What is Apologetics and Why Is It Important?
Alex McFarland
(citations are being prepared to be entered into this article)
As a country, even as late as the 1950s, we had a more comprehensive biblical worldview. In other words, the world was seen through the lenses of Christian truths about God, man, and life. What a contrast it is today. Values and choices are now made on the basis of personal preference and public opinion, not God’s Word. As individuals come to terms with the disconnection between their lives and their faith, they eventually reach a point of decision: do I live life—all areas—according to Christian principles or do I continue to compartmentalize and sacrifice my Christianity on the altar of political correctness. Once the decision is made for God and a person steps out in faith onto the narrow road the attacks from the sidelines intensify. We are negligent if we do not prepare ourselves to defend the faith, to give an answer for the hope that is within.
In verses such as Matt. 28:18-20 and Mark 16:15, God instructed believers of all ages to present the message of Jesus Christ to the people around them. It takes personal effort, dedication, and commitment in order to do this effectively. Evangelism today can be enhanced by knowledge of apologetics as we share and explain Christianity.
Apologetics: A Basic Definition
Within the North American church, the term Christian apologetics is still new to many people. In short, apologetics is the practice of presenting reasons for what you believe. Apologetics deal with what we believe and why. Most Christians who have witnessed to unbelievers have probably heard various objections to the gospel message. Some people may have heard that the Bible contains errors. Others wonder how God (if He exists) could have allowed the recent tsunamis and hurricanes to happen. Whether a listener has a legitimate question about God or responds with a thinly veiled excuse, a basic knowledge of apologetics is vitally important for Christians today. We should equip ourselves and our students to give a knowledgeable answer and to support our faith convincingly.
a-pol’o-get’ics, n.; the discipline which deals with a rational defense of Christianity; giving a reason or justification of one’s beliefs; use of evidence and sound reasoning to reach individuals for Christ.
Apologetics means “a defense,” and this word occurs several times in the Bible. When we do apologetics, we are defending what we believe by showing that the content of the gospel is “backed up” by both evidence and sound reasoning.
First Pet. 3:15 (NIV) encourages believes to “be prepared to give an answer to everyone who ask you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” In short, we are told to “back up” why we have faith. The words translated “answer” and “reason” are ancient terms, implying “analysis,” “consideration of one’s position,” and the “defense of a conclusion.” A similar wording is found in Phil.1:7, 17, where Paul said that he was prepared to defend the gospel. The principle is echoed in Jude 3, as believers are encouraged to “contend earnestly” (or “stand up for”) the faith.
Overview of Changes in America and the West
Americans today live in a nation plagued by a chronic decline in morals and erosion of the basic values and principles on which our nation was founded. We have moved away from our Judeo-Christian roots and into a world characterized by relativism and corruption. To understand fully where much of Western culture is today, we must examine changes that brought us to where we are.
Historically, the enlightenment period was the beginning of the end of the Judeo-Christian worldview in the West. From the early 1600s through the 1700s, society experienced a revolution of sorts. People began relying on rational thought rather than religious faith to discern truth. This led to widespread acceptance of empiricism (the belief that unless something could be tested, it isn’t real) as the ultimate test for truth. As a result, religious truth claims were considered invalid, merely a matter of personal opinion, because they could not be empirically proven or verified. Modernism emerged out of this enlightenment perspective, a belief that rational thought and scientific verification are the only true pathways to knowledge.
Some eventually found the cold and impersonal nature of modernism undesirable. As people became disillusioned with rationalism, romanticism emerged in response to this disillusionment. Romanticism carried with it a shift in the view of humanity. Not only did Romanticists view nature as the highest good, but they also saw humanity as essentially good, rather than as sinful. Romanticists attempted to ignore the inconsistency in a society where widespread corruption coexisted with “naturally good” humans. However, people eventually understood the discrepancy between romanticism and reality, so a new worldview was needed to explain this discrepancy.
Disillusionment with both romanticism and modernism would ultimately contribute to the emergence of postmodernism. Because neither romanticism nor modernism was able to answer with certainty the answers to the big questions of life, postmodernists concluded that no an answers existed. Postmodernism asserts that no one answer can be better or more right than another. According to postmodernists, claiming that your answer is the right answer is both arrogant and intolerant. Our postmodern world is one based on constantly shifting standards of right and wrong, in which there is no such thing as absolute truth. Those setting forth fixed, absolute judgments about reality or morality (such as Christians) are dismissed as being intolerant.
The pervasive postmodernist assumes that truth is either nonexistent or may, personally defined, pose a serious threat to young people, particularly if they do not know why they believe what they believe. For this reason, apologetics continues to grow in its scope nd relevancy to today’s world. Apologetics is, in fact, the first stop in bringing our society back from moral decay.
No one who knows the world as it is today can deny that it is skeptical and cold, either indifferent to, or furiously antagonistic against the doctrines of the Christian faith. . . . The children in many cases grow up to be ignorant of the creed of the church, and when they go off to college are ready to be swept along by Darwinism, Buddhism, Christian Science, or any other insanity or delusion of the hour.(5)
The Rise of Apologetics
Christians (who today would be identified as conservatives or evangelical) in American and Europe were well aware of developments of the nineteenth (and late eighteenth) centuries, which were seen as intellectual threats to Christianity. Published in 1799, Frederick Schleiermacher’s (1968-1834) book On Religion defined religion in terms of personal subjective experience over objective, propositional truth. A later work titled The Christian Faith further defined authentic Christianity in terms of “consciousness of dependence on God.” Sometimes referred to as “the father of German liberalism,” Schleiermacher conflicted with biblical orthodoxy at a number of points, not the least of which was his rejection of Christ’s Deity. His influence played a significant role in the drift away from biblical orthodoxy that occurred in the Western world throughout the 1800s.
Both inside and outside of the church, the view of God as “communicator” eroded during the nineteenth century, as doubts about the Bible grew. Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of the Species, published in 1859, undermined the view of God as Creator. In the minds of many, there grew an increasing conviction that religious faith and empirical fact were separate, unrelated phenomena, which did not need to reconcile. Beginning in the 1800s, several influential individuals began to popularize the concept that a distinction should be maintained between the Jesus people believe in and the person who Jesus literally was. Though using similar terminologies in subtly different ways, the influence of individuals like David Strauss (1808-1874), Gotthold Lessing (1729-1781), and Martin Kahler (1835-1912) led many to accept the concept that belief and history are (of necessity) based on different foundations; distinctions between personal faith and historical realities must consistently be maintained. In the early twentieth century, writings like Albert Schweitzer’s 1906 book, The Quest of the Historical Jesus, continued to popularize the idea that the “Christ of faith” and the “Jesus of history” are two different persons. As the twentieth century dawned, Christianity in the Western world was simultaneously critiqued, assaulted, and revised, and such challenges would only intensify in the decades ahead.
The apologetics movement of today may be traced to leaders who, over one hundred years ago, emerged in defense of Christianity. Though liberalism and revisionism were (and are) academically fashionable, those defending key points of Christian orthodoxy certainly made their voices heard. Charles Hodges defended Genesis and the biblical account of creation in his 1878 work, What is Darwinism? Benjamin Warfield (a professor at Princeton Seminary from 1887 until his death in 1921) was a scholarly defender of the Bible and a vocal critic of liberalism.
A major development for conservative theology and apologetics in America began in 1909. Two Christian businessmen funded the research and writing of a series of essays designed to defend the “essentials” of Christian doctrine and to effectively respond to liberalism (then often called “modernism”). The articles were written by conservative scholars of the day, including Benjamin Warfield, C. I. Scofield, G. Campbell Morgan, James Orr, and others.
The resulting ninety articles and essays addressed many topics related to apologetics and Christian orthodoxy. Topics included the inspiration and preservation of the Bible, the virgin birth and deity of Christ, the reality of Jesus’ miracles and resurrection, and more. Christian leader Reuben A. Torrey (educated at Yale Divinity School and later president of Moody Bible Institute) edited the articles into a four-volume set titled The Fundamentals. Three million free copies of The Fundamentals were printed and sent to ministers and Christians throughout America. These businessmen and scholars understood what it means to live with a biblical worldview. Their significant work to concisely present the fundamentals of orthodox Christianity demonstrates their belief in the importance of knowing what you believe and living it consistently in all areas of life—at home, church, school, work, and play.
In recent years, the term “fundamentalist” has developed a very negative connotation. Screaming street preachers and Islamic terrorists are each labeled “fundamentalists.” The term has more than lost the meaning it carried initially (which was actually a complimentary description of one who affirmed the tenets of biblical orthodoxy). “Fundamentalist” is now considered a very negative, pejorative term, and it is no longer part of the evangelical world’s “preferred vocabulary.” But the books which once carried that name did much to help people understand that Christianity was reasonable and credible.
Latter Twentieth-Century Developments in
Christian Apologetics
During the twentieth century, liberal theology, cultural trends, and conservative Christianity clashed on numerous (and often well-publicized) occasions. In the struggle for (or against) biblical orthodoxy, lines were drawn within colleges, denominations, and local churches. The quest for theological purity saw the birth of new colleges and seminaries (such as Westminster Seminary and Dallas Theological Seminary in the 1920s). The 1925 “Monkey Trial” (concerning teacher John T. Scopes and his presentation of evolution in the Dayton, Tennessee public schools) vividly presented the conflict between biblical content and the emerging culture, sorely lacking in biblical worldview.
Despite the positive intellectual momentum gathered by Christians during the early 1900s the Scopes Trial marked the beginning of a period in which conservative Christianity in America was perceived as being “anti-intellectual.” A marked lack of modern scholarship used in defending creationism (and Christianity as a whole) during the trials led to negative press and eventually to a shift of focus from key issued to peripheral ones. Liberalism won back lost ground, gained momentum, and damaged evangelical influence in mainline churches. Some evangelicals defeated themselves by reducing their intellectual pursuits and accomplishments to quibbles over nitpicky secondary issues.
A Time of Rising Visibility for Apologetics
In the 1950s there were few contemporary books on apologetics. James Carnell’s book Christian Apologetics (1951) and The Christian View of God and Man by James Orr are two that stand out. Later Francis Schaeffer’s writings began to cause Christians to think about worldview issues. In the 1960s Americans discovered Miracles, The Problem of Pain, and Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. By the 1970s, Christian leaders like Ravi Zacharias, W. David Beck, Winfried Corduan, David Clark, J. P. Moreland, Norm Geisler, Gary Habermas, William Lane Craig, and others took on the mantle of apologetics.
Since the 1970s, hundreds of apologetics books have been released in America, ranging from scholarly treatments of specialized subjects to more practical and popular overview-type “handbooks.” Countless Americans have been introduced to the world of apologetics through books like Josh McDowell’s More Than a Carpenter (with over ten million copies in print) and The New Evidence That Demands a Verdict. Lawyer Lee Strobel’s award-winning books, The Case for Christ and The Case for a Creator, introduced apologetics to a brand new generation. Other recent titles of note include Paul Copan’s True for You But Not for Me, Peter Kreeft and Ron Tacelli’s Handbook of Christian Apologetics, and William Brown’s Making Sense of Your World. Christian organizations like Summit Ministries, RZIM, PROBE, Search Ministries, and Focus on the Family focus specifically on apologetics training. Apologetics conferences have also become a popular way to provide vital training to families and churches.
The Relevancy of Apologetics
Why Apologetics Teaching is Important
Many American teenagers and adults demonstrate a clear lack of knowledge regarding their faith and the issues surrounding it. Especially in a society where biblical truths and Christian precepts are consistently challenged and attacked, it is crucial that we address this lack of knowledge and bring our nation’s youth into a place of understanding where they are rationally and truthfully able to give a reason for what they believe and ready to live with a biblical worldview.
Teens are largely unprepared for the assault on faith that college will bring. Prepared or not, college students will face questions like “Is there a God?” and “If God exists, what’s Her name?” We know of many students whose faiths crumbled during their college years, through doubt, bad decisions, and unwise choices in friendships. I think that all of these situations could have been avoided if the students were just better equipped to handle life outside of their parents, and life apart from their church. More and more, when a student graduates from high school, they’ve also graduated from church.(9)
Sixty-two percent of those under age thirty question the ability of religion to influence life in America anymore, and almost 80 percent of teens will no longer participate in organized religion/church by the time they reach adulthood. The number of students who are turning from their faiths demonstrates their ill-preparedness for living out their Christianity in a hostile society. Apologetics is the cure, or rather the vaccination, for this growing concern because it will provide students with the tools and knowledge that they need to defend, explain, and understand their faiths.
Because many are not sure that moral absolutes exist, or even that you can be sure that any one religion is right, apologetics continues to grow in its scope and relevancy today. Apologetics is designed to help people understand what it really means to have a Christian worldview and to equip them to answer the challenges they will undoubtedly face at school or the workplace, with their friends, and possibly even in the home.
Teaching pologetics alone will not transform lives—only a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ can accomplish that. But presentation and explanation of Christian content is vitally important in a culture so full of non-biblical messages. Knowledge of apologetics will provide Christians with the ability to “always be prepared to given an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Pet. 3:15 NIV).
The Role of Apologetics
Each believer has the assignment of not only presenting the gospel, but also explaining and defending the truths of our message. Fortunately, there is plenty of evidence to support what we believe. Christianity tells us that Jesus loved us, and His authenticity is proven by the fact that He cam back to life after dying. The Bible reminds us that the good news about Jesus is not just based on human opinion or personal preference. Christianity is truth. Second Pet. 1:16 reminds us that the message of Jesus was not based on fables or myths. Rom.1:4 says that Jesus’ resurrection shows that He was the unique Son of God. (Think about it. How many other people in history have—under their own power—gone to “the other side” and come back?) Acts 1:3 says that after His resurrection, Christ showed that He was alive by many undeniable proofs.
Christianity is unique in that it is the only faith system based on facts of history that can be investigated. Many people today risk eternity by trusting their own opinion about what it means to be in right relation to God. In contrast to this, Christianity alone is based upon historically verifiable words and events. When non-Christians says, “You have no right to judge me,” they are absolutely correct. But Jesus has evaluated the entire human race, and His Word sums it up for each of us: “You must be born again” (John 3:7).
Categories of Christian apologetics include textual apologetics—defending the trustworthiness of the Bible and then sharing the content of what it says; evidence-based apologetics—presenting the many evidences in defense of the Christian faith (such as facts from history or science); and philosophical apologetics—exposing the flawed reasoning behind many of the popular arguments against Christianity. Respected Christian thinkers throughout history (such as Thomas Aquinas) have recognized that every argument against Christianity is rooted in faulty logic and incorrect conclusions.
A fourth area of apologetics relates not to external facts or evidences, but to our own character and behavior as a believer—practical apologetics. Christians may know apologetics, and Christians may do apologetics, but we must also remember that as a new creature in Christ, each believer is an apologetic.
The Limits of Apologetics
Apologetics must never be simply facts and data stored in our brains; apologetics should also be “truth lived out in consistency and love.” We must turn our apologetics knowledge into what authors Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler term relational apologetics. Biblical truth, sound reasoning, or compelling data carry little weight unless they are presented by an authentic messenger whose life has been genuinely changed. Josh McDowell states, “Human relational connections and deepened convictions about God are intertwined. Thus, if we are going to deepen our young people’s convictions about a God who is passionate about relationships, we need to form strong, positive relational connections with them.”
Facts and date are important; and among the world’s belief systems, Christianity is unique in its empirical corroboration. Apologetic evidences can be very potent ministry tools, in both “reaching and teaching.” But apologetics is no substitute for prayer (we must intercede on behalf of the lost, and not just assume that proofs and evidence will draw the unsaved to Christ). In terms of evangelism, apologetics do not override God’s sovereign timetable or human will. The persuasiveness of a presentation is not the deciding factor in whether or not someone accepts Christ. The focal points of our evangelistic approach should be the finished work of Christ, the content of the gospel, and the power of the Holy Spirit to draw and to convert.
Finally, apologetics is no substitute for a godly, yielded life. Ability to “defend the faith” comes with the responsibility to “live the faith.” Apologists and author David Clark states, “A commitment to defending the faith is not a promise to argue whatever, however, whenever, and with whomever. It is a commitment to be, to the highest degree possible, what God wants His servants to be –intellectually, relationally, and spiritually.”(19) Clark sums it up well by reminding all aspiring apologists, “Who you are counts most.”(20)
The way that we act, react, and live daily should complement the words that we speak. Christians must truly live out their faith, yielded to the leading of God’s Spirit and the parameters of God’s Word. Otherwise, we lose the power of our witness, no matter how deeply bolstered by reasoning or facts.
The Result of Apologetics
Those in our nation and world hold beliefs that range from the secular to the spiritual. Beliefs and religions include everything from atheism (belief that there is no God), to polytheism (belief in multiple gods). But regardless of the label that describes an individual’s view of the world, an effective presentation of the gospel often requires that we talk to the individual about certain assumptions they may hold. Before others may be willing to consider what Jesus taught, we may have to help them over some mental barriers that stand in their way. In a culture known for its rejection of authority and a “prove it to me” attitude, knowledge of apologetics is a vital help in reaching and teaching teens and adults. People do want to be taught, and they have the capacity to understand far more than we give them credit.
Good resources are essential to the process of becoming equipped for effective Christian witness. When someone is ready to trust Christ and appears to have no objections standing in the way, there may be no need to talk about peripheral issues. But for an increasingly skeptical culture such as ours, Christians should rise to the challenge of 1 Pet. 3:15 and “always be ready.