Christian apologetics

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Christian apologetics (from Greek ἀπολογία, "speaking in defense") is a field of Christian theology that aims to present a rational basis for the Christian faith, defend the faith against objections, and expose the perceived flaws of other world views.[1] Christian apologetics has taken many forms over the centuries, starting with Paul the Apostle, including writers such as Origen and Augustine of Hippo, and continuing currently with the modern Christian community through the efforts of many authors in various Christian traditions such as G.K.Chesterton and C. S. Lewis. Apologists have based their defense of Christianity on historical evidence, philosophical arguments, scientific investigation, and arguments from other disciplines. "Christian polemics" is a term used for apologetics which primarily criticizes or attacks other belief systems.[2]

Contents

Biblical motivation

Several biblical passages have historically motivated Christian apologetics.

R.C. Sproul, quoting the First Epistle of Peter (3:15), writes that "The defense of the faith is not a luxury or intellectual vanity. It is a task appointed by God that you should be able to give a reason for the hope that is in you as you bear witness before the world."[3] The verse quoted here reads in full: "but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect."

Another passage sometimes used as a Biblical basis for Christian apologetics is God's entreaty in the Book of Isaiah: "Come now, let us reason together" (1:18).[4][5]

Other scriptural passages which have been taken as a basis for Christian apologetics include Psalm 19, which begins "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands," and Romans 1:20, which reads "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."[6]

History

Early Christian apologists include Justin Martyr, Origen, and the author of the Epistle to Diognetus.[7] Augustine of Hippo was a particularly significant apologist of the Patristic era.[8]

Thomas Aquinas, an influential Catholic philosopher, presented five arguments for God's existence in the Summa Theologica,[9] while his Summa contra Gentiles was a major apologetic work.[10][11]

Blaise Pascal outlined an approach to apologetics in his Pensées: "Men despise religion; they hate it and fear it is true. To remedy this, we must begin by showing that religion is not contrary to reason; that it is venerable, to inspire respect for it; then we must make it lovable, to make good men hope it is true; finally, we must prove it is true."[12][5]

Current landscape

Christian apologetics continues to the current day in a wide variety of forms. The Roman Catholics G. K. Chesterton,[13] Ronald Knox and Karl Keating, the Anglican C. S. Lewis (who popularised the argument now widely known as Lewis's trilemma),[14] 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, while Gordon Clark and Cornelius Van Til started a new school of philosophical apologetics called presuppositionalism, which is popular in Calvinist circles. Others include Josh McDowell, Ravi Zacharias, Hugh Ross, Lee Strobel, Hugo Anthony Meynell, Timothy J. Keller, Alvin Plantinga, William Lane Craig and Peter Kreeft.

Varieties

There is 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. The general information and arguments contained in the following overview are by no means exhaustive.

Historical and legal evidentialism

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.[15][16][17] In addition, legal authorities' opinions regarding the resurrection of Christ are appealed to.[18]

Christian scholar Edwin M. Yamauchi and others argue against the pagan myth hypothesis for the origin of Christianity.[19][20] Sherwin-White stated:

For Acts, the confirmation of historicity is overwhelming. Yet Acts is, in simple terms and judged externally, no less of a propaganda narrative than the Gospels, liable to similar distortions. But any attempt to reject its basic historicity, even in matters of detail, must now appear absurd. Roman historians have long taken it for granted.... 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, [showing that] even two generations are too short a span to allow the mythical tendency to prevail over the hard historic core.[21]

Defense of miracles

C. S. Lewis [22], Norman Geisler [23], William Lane Craig and Christians who engage in jurisprudence Christian apologetics have argued that miracles are reasonable and plausible wherever an all-powerful Creator is postulated.[24][25][26]

Prophetic fulfillment

In his book Science Speaks, Peter Stoner argues that only God knows the future and that Biblical prophecies of a compelling nature have been fulfilled.[27]

Apologist Josh McDowell documents the Old Testament prophecies fulfilled by Christ, relating to his ancestral line, birthplace, virgin birth, miracles, manner of death, and resurrection.[28]

Apologist Blaise Pascal believed that the prophecies are the strongest evidence for Christianity. He notes that Jesus not only foretold, but was foretold, unlike in other religions, and that these prophecies came from a succession of people over a span of four thousand years.[29]

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, Norman Geisler, and R. C. Sproul. Also, there are several resources that Christians offer defending inerrancy in regard to specific verses.[30][31]

Authors defending the reliability of the Gospels include Craig Blomberg in The Historical Reliability of the Gospels[32] and Mark D. Roberts in Can We Trust the Gospels?[33]

Philosophical apologetics

Philosophical apologetics concerns itself primarily with arguments for the existence of God, although they do not exclusively dwell on this area. As such, they do not argue for the veracity of Christianity over other religions but merely for the existence of any Creator deity. Omnipotence and omniscience are inferred in these arguments to greater or lesser degrees: some argue for an interventionist god, some are equally relevant to a Deist conception of god. They do not support hard polytheism, but could be used to describe the first god who created many other gods; however, the arguments are only relevant when applied to the first god (the First Cause, Pure Act and Unmoved Mover; it is a contradiction a priori to suppose a plurality of "Pure Acts" or "First Causes" or "Unmoved Movers").

These arguments can be grouped into several categories:

  1. Cosmological argument - Argues that the existence of the universe demonstrates that God exists. Various primary arguments from cosmology and the nature of causation are often offered to support the cosmological argument.[34][35][36]
  2. Teleological argument (argument from design) - Argues that there is a purposeful 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.[37]
  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 objectively valid moral values, then there must be an absolute from which they are derived.[38]
  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 arguments include:

Presuppositional apologetics

Main article: Presuppositional apologetics

Presuppositional apologetics claims that presuppositions are essential to any philosophical position, and that there are no "neutral" assumptions from which a Christian can reason with a non-Christian.[41] There are two main schools of presuppositional apologetics, that of Cornelius Van Til (and his students Greg Bahnsen and John Frame) and that of Gordon Haddon Clark.

Van Til drew upon, but did not always agree with, the work of Dutch Calvinist philosophers and theologians such as D. H. Th. Vollenhoven, Herman Dooyeweerd, Hendrik G. Stoker, Herman Bavinck, and Abraham Kuyper. Bahnsen describes Van Til's approach to Christian apologetics as pointing out the difference in ultimate principles between Christians and non-Christians, and then showing that the non-Christian principles reduce to absurdity.[42] In practice this school utilizes what has come to be known as the transcendental argument for the existence of God.

Clark held that the Scriptures constituted the axioms of Christian thought, which could not be questioned, though their consistency could be discussed.[41] A consequence of this position is that God's existence can never be demonstrated, either by empirical means or by philosophical argument. In The Justification of Knowledge, the Calvinist theologian Robert L. Reymond argues that believers should not even attempt such proofs.

Moral apologetics

See also: Biblical law in Christianity

Moral apologetics states that real moral obligation is a fact. In the words of Catholic apologist Peter Kreeft, "We are really, truly, objectively obligated to do good and avoid evil."[43] In moral apologetics, the arguments for man's sinfulness and man's need for redemption are stressed. Examples of this type of apologetic would be Jonathan Edwards's sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God".[44] The Four Spiritual Laws religious tract (Campus Crusade for Christ) would be another example.[45]

Scientific apologetics

Many Christians contend that science and the Bible do not contradict each other, and indeed that scientific fact supports Christian apologetics.[46][47] The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that "The question about the origins of the world and of man has been the object of many scientific studies which have splendidly enriched our knowledge... These discoveries invite us to even greater admiration for the greatness of the Creator."[48] The theologian and mathematician Marin Mersenne, for example, used celestial mechanics as evidence in his apologetic work,[49] while Matteo Ricci engaged in scientific apologetics in China.[50] In more recent times, the theory of the Big Bang has been used in support of Christian apologetics.[51][52]

Several Christian apologists have sought to reconcile Christianity and science in regard to the question of origins. Theistic Evolution asserts that classical religious teachings about God are compatible with the modern scientific understanding about biological evolution and that the Creator God uses evolution to bring about his plan. Denis Lamoureux, in Evolutionary Creation: A Christian Approach to Evolution states that "This view of origins fully embraces both the religious beliefs of biblical Christianity and the scientific theories of cosmological, geological, and biological evolution. It contends that the Creator established and maintains the laws of nature, including the mechanisms of a teleological evolution."[53]

The most radical example of a Christian-evolutionary synthesis is the work of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, which was intended as apologetics to the world of science,[54] but which was later condemned by the Catholic Church.[55]

Creationist apologetics

Main article: Creationism
See also: Objections to evolution and Flood geology

Young Earth creationists understand the Bible to teach that the earth is less than 10,000 years old, and that the scientific establishment has not proven that the world is much older. Young Earth creationists have also engaged in points of Biblical apologetics (see above) with regard to various parts of the primordial history in Genesis 1-11 – for instance, the long life spans of people such as Methuselah.[56][57] the Flood,[58][59] the Tower of Babel,[60][61][62]

Old Earth creationists, on the other hand, believe it is possible to harmonize the Bible's six-day account of creation with the scientific consensus that the universe is billions of years old, using basic reasoning. According to Psalms 90:4 and 2 Peter 3:8, time, as it pertains to God is "a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day". If the number 1,000 is interpreted as an arbitrarily large number, as the context would imply, then the actual number of years the earth has existed becomes a scientific matter, not a religious debate. However, this is not the only valid interpretation and Old Earth creationists such as astrophysicist, Hugh Ross see each of the six days of creation as being a long, but finite period of time, based on the multiple meanings of the Hebrew word "yom" (day light hours/24 hours/age of time) and other Biblical creation passages.[63][64]

Experiential apologetics

Experiential apologetics is a reference to an appeal “primarily, if not exclusively, to experience as evidence for Christian faith”.[65] Also, “they spurn rational arguments or factual evidence in favor of what they believe to be a self-verifying experience” . As a strength, this view stresses experience that other apologists have not made as explicit, and in the end the notion that the Holy Spirit convinces the heart of truth becomes the central theme of the apologetic argument.[66]

See also

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References

  1. ^ John M. Frame (1994). Apologetics to the Glory of God. Phillipsburg: Presbyterian & Reformed. ISBN 978-0875522432. 
  2. ^ Maijastina Kahlos, Debate and Dialogue: Christian and Pagan Cultures c. 360-430 (Ashgate, 2007), pp. 7–9 et passim; Ernestine van der Wall, "Ways of Polemicizing: The Power of Tradition in Christian Polemics," in Religious Polemics in Context. Papers Presented to the Second International Conference of the Leiden Institute for the Study of Religions (Van Gorcum, 2004), p. 401ff.; Thomas E. Burman, Religious Polemic and the Intellectual History of the Mozarabs, c.1050-1200 (Brill, 1994), p. 62 (on medieval Christian polemic against Islam); Jeremy Salt, "Imperial and the Christian Polemic," in Imperialism, Evangelism and the Ottoman Armenians, 1878–1896 (Frank Cass, 1993) p. 9ff.; Alan F. Segal, "Judaism, Christianity, and Gnosticism," in Anti-Judaism in Early Christianity: Separation and Polemic (Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion, 1986), p. 153;Tim Hegedus, Early Christianity and Ancient Astrology (Peter Lang, 2007), p. 23; Kathy L. Gaca, "Paul's Uncommon Declaration in Romans I:18–32 and Its Problematic Legacy for Pagan and Christian Relations," in Early Patristic Readings of Romans (T&T Clark, 2005), p. 1; Arieh Kofsky, Eusebius of Caesarea against Paganism (Brill, 2000), p. 4.
  3. ^ Sproul, Robert C. (2003). Defending Your Faith: An Introduction to Apologetics. Wheaton IL: Crossway Books. pp. 9. ISBN 978-1-4335-0315-3. 
  4. ^ Geisler, Norman L. (1988). Christian Apologetics. Baker Academic. pp. 11–12. ISBN 0801038227. 
  5. ^ a b Douglas Groothuis, Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith, InterVarsity Press, 2011, ISBN 0830839356, pp. 25–31.
  6. ^ Owen Anderson, Reason and Worldviews: Warfield, Kuyper, Van Til and Plantinga on the Clarity of General Revelation and Function of Apologetics, University Press of America, 2008, ISBN 0761840389, p. 2.
  7. ^ Avery Cardinal Dulles, A History of Apologetics, Ignatius Press, 2nd ed., 2005, ISBN 0898709334, pp. 31–42.
  8. ^ Dulles, p. 73 ff.
  9. ^ "Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), "The Five Ways"". Texas A&M University Department of Philosophy. Archived from the original on 2007-10-23. http://web.archive.org/web/20071023014109/http://www-phil.tamu.edu/~gary/intro/paper.aquinas.html. Retrieved 2007-11-20. 
  10. ^ Dulles, p. 120.
  11. ^ L. Russ Bush, Classical Readings in Christian Apologetics, A.D. 100-1800, Parts 100-1800, Zondervan, 1983, ISBN 031045641X, p. 275 ff.
  12. ^ Blaise Pascal, Pensées, 187.
  13. ^ Chesterton, G.K. (2008). The Everlasting Man. Wilder Publications. pp. 180. ISBN 160459246X. http://www.amazon.com/Everlasting-Man-Gilbert-K-Chesterton/dp/160459246X/ref=pd_sim_b_2. 
  14. ^ Lewis, C.S., Mere Christianity, London: Collins, 1952, p54-56. (In all editions, this is Bk. II, Ch. 3, "The Shocking Alternative.") Note: G. K. Chesterton used a similar argument about someone else in his The Napoleon of Notting Hill (1904): "He may be God. He may be the Devil. But we think it more likely as a matter of human probability that he is mad." See Cecil Chesterton, G. K. Chesterton: A Criticism (Seattle: Inklng, 2007), 26.
  15. ^ Simon Greenleaf (1783-1853). "Testimony of the Evangelists". BibleTeacher.org. http://www.bibleteacher.org/sgtestimony.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-21. 
  16. ^ Dr. John Warwick Montgomery. "The Jury Returns: A Juridical Defense of Christianity". Issues, Etc. Article Archive. http://www.mtio.com/articles/bissart1.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-21. 
  17. ^ Richard J. Radcliffe. "Exploring the intersections of law, religion and culture". Law Religion Culture Review (Blog Spot). http://lawreligionculturereview.blogspot.com/2005_01_01_lawreligionculturereview_archive.html. Retrieved 2007-11-21. 
  18. ^ Dr. John Ankerberg and Dr. John Weldon. "The Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Part 2: Could the Evidence Stand Cross-Examination in a Modern Court of Law?". Ankerberg Theological Research Institute. http://www.ankerberg.com/Articles/apologetics/AP0302W3.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-21. 
  19. ^ Edwin M. Yamauchi. "Easter: Myth, Hallucination, or History?". LeadershipU.com. http://www.leaderu.com/everystudent/easter/articles/yama.html. Retrieved 2007-11-21. 
  20. ^ "Refuting the myth that Jesus never existed". Bede's Library by James Hannam. http://www.bede.org.uk/jesusmyth.htm. Retrieved 2007-11-21. 
  21. ^ Roman Society and Roman Law in the New Testament. Oxford: Clarendon Press (1963), pp. 189-190
  22. ^ Peters, Thomas C. (1997). Simply C. S. Lewis: A Beginner's Guide to the Life and Works of C. S. Lewis. Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books. pp. 180–184. ISBN 0-89107-948-3. http://books.google.ca/books?id=wYgIUS-I2DMC&pg=PA165&dq=miracles+%22cs+lewis%22&hl=en&ei=ktsVTvGsLuLj0QGk2YAt&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=miracles%20%22cs%20lewis%22&f=false. 
  23. ^ Geisler, Norman L. (1988). Christian Apologetics. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic. pp. 29, 30. ISBN 978-0-8010-7186-7. http://books.google.ca/books?id=aqe1BBXcOuQC. 
  24. ^ "Are Miracles Logically Impossible?". Come Reason Ministries, Convincing Christianity. http://www.comereason.org/phil_qstn/phi060.asp. Retrieved 2007-11-21. 
  25. ^ ""Miracles are not possible," some claim. Is this true?". ChristianAnswers.net. http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-t011.html. Retrieved 2007-11-21. 
  26. ^ Paul K. Hoffman. "A Jurisprudential Analysis Of Hume’s "in Principal" Argument Against Miracles" (PDF). Christian Apologetics Journal, Volume 2, No. 1, Spring, 1999; Copyright ©1999 by Southern Evangelical Seminary. Archived from the original on 2007-10-26. http://web.archive.org/web/20071026160950/http://www.ses.edu/journal/articles/2.1Hoffman.pdf. Retrieved 2007-11-21. 
  27. ^ Chapter 2, Science Speaks, Peter Stoner
  28. ^ McDowell, Josh. The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict. chapter 8. 
  29. ^ Pascal, Blaise (1966). Pensées. England: Penguin Group. pp. x,xii,xiii. 
  30. ^ "Bible Query"
  31. ^ A Christian Thinktank
  32. ^ Bloomberg, Craig (1987). The Historical Reliabilty of the Gospels. Downeres Grove: Inter-Varsity Press. ISBN 0-87784-992-7. 
  33. ^ Roberts, Mark D. (2007). Can We Trust The Gospels. Crossway. ISBN 978-1581348668. 
  34. ^ Evidences for God from Space
  35. ^ Apologetics Press - "So Long, Eternal Universe; Hello Beginning, Hello End!”
  36. ^ Keith H. Wanser, physics
  37. ^ A brief history of design
  38. ^ Morality Apart From God: Is It Possible?
  39. ^ Intellectual Sophistication and Basic Belief in God
  40. ^ Apologetics.com: Challenging Believers to Think and Thinkers to Believe
  41. ^ a b John M. Frame (2006). "Presuppositional Apologetics". In W. C. Campbell-Jack, Gavin J. McGrath, and C. Stephen Evans. New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics. InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978-0830824519. http://www.frame-poythress.org//frame_articles/2005Presuppositional.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-12. 
  42. ^ Greg Bahnsen, Van Til's Apologetic, P&R Publishing, 1998, ISBN 0875520987, pp. 275-77.
  43. ^ Kreeft, Peter (1994). Handbook of Christian Apologetics. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press. pp. 72. ISBN 0-8308-1774-3. 
  44. ^ Select Sermons | Christian Classics Ethereal Library
  45. ^ The Four Spiritual Laws - English
  46. ^ Jitse M. van der Meer and Scott Mandelbrote, Nature and Scripture in the Abrahamic Religions: Up to 1700, BRILL, 2009, ISBN 9004171916, p. 295.
  47. ^ Kenneth Boa and Robert M. Bowman, Faith Has Its Reasons: Integrative Approaches to Defending the Christian Faith, Biblica, 2006, ISBN 1932805346, p. 173.
  48. ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed. #287.
  49. ^ Avery Cardinal Dulles, A History of Apologetics, 2nd ed., Ignatius Press, 2005, ISBN 0898709334, p. 159.
  50. ^ Jean Lacouture (tr. Jeremy Leggatt), Jesuits: A Multibiography, Counterpoint Press, 1997, ISBN 1887178600, p. 189.
  51. ^ Louis Markos, Apologetics for the Twenty-First Century, Crossway, 2010, ISBN 1433514486, p. 134.
  52. ^ James Stroud, Mere Christian Apologetics, Xulon Press, 2011, ISBN 1613794495, p. 19.
  53. ^ Evolutionary creation, Denis Lamoureux
  54. ^ Dulles, p. 297 ff.
  55. ^ Warning Considering the Writings of Father Teilhard de Chardin, Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, June 30, 1962.
  56. ^ Living for 900 years - Creation Magazine
  57. ^ CH311: Vapor canopy's effect on lifespan
  58. ^ Why Does Nearly Every Culture Have a Tradition of a Global Flood?
  59. ^ Get Answers: Noah's Flood
  60. ^ Is there archaeological evidence of the Tower of Babel? - ChristianAnswers.Net
  61. ^ CONFUSION OF LANGUAGES - Is there any reference in early Mesopotamian literature to what happened at the Tower of Babel?
  62. ^ The Tower of Babel—Legend or History?
  63. ^ Ross, Hugh; Endara, Miguel (31 Dec. 1990). "Response to Genesis and the Big Bang by Gerald Schroeder". Reasons To Believe. http://www.reasons.org/interpreting-genesis/other-creation-passages/response-genesis-and-big-bang. 
  64. ^ Russell, Ryan. "Day 1 (Genesis 1:1-5)". Genesis: verse-by-verse Bible Study. Christian Knowledge. http://www.christian-knowledge.com/forums/genesis-chapter1/day-genesis-t8.html. Retrieved 3 Dec. 2010. 
  65. ^ Geisler, Normal L. (1999.), Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics., Grand Rapids: Baker Academic 
  66. ^ Lewis, Gordon R. (1990), Testing Christianity's Truth Claims: Approaches to Christian Apologetics., Lanham, MD: University Press of America Inc. 

Further reading

Main article: List of Christian apologetic works

General and classics

Overview and reference

Historical and legal evidential Christian apologetics

Introductory evidential

Other evidential

Prophetic

Philosophical

Biblical

Scientific

Creationist

Responses to postmodernism

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