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 Considering the challenges of Apologetics

 David Cook

  • Photo of: David Cook Dr David Cook is a fellow of Green College, Oxford, founding director of the Whitefield Institute and teaches philosophy, theology and ethics. He is well known as an author and broadcaster. He is the Arthur F. Holmes Chair of Faith and Learning at Wheaton College.  View all resources by David Cook

David Cook - Considering the challenges

Section I

1. THE NEED FOR APOLOGETICS

2. MODEL- PAUL-ACTS 17, COLOSSIANS, GALATIANS

3. CHALLENGES - dynamic, fluid, require critical analysis

4. TRUTH TESTING

  1. coherence
  2. correspondence with reality
  3. pragmatic

5. CHALLENGES TO 19C/20C CHRISTIANITY

  1. Humanism- man is the measure of all things
  2. Existentialism- being and will
  3. Marxism- economic explanation
  4. Secularism- nothing beyond here and now

6. RESPONSES TO CHALLENGES

  1. Fallenness of humanity
  2. Holism of reason, experience and will
  3. Reductionism to nothing buttery
  4. Beyond the here and now

QUESTIONS

  1. Why so little interest in apologetics?
  2. How did the Church fail to meet the challenges?
  3. What can we learn from the failure?
  4. How can we motivate and enable apologists?

Section II

20c/21c CHALLENGES

1. RELATIVISM

  1. what there is- ontology
  2. how we know- epistemology
  3. moral relativism- situational
  4. relativity of truth- subjectivism

2. RESPONSES

  1. status of the view - contradiction
  2. counter evidence
  3. practical responses

3. POST- MODERNITY

  1. no big picture
  2. subjectivity
  3. tolerance

4. RESPONSES

  1. is there really post-modernism?
  2. stories and history
  3. objectivity
  4. limits of tolerance

5. LIBERALISM

  1. collapse of Marxism
  2. freedom from/to and limits
  3. rights- cf freedoms and responsibilities
  4. subjective/relative

6. RESPONSES

  1. metamorphoses of Marxism
  2. successes and limits of Capitalism
  3. limits of freedom and autonomy
  4. basis of rights
  5. responsibilities and duties
  6. objectivity and universality

7. MYSTICISM

  1. Eastern Religions
  2. Spiritualities
  3. Otherness
  4. Limits of speech and knowledge

8. RESPONSES

  1. truth testing
  2. true and false spiritualities
  3. speaking of what we don’t know and understand
  4. apprehension not comprehension

QUESTIONS

  1. WHAT ARE THE MAIN CHALLENGES TO CHRISTIANITY TODAY?
  2. HOW DO WE TO RESPOND TO THEM?
  3. HOW SHOULD WE RESPOND?

Section III IMPACT OF THE CHALLENGES

1. ON THE CHURCH

  1. loss of confidence
  2. anti intellectualism
  3. emotion
  4. inclusivism
  5. retreat from preaching and apologetics
  6. search for new and old spiritualities
  7. confusion in social involvement
  8. political confusion
  9. social withdrawal
  10. conformed to the world

2. RESPONSES - NEED FOR CONFIDENCE

  • AUTHORITY OF SCRIPTURE
  • BALANCED DOCTRINE OF HUMANITY- DUST AND GLORY
  • FULL GOSPEL OF CHRIST
  • SPIRIT IN PERSPECTIVE
  • DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH
  • SALT AND LIGHT

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