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 claims are tested. On this basis, Clark “argues that Christianity is the only coherent system, all other worldviews being logically inconsistent.”

 

Ramm “distinguishes three families of apologetics systems”

 

1. System that stress the uniqueness of the Christian experience of grace. The individual’s experience of religion is so profound or so unique or self-validating that the experience itself is its own proof.

 

2. Systems that stress natural theology as the point at which apologetics begins. Religious truths can be known and verified much the same way scientific proposition can be known and verified.

 

3. Systems that stress revelation as the foundation upon which apologetics must be built. God is able to reveal himself in propositional form to human beings through a written revelation (i.e., the Bible) and by the work of the Holy Spirit is able to lessen the blinding effects of sin in the mind of the believer.

 

A Tentative Taxonomy of Apologetics methods:

 

1. Classical Method 

 

The classical method is an approach that begins by employing natural theology to establish theism as the correct worldview. The classical method moves to a presentation of the historical evidences for the deity of Christ, the trustworthiness of Scripture, et cetera, to show that Christianity is the best version of theism, as opposed to, say, Judaism and Islam. This method is used by the most prominent apologist of earlier centuries.

 

2.  The Evidential Method

 

The evidential method “is fairly eclectic in its use of various positive evidences and negative critiques, utilizing both philosophical and historical arguments. Yet it tends to focus chiefly on the legitimacy of accumulating various historical and other inductive arguments for the truth of Christianity.”

 

3. The Cumulative Case Method

 

This method does not conform to the ordinary pattern of deductive or inductive reasoning.The case is more like the brief that a lawyer makes in a court of law or that a literary critic makes for a particular interpretation of a book.

 

4. The Presuppositional Method

 

“Due to the noetic effects of sin, presuppositionalists usually hold that there is not enough common ground between believers and unbelievers that would allow followers of the prior three methods to accomplish their goals. Presuppositionalists attempt, then, to argue transcendentally. That is, they argue that all meaning and thought-indeed, every fact-logically presupposes the God of the Scriptures.

 

5. The Reformed Epistemology Method

 

Reformed epistemology... hold that it is perfectly reasonable for a person to believe many things without evidence. Most strikingly, they argue that belief in God does not require the support of evidence or argument in order for it to be rational.

 

 

Personal Reflection

 

     Knowing and understanding the presentation of Stephen Cowan, couple of things that I can comment on: First, Apologetics is indeed necessary and vital to Christianity knowing that it has a twofold purposes. As Cowan said “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.” Both of this twofold purposes are the commands of the bible for all Christians, that we should depend our faith against those who wants to destroy the Christian teachings or beliefs and also we should proclaim our belief to the lost people. Second. I am thankful for the labor of Christian apologist. They did all their best and even give some approaches or ways how to depend our christian belief. And for me this is so helpful to both my personal endeavors and to my ministry. And it is also helpful to the Christians in our time today knowing we are living in a postmodern world view where people no longer believe that there such a thing as absolute truth and moral standards. As Christians it is our duty to depend our faith to them.