In a pluralistic context such as the contemporary world, there are many competing worldviews. Each secular and religious worldview can offer its own family of apologists and apologetic approaches and arguments. This is also true of a classical Christian worldview.
The well-known evangelical philosopher and theologian William Lane Craig points out that Christian apologetics «specifically serves (a) to show to unbelievers the truth of the Christian faith, (b) to confirm that faith to believers, and (c) to reveal and explore the connections between Christian doctrine and other truths”. He adds that “the broader task of Christian apologetics [is] to help create and sustain a cultural milieu in which the gospel can be heard as an intellectually viable option for thinking men and women”.
This section of Media Messages Matter presents the following material on Christian apologetics:
- Christian apologetics combines «the way of the closed fist and the way of the open hand» (Os Guinness).
- The apostle Paul’s approach in ancient Athens provides a highly relevant biblical model for apologetics, as I argued in my PhD thesis (Open University, 2001).
- We need three complementary criteria of truth in Christian apologetics as well as in life in general: coherence and consistency, correspondance with reality, and adequacy and relevance.
- A quick guide to some Christian apologists who have inspired me most (yet to be published).
For a substantial presentation of my own understanding of and approach to Christian apologetics, interested readers are referred to the article «Truth, Christian Mission and Apologetics: A Response and A Proposal» (Norwegian Journal of Missiology, 2013/1, pp. 21-38).
(Updated 21th February 2016.)