Currents in Twenty-First-Century Christian Apologetics

Currents in Twenty-First-Century Christian Apologetics
Author: John J. Johnson
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 210
Release: 2008-09-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1556355394

In this book, Johnson avoids the standard approach of many apologetic works that seek to prove, in systematic fashion, that Christianity is true. Rather, he takes the position of orthodox Christianity and looks at various challenges that have been raised against it. For example, should the horrors of the Holocaust force Christian thinkers to alter their view of God's goodness? Is Christianity inherently anti-Jewish for claiming that Jews must embrace Jesus as Messiah? Are revived hallucination theories about Christ's resurrection tenable explanations of the birth of the Christian movement? Is the presuppositional approach of certain Reformed thinkers useful for doing Christian apologetics? These and similar questions are addressed in this book.

Apologetics for the Twenty-First Century

Apologetics for the Twenty-First Century
Author: Louis Markos
Publisher: Crossway
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2010-10-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1433524651

The vibrant and persuasive arguments of C. S. Lewis brought about a shift in the discipline of apologetics, moving the conversation from the ivory tower to the public square. The resulting strain of popular apologetics—which weaves through Lewis into twentieth-century writers like Francis Schaeffer and modern apologists like William Lane Craig, Josh McDowell, and Lee Strobel—has equipped countless believers to defend their faith against its detractors. Apologetics for the Twenty-first Century uses Lewis's work as the starting point for an absorbing survey of the key apologists and major arguments that inform apologetics today. Like apologists before him, Markos writes to engage Christians of all denominations as well as seekers and skeptics. His narrative, "man of letters" style and short chapters make Apologetics for the Twenty-first Century easily accessible for the general reader. But an extensive and heavily annotated bibliography, detailed timeline, list of prominent apologists, and glossary of common terms will satisfy the curiosity of the seasoned academic, as the book prepares all readers to meet the particular challenges of defending the faith today.

Apologetics for the Twenty-First Century

Apologetics for the Twenty-First Century
Author: Louis Markos
Publisher: Crossway
Total Pages: 412
Release: 2010
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1433514486

Using the work of C. S. Lewis as a starting point, Markos examines the key popular apologists and arguments that shape the intellectual defense of the Christian faith today.

Kees Van Til als Nederlandse-Amerikaanse, Neo-Calvinistisch-Presbyteriaan apologeticus

Kees Van Til als Nederlandse-Amerikaanse, Neo-Calvinistisch-Presbyteriaan apologeticus
Author: Laurence O’Donnell
Publisher: Laurence O’Donnell
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2011-04-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN:

The purpose of this essay (submitted to the faculty of Calvin Theological Seminary in candidacy for the degree of Master of Theology [May 2011]) is to demonstrate that Cornelius Van Til’s (1895–1987) presupposition of Reformed dogmatics is largely a presupposition of Herman Bavinck’s (1854–1921) Gereformeerde Dogmatiek. The argument proceeds in three steps. First, by situating Van Til’s life and work in the neo-Calvinist intellectual milieu within which he operated throughout his career, the prevailing Copernican interpretation of Van Til’s thought is challenged on the grounds of historical abstraction. Second, his formal, material, and polemical appropriations of Bavinck’s Dogmatiek are analyzed in order to show not only that Van Til appropriates Bavinck’s thought pervasively, but also that his apologetics cannot be properly understood apart from Bavinck’s dogmatics. Third, Van Til’s criticisms of the alleged scholasticism in Bavinck’s thought are analyzed in terms of their originality and their validity. Regarding the former, it is argued that Van Til tacitly appropriates Herman Dooyeweerd’s (1894–1977) earlier criticisms of neo-Calvinist scholasticism. Regarding the latter, it is argued that Van Til’s criticisms are methodologically unsound and historically untenable insofar as they proceed upon subjective premises and lead to a subjective conclusion. In sum, given both his pervasive appropriation of Bavinck’s Dogmatiek and his entrenchment in neo-Calvinist theology and philosophy, Van Til is more accurately interpreted as a neo-Calvinist rather than a Copernican revolutionary.

A Thematic Access-Oriented Bibliography of Jesus’s Resurrection

A Thematic Access-Oriented Bibliography of Jesus’s Resurrection
Author: Michael J. Alter
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 602
Release: 2019-12-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1725252759

The keystone of Christianity is Jesus's physical, bodily resurrection. Present-day scholars can be significantly challenged as they forage through voluminous documents on the resurrection of Jesus. The literature measures well over seven thousand sources in English-language books alone. This makes finding specific sources that are most relevant for specific scholarly purposes an arduous task. Even when a specific book is relevant, finding the parts of the book that are most relevant to the resurrection rather than other topics often requires additional effort. A Thematic Access-Oriented Bibliography of Jesus's Resurrection addresses these challenges in several ways. First, the bibliography organizes more than seven thousand English sources into twelve main categories and then thirty-four subcategories, which are designed to help you find the most relevant literature quickly and efficiently. Embedded are pro and con arguments which support efficient access through brief annotations and then annotate the diversity and complexity of the field of religion by including sources that represent a diverse range of views: theistic (e.g., Christian, Jewish, Muslim, etc.), agnostic, and nontheistic. The objective of this bibliography is to provide convenient access to relevant sources from a variety of perspectives, allowing you to browse or find the one source accurately and with ease.

Mapping Apologetics

Mapping Apologetics
Author: Brian K. Morley
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 382
Release: 2015-02-10
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830897046

How and why do people believe? This comprehensive guide provides an overview of Christian apologetic approaches and thinkers in a way that even the nonspecialist can understand and practically apply. Even-handed and respectful of each apologist and their contribution, this book provides the reader with a formidable array of defenses for the faith.

Thinking About Christian Apologetics

Thinking About Christian Apologetics
Author: James K. Beilby
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 215
Release: 2011-09-13
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0830869425

Most introductions to apologetics begin with the "how to" of defending the faith, diving right into the major apologetic arguments and the body of evidence. For those who want a more foundational look at this contested theological discipline, this book examines Christian apologetics in its nature, history, approaches, objections and practice.

Christian Apologetics in a World Community

Christian Apologetics in a World Community
Author: William Dyrness
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 201
Release: 2002-05-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1579109683

Christians have always felt a duty to explain and defend their faith, but in today's global village that duty can easily become a burden. What can Christians say to Hindus? to third-world Communists? to agnostic social or natural sciences? No creed or catechism can adequately deal with all the challenges to Christianity. What we need is a comprehensive model of the Christian faith, one that can meet widely varied challenges without compromising the gospel. After describing how Christians have done apologetics in the past, William Dyrness sketches a model for effective apologetics in the twenty-first century. He shows how his model relates to various non-Christian philosophies as well as how it speaks to many Christian concerns, including the problem of suffering.

Christ's Humanity in Current and Ancient Controversy: Fallen or Not?

Christ's Humanity in Current and Ancient Controversy: Fallen or Not?
Author: E. Jerome Van Kuiken
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2017-07-13
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0567675572

Was Christ's human nature fallen, even sinful? From the 18th century to the present, this view has become increasingly prominent in Reformed theological circles and beyond, despite vigorous opposition. Both sides on the issue see it as vital for understanding the nature of salvation. Each side's advocates appeal to or critique the Church Fathers. This book reviews the history and present state of the debate, then surveys the connections, distinctions, and patristic interpretations of five of the modern fallenness view's proponents (Edward Irving, Karl Barth, T. F. Torrance, Colin Gunton, and Thomas Weinandy) and five of its opponents (Marcus Dods the Elder, A. B. Bruce, H. R. Mackintosh, Philip Hughes, and Donald Macleod). The book verifies the views of the ten most-cited Fathers: five Greek (Irenaeus, Athanasius, Gregory Nazianzen, Gregory Nyssen, and Cyril of Alexandria) and five Latin (Tertullian, Hilary of Poitiers, Ambrose, Augustine, and Leo the Great). The study concludes by sketching the implications of its findings for the doctrines of the Immaculate Conception, sin, sanctification, and Scripture.

C. S. Lewis & Francis Schaeffer

C. S. Lewis & Francis Schaeffer
Author: Scott R. Burson
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2009-09-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780830874644

In some ways, they could not be more different: the pipe-smoking, Anglican Oxford don and the blue-collar scion of conservative Presbyterianism. But C. S. Lewis and Francis Schaeffer, each in his unique way, fashioned Christian apologetics that influenced millions in their lifetimes. And the work of each continues to be read and studied today. In this book Scott Burson and Jerry Walls compare and contrast for the first time the thought of Lewis and Schaeffer. With great respect for the legacy of each man, but with critical insight as well, they suggest strengths and weaknesses of their apologetics. All the while they consider what Lewis and Schaeffer still have to offer in light of postmodernism and other cultural currents that, since their deaths, have changed the apologetic landscape. This incisive book stands as both an excellent introduction to the work of these two important figures and a fresh proposal for apologetics at the dawn of a new century.