Archive for August, 2007:
Extreme Apologetic Approaches
From the apostle Paul at the Areopagus to William Lane Craig, Christians have defended their faith using many tactics. This defense of the faith is commonly called apologetics. However, as with many other issues, Christians have not always agreed about the proper method of apologetics. I have always been aware of this to some degree, but have never questioned my apologetic approach or compared it to recent Christian philosophers. This post will look at two common, and what I believe to be, extreme views of apologetics.
Natural theology is the attempt to prove, by way of reason, God’s existence and His attributes. Natural theology reigned supreme in the Roman Catholic Church in the Middle Ages. You may be familiar with Aquinas (considered the greatest philosopher and theologian of the Middle Ages) and his five proofs for the existence of God using natural theology. Colin Brown, author of Philosophy & The Christian Faith, summarizes natural theology as a two-step process. First, philosophy forms the foundation. Then Christianity is introduced.
In natural theology, there is total neutral ground. The Christian and the non-Christian can reason together with no differences in their worldviews because philosophy is the groundwork, not the Bible. Although Christianity is not contrary to logic, and I believe it is logical, one must admit that natural theology does not lead to the God of the Bible. Cornelius Van Til was opposed to natural theology, he felt “natural theology lead to the idea of an impersonal first cause which falls short of the living God of the Bible and experience” (Brown, 246).
While natural theology sees the playing field of interaction between Christians and non-Christians as all encompassing, some apologists believe there is no overlap. That is, a Christian worldview and a non-Christian worldview must totally oppose one another. Cornelius Van Til was a Calvinist who believed everyone, deep down inside, already knew that God exists, they knew that they are sinners, and they knew that they should repent of their sins (The Intellectual Challenge of the Gospel, 5).
A New Chapter for Confessions of a Seminarian
At last, it is time for me to “unveil” that which I have been ambiguously alluding to throughout the past few weeks.
Over the course of this blog’s existence, I have noticed some recurring themes. The discussions I have been blessed to participate in have centered on clearing up misconceptions about Christianity, apologetics against both modern and postmodern culture, and exclusive truth communicated with Christian love. Averaging 20 views per day and totaling almost 3,000 views over the course of the last five months, and currently maintaining a solid 35 views per day, the majority of visitors have been non-Christian. The irony in this is that I originally intended my writing to be a resource for Christians to be missional. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the writings themselves seemed to be accomplishing their missional focus.
As a result of this and other experiences, I have realized that:
- There is a great need for contextualized, intelligible, and beyond-the-surface exposition of the gospel.
- There is a sore lack of Christian love displayed to both believers and non-believers.
- I am ill-equipped to fill the almost infinite variety of perspectives, culture, and experiences encountered by myself.
Thus, this blog is no longer mine alone. Read more »
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