Five Views on Apologetics: An Introduction

         Stephen Cowan gave us a definition of apologetics and description of its twofold tasks. He defines apologetics as  “the defense of the Christian faith against charges of falsehood, inconsistency, or credulity” it means that apologetics has to do with defending, or making a case for the truth of the Christian faith.   Its dual purposes are edification and evangelism. These can be accomplish by negative or defensive apologetics and positive or offensive apologetics. Examples of negative or defensive apologetics would be refuting objections to Christianity such as the problem of evil and the charge of incoherence against Christians doctrines. Examples of positive or offensive apologetics would be offering “arguments for God’s existence or for the resurrection and deity of Christ.   Gordon H. Clark argues that the apologist must begin with Scripture as a first principle. The Scripture then “serves as a rational axiom by which all other truth ...