The contours and issues of contemporary apologetics

• Published in: Review and expositor (Berne) 2014-08, Vol.111 (3), p.227-237
• Main Author: Robinson, Michael
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0034-6373; 2052-9449
• DOI: 10.1177/0034637314535967

In this article, I examine five important components of the apologetic enterprise. Specifically, based on two biblical examples, I note that apologetics occurs within particular and broad cultural contexts, addresses perennial religious and philosophical concerns, involves defending diverse Christian traditions, and sometimes necessitates clarification or even development of theological insights. I also discuss several key issues facing contemporary apologists, issues arising from our own modern and now postmodern historical context. Among those issues are concerns over how religious knowledge may be accrued, how faith and reason relate, whether God’s existence or nature can be established by reason, whether it is reasonable to believe miracles have happened or are even possible, whether the Bible is trustworthy, how science and Christianity relate, whether core doctrines of Christianity—like the Incarnation or the Trinity—are coherent, why God allows evil, and how Christianity and other religions interrelate. By describing these various features of apologetics, I hope to aid the reader in seeing the complex and intricate nature of the contemporary Christian apologetic task.