Jaroslav Pelikan on Christian Education

"The church is always more than a school…. But the church cannot be less than a school."

— Jaroslav Pelikan
The Emergence of the Catholic Tradition (100-600) (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971), 1.

Book Review: The Doors of the Sea: Where was God in the Tsunami?

David Bentley Hart’s essay The Doors of the Sea: Where was God in the Tsunami? is a delightful little book in many ways. It is very well-written, and it has some provocative and often helpful things to say about theodicy. One of the things that is most interesting about this book is that Hart spends at least as much time (maybe even more time) speaking of what we might call “meta-theodicy” as he does in developing a theodicy proper. That is, he has as much to say about when, where, and in what circumstances theodicy is appropriate, and about what general approach the Christian should take to theodicy, as he does about the particular theodicy that he wishes to defend. This reviewer actually found these portions of the essay more engaging than much of Hart’s own theodicizing!

Weekly Apologetics Bonus Links (12/26 - 01/02)

Here are this week's recommended apologetics links. Enjoy.

KINDLE DEALS:
• When the Lights Go Down: Movie Review as Christian Practice - 3.03
• Worldview Conversations: How to Share Your Faith and Keep Your Friends - 2.99
• Five Views on Apologetics - 2.99
• Saving Leonardo by Nancy Pearcey - 2.99
• Mere Apologetics by Alister McGrath - 2.99
• The Love of Wisdom: A Christian Introduction to Philosopy - 0.99
• Come Let Us Reason: New Essays in Christian Apologetics - 0.99

WEEKLY LINKS:
• Do atheists have a burden of proof?
• Online Webinar with Greg Koukl
• God, Science & The Big Questions at Biola University
• Advice to Christian Apologists from William Lane Craig
• The Top Ten 2014 Cold Case Christianity Broadcasts
• Scholars Respond to Newsweek's Misrepresentation of the Bible
• Lee Strobel, Colleagues at HBU Launch Center for American Evangelism, Hope to Address Crisis of Skepticism

Apologetics 315 is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit. Would you support us?

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Confessions of a Former Atheist

In this audio, found on William Lane Craig's Reasonable Faith Podcast, former atheist Peter Byrom shares some of the details of his  interaction with Richard Dawkins and his journey from atheism to Christianity. You can subscribe to the Reasonable Faith podcast here.

Full MP3 Audio file here. (20 minutes)
Enjoy.

Introducing the Center for American Evangelism

Introducing the Center for American Evangelism at Houston Baptist University. Lee Strobel, Mark Mittelberg and Garry Poole, and under the leadership of HBU President Dr. Robert B. Sloan, Jr., are launching an exciting new initiative to address the challenges facing Christianity in America.

Their mission is to bring leadership, vision, innovation, and training to students, pastors, church leaders, and congregations throughout our nation, to help us all regain our focus and passion for fulfilling the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20). They aim to accomplish this through numerous strategic efforts: forums for pastors; classes for students; conferences and seminars for church leaders; simulcasts to churches; newsletters and social media; and new curricula that will bring fresh vision and training to Christians and churches all over America.

Learn more about the Center for American Evangelism here.
You can also support them here.

Terminology Tuesday: Imply/Implication

Imply/Implication: There is an everyday sense of these words which means roughly, 'suggests' or 'leads me to believe', as when the detective says, 'the evidence implies that Smith was present at the murder'. However, the word 'imply' is often used more strictly to mean 'if ... then ...' For example, if someone says, 'the presence of fire implies that there must be oxygen present', they could equally well say, 'if there is fire then oxygen must be present'. In general, to say that 'A implies B' is to say something like 'if A then B', either strictly as in the oxygen example or more loosely as in the detective example. To say that 'A entails B' is usually to say 'A implies B' in this strict usage of 'implies'.1

1. Alec Fisher, Critical Thinking: An Introduction (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp. 239-240.

Merry Christmas from Apologetics 315

Apologetics 315 wishes everyone a very Merry Christmas in 2014. May you enjoy a blessed Christmas with family and friends.

Terminology Tuesday: Inclusivism

Inclusivism: A theory of salvation that suggests that although God saves people only on the merits of Christ, not all who are saved have consciously known of Jesus or heard the gospel. God saves those who, although they have not heard of Jesus, nevertheless respond to the best of their knowledge to the revelation of God available to them. This view stands in contrast to both exclusivism, which suggests that God saves only those who consciously respond to the presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to pluralism, which sees saving value in non-Christian religions.1

1. Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki & Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), p. 65.

Book Review: Apologetics Beyond Reason by James Sire

Apologetics Beyond Reason ventures into nontraditional territory when it comes to classic apologetics. Although I’m familiar with Sire’s other work and have valued greatly from his other writings, the title grabbed my attention. Coming from the analytic tradition, I was intrigued how one might get “beyond reason” when defending the Christian faith without also utilizing reason. What I found was a robust apologetic method and one that will likely resonate more with a [post] post-modern/existential culture than more traditional approaches. While apologetic models typically fall within rational or evidential spaces, Sire’s presuppositional touch (see the post Apologetic Taxonomy) coupled with his push toward the “intuitive” will add valuable insights in  the toolbox of Christian apologists. This book deserves a wide and careful read.

Weekly Apologetics Bonus Links (12/12 - 12/19)

Here are this week's recommended apologetics links. Enjoy.

KINDLE DEALS:
• The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis - 2.99 on Kindle
• When the Lights Go Down: Movie Review as Christian Practice - 3.03
• Worldview Conversations: How to Share Your Faith and Keep Your Friends - 2.99
• Five Views on Apologetics - 2.99

WEEKLY LINKS:
• Top 5 Books for Christmas Giving
• Christmas Apologetics Resources
• Biola Apologetics Events 2015
• Why Naturalism is Simply Unbelievable
• An Interview with Joel Furches
• Book Review: Grand Central Question
• History Testifies that Jesus Worked Miracles
• Christmas Resources from a315.co/16hHISg
• Were the Gospel Authors Really Present? (Video)
• The Resurrection is Central to the History of Jesus
• Is Our Universe Simply the Winner of a Universe Lottery?
• The Fact the Other Side Can Make a Case Doesn’t Mean It’s True
• How Can Pastors Equip Their Churches To Defend The Faith? (Video)
• Astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez lectures on intelligent design and habitability
• New from Frank Turek: Stealing from God: Why Atheists Need God to Make Their Case

Apologetics 315 is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit. Would you support us?

• Shopping via Amazon? If you use this link, a bit of your purchase goes to fund Apologetics 315. Thanks for those of you using the link, as it helps Ap315.
Canada here. UK here.

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Read Along Index: The Gospel in the Marketplace of Ideas

This is the chapter study index for the Read Along project for the book The Gospel in the Marketplace of Ideas: Paul's Mars Hill Experience for Our Pluralistic World by Paul Copan and Kenneth D. Litwak.

[Podcast Feed RSS | Podcast in iTunes]
Click to subscribe to the audio.

• Introduction & Author Interview
• Chapter 1: Welcome to Athens
• Chapter 2: Was Paul's Speech at Athens a Mistake?
• Chapter 3: Paul's Athens
• Chapter 4: Our Athens
• Chapter 5: Paul's Speeches in Acts
• Chapter 6: Paul's Audience
• Chapter 7: Paul's Gospel for the Educated
• Chapter 8: The Art of Persuasion
• Chapter 9: Acting on the Truth
• Chapter 10: Going to Our Own Mars Hill

Thanks for Reading Along.

10 Apologetics Books for Giving

Last year you may have read the post Top 5 Books for Christmas Giving. Well, here's a revised list... of ten books. Keep in mind, this is no definitive list of "best apologetics books." This is a list of books that I feel would be the best to choose from for giving to people who have varying interest in apologetics. This list is split into three groups. Group one is for people who you want to reach apologetically. Group two is for people who are new to apologetics. Group three is for the person who is an avid apologist. And the number one book fits all three categories.

Three Books to Reach Out Apologetically

10. The Ambition by Lee Strobel - Not straight apologetics. It's a novel. But it's a great novel. The content doesn't preach either, but the themes are appropriate to open the door for further conversation. Finally, this book may provide an open door for the reader to explore other books by Strobel.

Terminology Tuesday: Monism

Monism: Any antidualist philosophy that appeals to one unifying principle to explain all that is. In response to the metaphysical questions "How many things are real or exist?" monism answers, "Only one reality or thing" or "One kind of thing with many different things within that category" (attributive monism). In effect, monism allows for no distinction between God and creation.1

1. Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki & Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), p. 80.

"Why I am a Christian" Testimony by David Wood

Former atheist David Wood (of Acts 17.net) shares his testimony about how he became a Christian. The video explains why he left atheism and surrendered to Jesus as Lord and Savior. Hear Apologetics 315's interview with David Wood here: Audio / Transcript.

Weekly Apologetics Bonus Links (11/28 - 12/05)

Here are this week's recommended apologetics links. Enjoy.

KINDLE DEALS:
• Christianity's Dangerous Idea by Alister McGrath - 2.99
• When the Lights Go Down: Movie Review as Christian Practice - 3.03
• Worldview Conversations: How to Share Your Faith and Keep Your Friends - 2.99
• Five Views on Apologetics - 2.99
• Four Views on the Historical Adam - 2.99

WEEKLY LINKS:
• Why the Historicity of Jesus Matters
• Daniel Dennett's Self-Creating Universe
• Video: Moral Argument - Peter S. Williams
• 10 Things That Apologists Should Know Something About
• The Benefits of Apologetics: a reasonable Christian faith
• New study: Saturn’s orbit keeps Earth in the circumstellar habitable zone
• Article: Ten Principles When Considering Alleged Bible Contradictions
• What the Earliest Non-Biblical Authors Say About Jesus (Free Bible Insert)

Apologetics 315 is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit. Would you support us?

• Shopping via Amazon? If you use this link, a bit of your purchase goes to fund Apologetics 315. Thanks for those of you using the link, as it helps Ap315.
Canada here. UK here.

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Book Review: Questioning the Bible

The Bible's authority is constantly under attack in today's culture. It is important that Christians prepare themselves to address the challenges for their own faith and for overcoming intellectual challenges in their evangelistic efforts. Jonathan Morrow's new book Questioning the Bible: 11 Major Challenges to the Bible's Authority (Kindle and Paperback) aims to be an introductory resource for the Christian to rise to these challenges at an intellectual level.

The book's 234 pages are divided by the eleven challenges and appendices. Morrow also includes, at the end of each chapter, a three-point summary, questions to spur discussion, and a short list of resources for more in-depth research into the challenges and their resolutions. This review will provide a chapter-by-chapter summary and conclude with the reviewer's overall impression and recommendation.

Weekly Apologetics Bonus Links (11/14 - 11/21)

Here are this week's recommended apologetics links. Enjoy.

KINDLE DEALS:
• How to Argue like Jesus - 0.99
• Christianity's Dangerous Idea by Alister McGrath - 2.99
• When the Lights Go Down: Movie Review as Christian Practice - 3.03
• God's Battalions by Rodney Stark - 2.99
• Faith and Its Critics: A Conversation - 1.99
• Worldview Conversations: How to Share Your Faith and Keep Your Friends - 2.99
• History, Law and Christianity: The Evidence for a Historical Jesus - FREE

WEEKLY LINKS:
• Seven Days That Divide the World
• The Historical Argument for God
• Approaching academic life as a Christian
• 2013 Mt. Airy Apologetics Conference Audio
• Video: Science and Religion...Conflict, Myth
• 3 Considerations for the Ontological Argument
• What If You Can't Be Reasonable Without Faith?
• Can We Answer Every Skeptic’s Question? (Video)
• 2014 Mt.Airy "Defending the Faith" Conference Audio
• How Heretics Help Establish the Historicity of Jesus  
• What is the unborn? A look at the scientific evidence
• Morality Relies Upon God's Character, Not Simply His Commands
• Tips for Sharing Your Faith #4 - Avoid Smokescreens and Dodges
• The importance of having a narrative when confronting the assumption of naturalism

Apologetics 315 is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit. Would you support us?

• Shopping via Amazon? If you use this link, a bit of your purchase goes to fund Apologetics 315. Thanks for those of you using the link, as it helps Ap315.
Canada here. UK here.

• Would you like to help with interview transcription? If so, contact Ap315 here.

Get these sorts of links and more by following on Twitter.
For daily post links, please follow on Facebook.

Terminology Tuesday: Syncretism

Syncretism: The attempt to assimilate differing or opposite doctrines and practices, especially between philosophical and religious systems, resulting in a new system altogether in which the fundamental structure and tenets of each have been changed. Syncretism of the gospel occurs when its essential character is confused with elements from the culture. In syncretism the gospel is lost as the church simply confirms what is already present in the culture.1

1. Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki & Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), p. 111.

Weekly Apologetics Bonus Links (11/07 - 11/14)

Here are this week's recommended apologetics links. Enjoy.

KINDLE DEALS:
• Alive: A Cold-Case Approach to the Resurrection - 1.99
• A To Z With C. S. Lewis by Louis A. Markos - 0.99
• Did Jesus Rise From the Dead? by WL Craig - 1.99
• History, Law and Christianity: The Evidence for a Historical Jesus - FREE
• How to Argue like Jesus - 0.99
• If God, Why Evil? by Norman L. Geisler for 1.99
• Christianity's Dangerous Idea by Alister McGrath - 2.99
• When the Lights Go Down: Movie Review as Christian Practice - 3.03

WEEKLY LINKS:
• The Problem of Good
• The Argument from Desire
• What Really is Apologetics?
• Has Science Explained Away God?
• Were the Gospel Authors Biased? (Video)
• Tips for Sharing Your Faith: #1 - Slow Down!
• Moral Relativism and the Reformer’s Dilemma
• Former atheist professor shares her journey to faith
• Learning Logic by William Lane Craig now Available!
• Debate Video: William Lane Craig vs. Richard Carrier
• Why Do Two People See the Same Evidence Differently?
• 5 Threats Of Demanding Certainty To Change Your Beliefs
• Article: 14 Ways I Teach Apologetics to my 5-Year-Olds by Natasha Crain
• At What Age Should Parents Start Training Kids to Defend Their Faith?
• Debate Video: Does the Christian God Exist? J.P. Moreland vs Clancy Martin
• Video: William Lane Craig Interviewed by Lee Strobel At Houston Baptist University

Apologetics 315 is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit. Would you support us?

• Shopping via Amazon? If you use this link, a bit of your purchase goes to fund Apologetics 315. Thanks for those of you using the link, as it helps Ap315.
Canada here. UK here.

• Would you like to help with interview transcription? If so, contact Ap315 here.

Get these sorts of links and more by following on Twitter.
For daily post links, please follow on Facebook.

Terminology Tuesday: Documentary Hypothesis

Documentary Hypothesis: Also known as the JEDP theory, the documentary hypothesis arose out of the work of nineteenth-century OT scholars K. Graf and J. Wellhausen. They suggested that the Pentateuch (the first five books of the OT) was actually a compilation of the work of at least four separate sources, designated as the J (Jehovah) source, the E (Elohim) source, the D (Deuteronomist) source and the P (Priestly) source. The hypothesis stirred great controversy among conservative scholars who generally accepted Moses as the sole author of the Pentateuch.1

1. Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki & Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), p. 40.

Terminology Tuesday: Docetism

Docetism: In the early church, the teaching that Jesus was fully God but only appeared to be human (taken form the Greek dokeō, "to seem or appear"). Docetist theologians emphasized the qualitative difference between God and humans and therefore downplayed the human elements of Jesus' life in favor of those that pointed to his deity. The early church rejected docetism as an heretical interpretation of the biblical teaching about Jesus.1

1. Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki & Cherith Fee Nordling, Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1999), p. 40.