Jackson Gordon

02 Why Study Christian Apologetics

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What is Apologetics and Why Study It?

Joke: It’s not being sorry for being a Christian, it’s making the other guy sorry you are a Christian 😆

  1. Definition of Apologetics

    1. A branch of Christian theology.
    2. Purpose: Seeks to provide a rational justification for Christian truth claims.
    3. Primarily a theoretical discipline (not identical to evangelism, faith-sharing tactics, etc.), although it has practical application.

  2. Vital Roles of Apologetics (Why Study It)

    1. Shaping Culture
      1. Helps the Christian Gospel be heard as a legitimate option in Western society, which is deeply post-Christian.
      2. Western culture is influenced by the Enlightenment (18th Century, reason alone, discarding revelation/church).
      3. Impact of Enlightenment: Western intellectuals often view theology as not a genuine source of knowledge (“scientia”); assumes a naturalistic worldview as the rational outcome of reason.
      4. Importance of Culture: “Why care about culture?” The Gospel is heard within a cultural context. A secularized culture makes Christianity seem absurd (like Hari Krishna to a Westerner).
      5. State of Europe: Deep secularism, low percentage of practicing/evangelical believers, difficult evangelism (example: WLC experienced huge skepticism that he could even be a scholar and a Christian).
      6. State of North America: US following, Canada is further along (precipitous decline in evangelicalism, secularism/relativism in universities, political correctness stifling debate). Apologetics is vital to preserve a cultural milieu where Christianity is intellectually viable.
      7. Dismissing apologetics as only for one-on-one evangelism is shortsighted; its broader task is to shape/preserve the cultural milieu. (Quote from J. Gresham Machen: False ideas are obstacles).

        False ideas are the greatest obstacles to the reception of the gospel. We may preach with all the fervor of a reformer and yet succeed only in winning a straggler here and there, if we permit the whole collective thought of the nation … to be controlled by ideas which … prevent Christianity from being regarded as anything more than a harmless delusion.^[J. Gresham Machen, “Christianity and Culture,” Princeton Theological Review 11 (1913): p. 7.]

      8. Current Opportunities: Opportunities that put Christianity in a good intellectual position to reshape culture.
        • Renaissance in Christian philosophy/natural theology
        • Science more open to a Creator
        • New Quest for Historical Jesus & taking Gospels seriously.
      9. Addressing the “Postmodernism” objection: Postmodernism rejects the traditional canons of logic and rationality and truth, and would say that “rational arguments for Christianity no longer work, and that instead we should simply share our narrative and invite people to participate in it.”
        1. Idea of a postmodern culture is a myth, unlivable (e.g., applying different standards for science/medicine vs. religion/ethics. “Nobody is a postmodernist when it comes to reading the labels on a bottle of aspirin and a box of rat poison. If you’ve got a headache, you better believe that texts have objective meaning!”).
        2. Culture remains deeply modernist at heart (positivism: only empirically verifiable knowledge is authoritative).
        3. Postmodernism seen as a deception to abandon logic/evidence against lingering modernism.
        4. Abandoning apologetics would be catastrophic, reducing Christianity to just one narrative while scientific naturalism dominates views of reality.
        5. Apologetics should be relational/humble (1 Peter 3:15), but this doesn’t mean abandoning logic, rationality, or truth.
        6. People are interested in rational arguments and evidence: Experience shows students challenge premises/facts, not logic or objectivity. Debates are effective platforms for sharing arguments (“power encounters”). Arguments give permission to follow hearts moved by the Spirit.
    2. Strengthening Believers
      1. Provides substantive truth beyond emotional experiences (WLC shares a story about Ann Kiemel who did not prepare apologetic material, but simply told others her struggles, and won many to the Lord. But a wise friend told WLC that “someday those people that Ann Kiemel has led to the Lord are going to need what you have to offer.”).
      2. Helps equip Christian youth and parents to face intellectual challenges encountered in high school and college. Need doctrine and apologetics beyond just Bible stories.
      3. Builds confidence in the truth of the Christian faith among believers. Canadian theologian John Stackhouse once remarked that apologetic debates are really Westernized versions of what missionaries call “a power encounter” where the God of Christianity proclaimed by the missionary has a kind of power encounter in which he triumphs over the local gods of the ethnic people to whom they are bringing the Gospel.
      4. Key to fearless evangelism: Being able to answer questions and objections removes the fear of sharing faith.
    3. Evangelizing Unbelievers
      1. Refutes the claim that “nobody comes to Christ through arguments.” (Testimonials exist, Lee Strobel's experience).
      2. Effective for a minority group who respond to arguments and evidence (when presented prayerfully, with testimony, and used by the Holy Spirit).
      3. This minority is often highly influential in culture (e.g., engineers, lawyers, doctors, C.S. Lewis). Reaching them benefits the Kingdom broadly.

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