Doing Apologetics
I’m currently reading Five Views on Apologetics, edited by Steven Cowan, an in-house debate among Christian apologists over the proper approach or methodology in performing the task of apologetics. The majority of the posts which are found on this site are concerned with apologetics, which has to do with defending and/or making a case for the truth of Christianity. Apologetics is commonly felt to assist in accomplishing at least two things. First, the apologist hopes to strengthen the faith of the Christian believer. Second, she hopes to aid in the task of evangelism. One might further think about apologetics in another way, as either a positive or negative endeavor. Positive apologetics may be thought of as offensive (using a sports analogy) and involves making a positive case for Christianity. This might be done by using arguments for the existence of God or for the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Negative apologetics might be construed as defensive apologetics and deals with refuting and answering objections to the Christian faith such as the problem of evil.
The various views on apologetics examined in the book differ primarily in the strategy or methodology used in defense of the faith. Five argumentative strategies are discussed:
1. Classical Apologetics
2. Evidentialist Apologetics
3. Cumulative Case Apologetics
4. Presuppositional Apologetics
5. Reformed Epistemological Apologetics
As I read through the book, I plan to discuss in a number of posts the similarities and differences inherent in each of these strategies. The first view will be Classical Apologetics.