2009 Spring - Higher Things Magazine (with Bible Studies)

Page 20

Apologetics

of Pittsburgh & Other Pittsburgh Area Colleges ✠ University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee ✠ University of Wisconsin - Superior ✠ University of Wyoming ✠ Vanderbilt University (TN) ✠ Wright State University (OH) ✠

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An Apology for

By Rev. Ian Stewart Pacey

All of us have had to say we are sorry or make an apology at some point in our lives.

Normally, we do it because of some offense we have caused another person. Although this is the normal way we use the word apology, it is not the only way. In certain contexts, an apology does not mean to say one is sorry. Instead, it means to make a defense, to attack presuppositions, and to give reasons to believe.This is the case for the court room, for the Holy Scriptures (1 Peter 3:15), and also for Christian apologetics. Christian apologetics is in need of a defense. Amazingly, the defense is not needed from any charge made by the outside world but from within the Church itself. In my experience as a campus pastor, I hear and read all sorts of complaints against the study and the practice of Christian apologetics like,“Nobody can be argued into the faith,” “Just proclaim the Gospel and the Holy Spirit will do the rest,”or “The only person convinced by apologetic arguments is the person giving them.” There is a little truth in all of these statements. It is true that nobody is argued into the faith, that the Holy Spirit does work faith, and the arguer is usually convinced by his own arguments. Nevertheless, none of these complaints really undermines in any meaningful way the study and practice of Christian apologetics. H I G H E R T H I N G S _

Defining Christian Apologetics Defining Christian apologetics is the key to a proper understanding and answering the charges made against the discipline.

First, we must understand what it is. Rightly understood, Christian apologetics is the attempt at making a reasoned defense of the faith against challenges, misunderstandings, and false understandings. Second, we must know what it is not. Christian apologetics is a division of Christian theology alongside dogmatics and ethics. It is neither dogmatics nor ethics. What this means is that apologetics can only answer certain kinds of questions, those within its own field. For example, when it comes to the creation of “all things visible and invisible,” the apologetics arguments available to us only speak to the existence of a Creator (theism or deism perhaps). What apologetics cannot address is the reason why God created. Or consider this: from the time of the resurrection of Jesus, there has been a debate concerning the empty tomb and what happened to our Lord’s body.

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a – Morris ✠ University of Minnesota – Twin Cities ✠ University of Northern Colorado ✠ University of Northern Iowa ✠ University of Oklahoma ✠ University of Tennessee ✠ University


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