-believer denies, namely, the assumption of the truth of the theistic worldview. In other words, Presuppositionalists don't believe that the existence of God can be proven by appeal to raw, uninterpreted (or, "brute") facts, which have the same (theoretical) meaning to people with fundamentally different worldviews, because they deny that such a condition is even possible. They claim that the only possible proof for the existence of God is that the very same belief is the necessary condition to the intelligibility of all other human experience and action. In other words, they attempt to prove the existence of God by means of appeal to the alleged transcendental necessity of the belief -- indirectly (by appeal to the allegedly unavowed presuppositions of the non-believer's worldview) rather than directly (by appeal to some form of common factuality). In practice this school utilizes what have come to be known as Transcendental Arguments for the Existence of God. In these arguments they claim to demonstrate that all human experience and action (even the condition of unbelief, itself) is a proof for the existence of God, because God's existence is the necessary condition of their intelligibility.

Another position that is also sometimes called Presuppositional apologetics, but should not be confused with the Van Tillian variety discussed above, is the one of Gordon Clark and his disciples. Clarkians hold that, if Christian theology is true, then God's existence can never be demonstrated, either by empirical means or by philosophical argument. The most extreme example of this position is called fideism, which holds that faith is simply the will to believe, and argues that if God's existence were rationally demonstrable, faith in His existence would become superfluous. In The Justification of Knowledge, the Calvinist theologian Robert L. Reymond argues that believers should not attempt to prove the existence of God. Since he believes all such proofs are fundamentally unsound, believers should not place their confidence in them, much less resort to them in discussions with non-believers; rather, they should accept the content of revelation by faith. Reymond's position is similar to that of his mentor, Clark, which holds that all worldviews are based on certain unprovable first premises (or, axioms), and therefore are ultimately unprovable. The Christian theist therefore must simply choose to start with Christianity rather than anything else, by an unreasoned "leap of faith".

Ontological argument

In Medieval Europe Saint Anselm of Canterbury composed the Monologion and Proslogion, in which he developed the ontological argument for God's existence. He believed that faith was necessary as a precursor to philosophical argument and expressed his position as "I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe that I may understand: for this I also believe, that unless I believe I will not understand." The basics of his ontological argument are stated in the following quote: "But clearly that than which a greater cannot be thought cannot exist in the understanding alone. For if it is actually in the understanding alone, it can be thought of as existing also in reality, and this is greater ... Without doubt, therefore, there exists, both in the understanding and in reality, something than which a greater cannot be thought." "That than which a greater cannot be thought" refers to God.

Doctrinal Christian apologetics

In this type of apologetics, various Christian doctrines are defended, such as the trinity. Also, non-Christian religions are argued against. Christian apologists have developed arguments against Judaism, Islam, and Deism, for example. Changing modes in apologetics, whether or not they are currently fashionable, are important markers in the history of ideas.

Moral Christian apologetics

In moral apologetics the arguments for man's sinfulness and man's need for redemption is stressed. Examples of this type of apologetic would be Jonathan Edwards's sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". The Four Spiritual Laws religious tract would be another example. [http://www.greatcom.org/laws/.

In the first centuries AD, a number of Christian writers undertook the task of proving that Christianity was beneficial for the Roman Empire and for humanity as a whole. Also, they wrote to defend their faith against attacks made by other people or to properly explain their faith. Aristides and Quadratus of Athens, writing in the early second century, were two of the first Christians to write apologetics treatises. Other second-century apologetic writings of note included the First Apology and Second Apology of Justin Martyr and the Epistle to Diognetus , a response to the accusation that Christians were a danger to Rome.

About a century after Constantine's conversion to Christianity, the Roman Empire began falling to invaders from northern Europe. Some Christian writers sought to explain the decline of Roman culture and power by systematically downplaying the achievements of classical antiquity while emphasizing the persecution of Christians and the positive role of Christianity in society. Paulus Orosius wrote the first book advancing this perspective (History Against the Pagans), though the far more learned and influential work of this type was The City of God by Saint Augustine of Hippo (426).

Several of the early Christian apologists developed arguments from fulfilled prophecy and gospel miracles as proofs of Christ's divinity. Eusebius of Caesarea in his Demonstration of the Gospel attempted to prove the truth of Christianity by fulfilled prophecies from the Old Testament, and by rebutting arguments that the Apostles had made up the story of Christ's resurrection.

Scientific Christian apologetics

Often in scientific Christian apologetics, an embracing of the provisional nature of science is exhibited, and a greater willingness to believe the scientific consensus is errant when it is believed to be at variance with the Bible is displayed. Cases where the scientific consensus or Bible skeptics were wrong and the Bible was correct are brought up. ***" target="_blank" >The provisional nature of science is often stressed rather than any current science community consensus. Biblical creationist interpretations of scientific data regarding origins are often adhered to. [http://www.nwcreation.net/wiki/index.php?title=Creationism

Various Christians have put forth arguments that the God of the Bible is responsible for the existence of the universe as we find it today. Topics such as the creation of matter and energy, the existence of scientific laws, the origin of life, and the origin of various types of animals and plants on the earth are focused on. [http://www.nwcreation.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Key print resources and introductory Christian apologetic works

Overview and reference

  • Bush, L. Russ. 1983. Classical Readings in Christian Apologetics AD. 100-1800.Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
  • Dulles, Avery. 1999. A History of Apologetics. Wipf & Stock, Eugene, Oregon.
  • Geisler, Norman L. 1999. Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics. Baker Books, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Historical and legal evidential Christian apologetics

Introductory evidential
  • McDowell, Josh, New Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Thomas Nelson, Inc, Publishers, 1999
  • Strobel, Lee. 1998. The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus. Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
  • Hanegraaff, Hank. 2002. Resurrection: The Capstone in the Arch of Christianity. W Publishing Group, Nashville, Tennessee.

Other evidential
  • Habermas, Gary, The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ (College Press: Joplin, MI 1996).
  • Habermas, Gary, Licona, Gary The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus (Kregel, 1994)
  • Kitchen, Kenneth, On the Reliability of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids and Cambridge: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 0802849601, 2003

Prophetic

Philosophical

  • Kreeft, Peter and Ronald Tacelli. 1994. "Handbook of Christian Apologetics: Hundreds of Answers to Crucial Questions". InterVarsity Press
  • Ramm, Bernard. 1962. Varieties of Christian Apologetics: An Introduction to the Christian Philosophy of Religion. Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
  • Sproul, R. C. Not a Chance: The Myth of Chance in Modern Science and Cosmology, Baker Book House: 1994

Biblical apologetics

  • Archer,Gleason, 2001. New Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties. ISBN 0310241464
  • Bruce,F. F.,The Canon of Scripture, InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, 1988
  • Geisler, Norman and Howe, Thomas When Critics Ask: A Popular Handbook on Bible Difficulties Baker Books, Grand Rapids Michigan, 1992
  • Geisler, Norman, ed. (1980). Inerrancy. ISBN 0310392810.
  • Kaiser, Walter C., Davids, Petr H., Bruce,F. F., Brauch, Manfred, Hard Sayings of the Bible, Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL 1996

Moral

  • Sproul, R. C., The Holiness of God, Tyndale, Carol Stream, IL 1996

Scientific

  • Gish, Duanne. Evolution: The Fossils Still Say No!, El Cajon: ICR, 1995 *
  • Johnson, Phillip E. Darwin on Trial. InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois. 1991
  • Wysong, R. L. The Creation-Evolution Controversy. *

General/classics

  • Lewis, C. S. 1955. Mere Christianity. Fontana, Glasgow.
  • McGrath, Alister. 1992. Bridge-Building: Effective Christian Apologetics. InterVarsity Press, Leicester, UK.
  • Schaeffer, Francis A. 1982. The Complete Works of Francis Schaeffer. 5 Volumes. Crossway Books, Westchester, Illinois.

Criticisms of Christian apologetics

Christian apologetics consist of factual and logical arguments as well as opinion. There has been significant academic treatment of Christian apologetics in scholarly institutions and publication, which deal with fact and dissent in a transparent manner. There is also amateur self-published work with varying degrees of thoroughness and credibility. This amateur credibility problem is sufficiently widespread that Answers in Genesis, itself a pro-creationist organization, has engaged in some self-policing by publishing a list of pro-creationist arguments which they regard as invalid. Apologist Ron Wyatt has also published claims that have generated controversy regarding their authenticity. [http://www.tentmaker.org/WAR/

See also

External links

General/various apologetics:

Biblical apologetics:

Historical/legal/evidential apologetics:

Creationist apologetics:

General:

Specific issues:

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