DESCRIPTION: This course explores the major challenges that Christianity faces in North America in the beginning of the twenty-first century. The approach is to develop an apologetic framework by (1) surveying the way Christians have defended the faith throughout the history of the church; (2) developing three models--classical, modern, and postmodern--that have been used to defend the faith; and (3) developing a strategy for defending the truth of Christianity and thus commending the faith to unbelievers. The entire last section of the course will be devoted to studying issues the class feels are important with the tools we have developed.

LEARNING OUTCOMES: Students will be able to (1) understand the historical and philosophical context of apologetics, (2) develop pastoral sensitivity to the frameworks people bring to questions of faith, (3) reflect and write on some specific objection against Christianity.

RELEVANCE FOR MINISTRY: As the church increasingly finds itself in a secular environment that is hostile to the gospel, the challenges it faces will often be apologetic in character. Moreover, Christian growth, both individually and corporately, involves facing these challenges honestly and developing apologetic strategies that support and complement our evangelism.

COURSE FORMAT: The class will meet weekly for a three-hour session. The first section of the course will introduce apologetic method and briefly overview the history of apologetics. The remaining classes will apply the apologetic method developed to particular apologetic problems (developed in consultation with students), which students will study and address in learning groups.

REQUIRED READING:

One of the following:

Dyrness, W. Christian Apologetics in a World Community. InterVarsity Press, 1982. OR

McGrath, Alister. Intellectuals Don't Need God. Zondervan, 1993. OR

Sproul, R. C., J. Gerstner, and A. Lindsley. Classical Apologetics. Zondervan, 1984 (any 200 pp.).

Chang, Curtis. Engaging Unbelief. InterVarsity Press, 2000.

Groothuis, Douglas R. Truth Decay: Defining Christianity Against the Challenges of Postmodernism. InterVarsity Press, 2000.

Ramachandra, V. Faiths in Conflict: Christian Integrity in a Multicultural World. InterVarsity, 1999.

Smith, James K. A. Who's Afraid of Postmodernism? Baker, 2006.

Apologetics reader (100 pp.).

Berger, Peter, ed. The Desecularization of the World. Eerdmans, 1999.

Carter, Stephen. God's Name in Vain. Basic Books, 2000.

Grenz, Stanley. A Primer on Postmodernism. Eerdmans, 1996.

Hawking, Stephen. A Brief History of Time. Bantam Books, 1988.

Murphy, Nancey. Theology in the Age of Scientific Reasoning. Cornell University Press, 1990.

Scarry, Elaine. On Beauty and Being Just. Princeton, 2000.

Smith, James K. The Fall of Interpretation. InterVarsity Press, 2000.

Stackhouse, Max. Apologia. [Cross cultural Apologetics.] Eerdmans, 1988.

Westphal, M. Overcoming OntoTheology: Toward a Postmodern Christian Faith. Fordham UP, 2001.