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ZONDERVAN

Chris tian Apologetics Copyright © 2012 by Khaldoun A. Sweis and Chad V. Meister

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Chris tian apologetics : an anthology of primary sources / edited by Khaldoun A. Sweis and Chad V. Meister. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-310-32533-8 (hardcover) 1. Apologetics — History — Sources. I. Sweis, Khaldoun A., 1972 – II. Meister, Chad V., 1965 – . BT1109.C56 2012 239 — dc23 2011045222

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Contents

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

Permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

List of Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

General Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Par t 1

History, MetHodology, and engageMent

1 A First Century Apologetic: Acts 17: Saint Paul . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19

2 A Short History of Apologetics: John Warwick Montgomery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21

3 Varieties of Apologetics: James K. Beilby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

4 Interreligious Apologetics: Harold Netland . . . . .39

5 The Knowability of History: Norman L. Geisler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46

6 Advice to Chris tian Philosophers: Alvin Plantinga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59

Questions for Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73

Further Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73

Par t 2

tHe existenCe of god

The CosmologiCal argumenT

7 The Classical Cosmological Argument: Thomas Aquinas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79

8 The Kalam Cosmological Argument: William Lane Craig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81

9 The Argument from Sufficient Reason: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94

The TeleologiCal argumenT

10 The Classical Design Argument: William Paley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96

11 Evidence for Intelligent Design from Biochemistry: Michael J. Behe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99

12 A Recent Fine-Tuning Design Argument: Robin Collins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106

The onTologiCal argumenT

13 The Classical Ontological Argument: Anselm of Canterbury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123

14 A Recent Modal Ontological Argument: Alvin Plantinga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125

The TransCendenTal argumenT

15 A Transcendental Argument for God’s Existence: Greg Bahnsen and Gordon Stein . . . . . . . . . . . .139

The Wager

16 The Wager: Blaise Pascal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168

The moral argumenT

17 God and the Moral Law: C. S. Lewis . . . . . . . . .171

18 The Moral Argument: Paul Copan . . . . . . . . . . .174

religious experienCe

19 Experiencing God: Teresa of Avila . . . . . . . . . . .191

20 On Perceiving God: William Alston . . . . . . . . . .196

Questions for Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .203

Further Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .204

Par t 3

tHe trinity 21 Regarding the Trinity: Origen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .207

22 Trinitarian Creeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .214

23 Treatise on the Most Holy Trinity: Thomas Aquinas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .216

24 On the Trinity: Richard of St. Victor . . . . . . . . .227

25 The Doctrine of the Trinity: Thomas V. Morris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .229



Par t 4

tHe inCarnation 26 On the Incarnation:

Athanasius of Alexandria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .239

27 On the Incarnation: Anselm of Canterbury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .251

28 The Coherence of the Incarnation: Thomas V. Morris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .260



Par t 5

tHe BiBle 29 On the Canon: Augustine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .273

30 The Authority and Credibility of Scripture: John Calvin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .277

31 The Gospels as Historical Sources for Jesus: R. T. France . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .288

32 Archaeology and the Old Testament: Eugene Carpenter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .295



Par t 6

MiraCles 33 A Discourse on Miracles: John Locke . . . . . . . .313

34 Miracles and Modern Scientific Thought: Norman Geisler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .318

35 A Case for Miracles: Richard Swinburne . . . . . .327



Par t 7

tHe resurreCtion of Jesus

36 The Resurrection of Jesus: Thomas Aquinas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .335

37 A Juridical Defense of Jesus’ Resurrection: John Warwick Montgomery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .339

38 Experiences of the Risen Jesus: Gary R. Habermas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .354

39 The Bodily Resurrection of Jesus: William Lane Craig . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .362



Par t 8

Body, soul, and tHe arguMent

froM Mind 40 On the Soul and Body: Thomas Aquinas . . . . . .381

41 The Cogito: René Descartes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .389

42 God and the Argument from Mind: J. P. Moreland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .394



Par t 9

tHe ProBleM of evil

43 Evil and Free Will: Augustine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .419

44 A Free Will Defense: Alvin Plantinga . . . . . . . . .422

45 A Soul Making Theodicy: John Hick . . . . . . . . .433

46 Evil, Suffering, and Calvary: Peter Kreeft . . . . .444

47 Horrendous Evil: Marilyn McCord Adams . . . . .450



Par t 10

CHris tian ity and sCienCe

48 God and Physics: John Polkinghorne . . . . . . . . .463

49 Design and Science: Del Ratzsch . . . . . . . . . . . .471

50 The Origin of Life’s Major Groups: Kurt P. Wise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .486



Par t 11

CHris tian ity and tHe World

51 Chris tians and the World: The Epistle to Diognetus: Author unknown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .507

52 The City of God: Augustine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .513

53 A Chris tian Manifesto: Francis A. Schaeffer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .519

54 Chris tian ity: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow: Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) . . . . . . . .530



Scripture Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .541

Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .543

Name Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .551

13

list of authors

Adams, Marilyn McCord (1943 – ), is distinguished research professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was the Regius Professor of Divinity at the University of Oxford .

Alston, William Payne (1921 – 2009), was professor emeritus of philosophy at Syracuse University .

Anselm of Canterbury (1033 – 1109) was a highly influential Chris tian philosopher and theologian of the eleventh century .

Aquinas, Thomas (1225 – 1274), has been an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism .

Athanasius of Alexandria (296 – 373) was bishop of Alexandria . He is also known as St . Athanasius the Great and St . Athanasius the Confessor .

Augustine, Aurelius (354 – 430), also known as St . Augustine of Hippo, was a North African bishop . He is one of the towering figures of Chris tian philosophy and theology whose authority and thought came to exert a profound, pervasive, and enduring influence well into the modern period .

Bahnsen, Greg L. (1948 – 1995), was an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and a full-time scholar in residence for the Southern California Center for Chris tian Studies .

Behe, Michael J. (1952 – ), is professor of biological sciences at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania .

Beilby, James K., is professor of systematic and philosophical theology at Bethel University in St . Paul, Minnesota .

Calvin, John (1509 – 1564), was an influential French theologian and Protestant Reformer, author of the Institutes of the Chris tian Religion, and father of Calvinism .

Carpenter, Eugene, is professor of Old Testament and Hebrew and scholar in residence at Bethel College, Mishawaka, Indiana .

Collins, Robin, serves as professor of philosophy at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania .

Copan, Paul, is a professor of philosophy and ethics, and the Pledger Family Chair at Palm Beach Atlantic University, Florida .

Craig, William Lane (1949 – ), is research professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, California .

Descartes, René (1596 – 1650), was a French philosopher and writer . He is known as the Father of Modern Philosophy .

Epistle to Diognetus (c . second century), also known as the Epistle of Mathetes (which means “disciple”) to Diognetus, is one of earliest examples of Chris tian apologetics . Diognetus was a tutor of the emperor Marcus Aurelius . The author is unknown .

France, R. T. (1938 – 2012), is a New Testament scholar and Anglican cleric . He served as Principal of Wycliffe Hall Oxford from 1989 to 1995 and as Vice-Principal of the London School of Theology .

Geisler, Norman L. (1932 – ), is distinguished professor of apologetics and theology and chair of Chris tian apologetics at Veritas Evangelical Seminary in Murrieta, California .

Habermas, Gary (1950 – ), is distinguished professor of apologetics and philosophy and chairman of the department of philosophy and theology at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia .

Hick, John (1922 – ), is emeritus professor of both Birmingham University, UK, and Claremont Graduate University, California . He is also a Fellow

14 CHristian aPologetiCs: an antHology of PriMary sourCes

of the Institute for Advanced Research in Arts and Social Sciences, University of Birmingham, UK, and a Vice-President of the British Society for the Philosophy of Religion and of the World Congress of Faiths .

Kreeft, Peter (1937 – ), is a professor of philosophy at Boston College and The King’s College .

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm (1646 – 1716), was a German philosopher and mathematician .

Lewis, Clive Staples (1898 – 1963), was professor of medieval and renaissance literature at Magdalene College, Oxford and Cambridge Universities .

Locke, John (1632 – 1704), was an English philosopher and physician and is regarded as one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers .

Montgomery, John Warwick (1931 – ), is distinguished research professor of philosophy and Chris tian thought at Patrick Henry College in Virginia and emeritus professor of law and humanities at the University of Luton (England) .

Moreland, James Porter (1948 – ), is distinguished professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology at Biola University in La Mirada, California .

Morris, Thomas V. (1952 – ), is former professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame and founder of the Morris Institute of Human Values .

Netland, Harold, is professor of philosophy of religion and intercultural studies and the Naomi A . Fausch Chair of Missions at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois .

Origen (185 – 254) was one of the most distinguished philosopher/theologians of the early church .

Paley, William (1743 – 1805), was a British Chris tian philosopher and apologist . He is most known for his teleological argument .

Pascal, Blaise (1623 – 1662), was a French scientist, mathematician, and philosopher .

Paul the apostle (c . 5 – 67), also referred to as the apostle Paul, Saul of Tarsus, and Saint Paul . He was one of the most influential early Chris tian theologians and missionaries, with his writings forming a major portion of the New Testament .

Plantinga, Alvin (1932 – ), is an American analytic philosopher and emeritus John A . O’Brien Professor of Philosophy at the University of Notre Dame .

Polkinghorne, John (1930 – ), was professor of mathematical physics at the University of Cambridge from 1968 to 1979 and is an Anglican priest . He served as the president of Queens’ College, Cambridge, from 1988 until 1996 .

Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger (1927 – ), is the 265th pope and the head of the Roman Catholic Church .

Ratzsch, Del, is professor and department chair of philosophy at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan .

Richard of St. Victor (d . 1173) was a prominent mystical theologian and was prior of the Augustinian Abbey of Saint Victor in Paris .

Schaeffer, Francis (1912 – 1984), was a philosopher, theologian, and pastor . He founded the L’Abri community in Switzerland .

Stein, Gordon S. (1941 – 1996), was the senior editor of Free Inquiry magazine, taught at the University of Rhode Island, and was director of libraries at the Center for Inquiry .

Swinburne, Richard G. (1934 – ), is professor of philosophy emeritus at the University of Oxford . He is one of the most influential Chris tian apologists of the past century .

Teresa of Avila, Saint (1515 – 1582), also referred to as Saint Teresa of Jesus, was a prominent Spanish mystic, Roman Catholic saint, and Carmelite nun .

Wise, Kurt P. (1959 – ), studied under Stephen Jay Gould at Harvard and is director of the Creation Research Center at Truett-McConnell College .

17

P a r t 1

History, MetHodology, and engageMent

Chris tian apologetics has a very long history . In fact, we see it initially in the New Testa-ment writings that date to the first century AD . Indeed, apologetics has been an integral part of the Chris tian faith from its very inception . We begin this volume with one of the earliest Chris tian apologetic speeches ever recorded: the apostle Paul’s Mars Hill address found in Acts 17 .

The next selection is provided by John Warwick Montgomery . He sketches the his-tory of apologetics, beginning in the Bible, working through the Patristic and Medieval periods, then into the Renaissance and Reformation, and finally into the modern period up through our own day .

Not only does Chris tian apologetics have a long history, but it also involves a number of different approaches . Why is this so, and what are the various approaches that have been utilized by many of the leading apologists throughout history? James Beilby delin-eates the major approaches and methodologies that have been used as Chris tians have attempted to defend the faith . In doing so, he examines five meta-apologetic questions that have led to the various methods and perspectives in apologetics .

Perhaps no time in history has reflected the need for interreligious apologetics as our own day . With globalization and pluralism in the West, there are many perspectives that require attention by apologists in the twenty-first century . Harold Netland guides us through this important issue . He demonstrates that even prior to the modern era, there was a long tradition of interreligious apologetics . But today, many see interreligious apologetics as inappropriate in our pluralistic culture and believe that respect and mutual understanding, rather than polemics, are most appropriate . Netland provides practical and theoretical insights into how to approach this terrain and how to engage in apologet-ics in our postmodern era .

Next, Norman Geisler argues for the knowability of history . Unlike some religions, Chris tian ity is inseparably tied to historical events — most especially the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth . Without knowledge of such historical events, ortho-dox Chris tian ity is lost . Since the knowability of history is challenged by a number of

18

contemporary historians, it is important for the apologist to rebut this claim in order to defend the Chris tian faith .

In the last selection of this section, Alvin Plantinga offers some advice to Chris tian philosophers — advice we believe is beneficial to all Chris tian thinkers irrespective of their particular academic discipline . He notes that while much of the intellectual cul-ture of our day is nontheistic, or even antitheistic, nonetheless Chris tian philosophy is flourishing and growing . He offers sage advice, which he sums up with three points: (1) Chris tian thinkers should display more independence from the rest of the intellectual world; (2) they should display more integrity; and (3) they must display more trust in the Lord . He carefully delineates each of these points .

19

C h a p t e r 1

a first Century apologetic: acts 17

Saint Paul

1When Paul and his companions had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessa-lonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue . 2As was his custom, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, 3explaining and proving that the Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead . “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah,” he said . 4Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women .

5But other Jews were jealous; so they rounded up some bad characters from the marketplace, formed a mob and started a riot in the city . They rushed to Jason’s house in search of Paul and Silas in order to bring them out to the crowd . 6But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some other believ-ers before the city officials, shouting: “These men who have caused trouble all over the world have now come here, 7and Jason has welcomed them into his house . They are all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus .” 8When they heard this, the crowd and the city officials were thrown into turmoil . 9Then they made Jason and the others post bond and let them go .

10As soon as it was night, the believers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea . On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue . 11Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true . 12As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men .

13But when the Jews in Thessalonica learned that Paul was preaching the word of God at Berea, some of them went there too, agitating the crowds and stirring them up . 14The believers immediately sent Paul to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea . 15Those who escorted Paul brought him to Athens and then left with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible .

16While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols . 17So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the market-place day by day with those who happened to be there . 18A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him . Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods .” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection . 19Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? 20You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean .” 21(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas .)

22Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Are-opagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious . 23For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of wor-ship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god . So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship — and this is what I am going to proclaim to you .

20 Pa r t 1 — History, MetHodology, and engageMent

24“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands . 25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything . Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else . 26From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundar-ies of their lands . 27God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us . 28‘For in him we live and move and have our being .’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring .’

29“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or

silver or stone — an image made by human design and skill . 30In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent . 31For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed . He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead .”

32When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some of them sneered, but others said, “We want to hear you again on this subject .” 33At that, Paul left the Council . 34Some of the people became followers of Paul and believed . Among them was Dionysius, a member of the Areopagus, also a woman named Damaris, and a number of others .

From the New International Version

1 . Readers interested in the history of apologetics may wish to consult: Bernard Ramm, Varieties of Chris tian Apologetics (rev . ed .; Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1961 [evangelical]; Joseph H . Crehan, “Apologetics,” A Catholic Dictionary of Theology, vol . 1 (London: Thomas Nelson, 1962); Avery Dulles, A History of Apologetics (New York: Corpus; Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1971) [Roman Catholic bias — as with Crehan]; L . Russ Bush (ed .), Classical

Readings in Chris tian Apologetics A.D. 100 – 1800 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1983) [evangelical]; William Edgar and K . Scott Oliphint (eds .), Chris tian Apologetics Past and Present: A Primary Source Reader (2 vols .; Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2009 – 2010) [pre-suppositionist bias] . It should be noted that these works treat inad-equately, or not at all, the 21st century scene .

21

C h a p t e r 2

a short History of apologetics

John Warwick Montgomery

The history of the defence of Chris tian faith is coter-minous with the history of Chris tian ity itself .1 This is the case because Chris tian ity, unlike religions of the East, such as Buddhism and Hinduism, is non-syncretic: Chris tian ity asserts that religious truth can ultimately be found only in Jesus Christ and Chris tian revelation (John 14:6, Acts 4:12) . From this it follows that religious claims contradicting Chris tian faith can-not be true and must be opposed, and negative criti-cisms of the truth of the Chris tian position must be answered .

Covenant theology bifurcates the history of salva-tion, treating it in terms of Old Testament or Cov-enant, and New Testament . Dispensationalists prefer to divide salvation history into numerous epochs, often seven in number . We shall try to satisfy both! The major divide in the history of apologetics occurs at the time of the 18th-century so-called “Enlighten-ment,” when secular thinkers such as Thomas Paine endeavoured to replace the “Book of Scripture” with the “Book of Nature”; subsequently, apologetics fol-lowed a very different path from that of the preced-ing centuries . Prior to that massive ideological divide, Chris tian ity had occupied stage centre in Western intellectual history; afterwards, it found itself relegated to the wings .

But the expanse of apologetic history from bibli-cal times to the 21st century can also be discussed in

terms of seven epochs or styles of defence, and we shall briefly comment on each of them in turn: (1) Apologetics in the Bible itself; (2) Patristic defence of the faith; (3) Medieval apologetics; (4) Renaissance and Reformation; (5) Apologetics at the zenith of the “classical Chris tian era”; (6) Response to the Enlight-enment in the 18th and 19th centuries; (7) Apologetics today . In our final section, we shall have opportunity to reflect on the weaknesses of the apologetic situation in today’s church .

apologetics in the Bible

Charles Finney was supposed to have downgraded apologetic argument by remarking: “Defend the Bible? How would you defend a lion? Let it out of its cage and it’ll defend itself!” But, in point of fact, the Bible, unlike the Qur’an and the “holy books” of other reli-gions, does not expect its readers to accept its revela-tional character simply because the text claims to be true . In the Old Testament, Elijah competes with the false prophets of Baal, and the superior miraculous demonstration by the power of the God of Israel wins the day (I Kings 18) . In the Gospels, Jesus makes the truth of his entire ministry depend on a single sign — that of his resurrection from the dead (Matthew 12:39 – 40) . In the Epistles, not only is Christ’s physi-cal resurrection asserted, but the Apostle is concerned

22 Pa r t 1 — History, MetHodology, and engageMent

as well to provide a list of eyewitnesses to the risen Christ (I Cor . 15:4 – 8) .

The biblical apologetic focuses in four areas, and these are subsequently employed throughout Chris-tian history: miracle, fulfilled prophecy, natural revela-tion, and personal experience (what the philosophers term “subjective immediacy”) . Three caveats: (1) nat-ural revelation (proofs of God from nature), though present in the Bible (e .g ., Ps . 19:1), is the least empha-sised apologetic; (2) personal experience never “floats free”: the subjective is always grounded in one or more of the objective areas of proof — generally miracle and prophecy; (3) occasionally, a “double-barreled” argu-ment is made through miracle being the object of prophecy, as in the case of the Virgin Birth of our Lord (Isa . 7:14; Mt . 1; Lk . 1 – 2) .

Since the biblical plan of salvation centres on God’s revealing himself in real history, through prophets, priests, and finally by the incarnation of his eternal Son, Jesus Christ, the biblical apologetic is essentially one of asserting and demonstrating the factual nature of the events recounted . The Apostle is willing to make the entire truth of the faith turn on the reality of Jesus’ resurrection (I Cor . 15:17 – 20) . The case for biblical truth, then, connects with the nature of Chris tian ity as “historical religion”: it is in principle falsifiable — and, in this case, verifiable — thereby removing Chris-tian ity from the analytical philosophers’ category of a meaningless metaphysical claim and placing it in the realm of the empirical and the synthetic, along with historical events in general .

patristic apologeticsThe church fathers closest to the New Testament understandably followed its apologetic lead: proph-ecy and miracle were their preferred arguments . The earliest of them (Irenaeus, for example) favoured the prophecies of the Old Testament fulfilled in Christ, since in his time the gospel was being proclaimed and defended “to the Jew first .” Moreover, the Gnostic her-etics employed pseudo-miracles (sherbet in Eucharis-tic wine!), but had no fulfilled prophecies to support

their views . As Chris tian evangelism reached a pre-dominately Gentile audience, miracle evidence came to the fore . Eusebius of Caesarea, in his Ecclesiastical History, employs a testimonial argument in support of Christ’s miraculous resurrection from the dead, sar-castically asking whether it would be reasonable to suppose that the Apostles, had they known that Jesus did not rise from the dead, would have lost all they had and ultimately been martyred whilst maintaining that he had in fact conquered death . Tertullian’s oft-quoted phrase, “Credo quia absurdum,” rather than being an invitation to irrationality, expressed the belief that the Chris tian gospel was almost too good to be true — as the children in C . S . Lewis’ Narnian chronicles would later discover .

The bridge between the Patristic and medieval worlds was Augustine of Hippo . He was converted from neo-Platonism to Chris tian ity and offered an apologetic of a Platonic nature to the intellectuals of his time, convinced as they were that Plato was the summation of classical philosophy . For Plato, one must rationally (and for neo-Platonists, rationally and spiritually) rise from the world of phenomena to the world of ideas/ideals — of which the highest expres-sion is the Good, the True, and the Beautiful . Augus-tine identified that realm with the God of the Bible . He also, in his Confessions, made a compelling argument from personal experience: “Thou hast made us for thyself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they rest in thee .” In the 20th century, Edward John Carnell would expand on this in his axiological apologetic, A Philosophy of the Chris tian Religion.

Medieval Defense of the FaithTheodore Abu Qurra, an Eastern theologian (9th century) set forth an apologetic parable demon-strating comprehension of the apologetic task well in advance of his time; it raises the critical question as to how one can test multiple revelation claims (in his case, Islam vs . Chris tian ity) . For Abu Qurra, one asks each religion what it says of God, what it says of sin, and what sort of remedy it offers for the human

2 . See Montgomery, Faith Founded on Fact (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1978), pp . 119 – 21 .

3 . Cf . Montgomery, Where Is History Going? (Minneapolis: Bethany, 1969), pp . 109 – 110 .

4 . See Montgomery, “Computer Origins and the Defence of the Faith,” 56/3 Perspectives on Science and Chris tian Faith (September, 2004), 189 – 203 .

5 . In an otherwise very useful handbook, Boa and Bowman’s classification of Luther as an apologetic “fideist” — and the placing of him in the same bed with Kierkegaard, Karl Barth, and Donald Bloesch — would be ludicrous if it were not so factually wide of the mark: Kenneth D . Boa and Robert M . Bowman, Jr ., Faith Has Its Reasons (2d ed .; Milton Keynes, UK: Paternoster, 2005) .

2 . a short History of apologet ics 23

condition — thereby demonstrating the superiority of Chris tian ity .2

Although a primitive form of the ontological argu-ment for God’s existence can be found in St . Augus-tine, St . Anselm of Canterbury provided its classic formulation in the 11th century . The argument pur-ports to prove God’s existence from the concept of God itself: God is “that than which no greater can be conceived”; he must therefore have all properties; and since existence is a property, God exists! The argument rests on the idealistic assumption that ideas have real-ity untouched by the phenomenal world (so rational idealists have been somewhat comfortable with it), but the overwhelming fallacy in the argument is sim-ply that “existence” is not a property alongside other properties; existence is the name we give to something that in fact has properties . To determine whether a something (God?) exists, we need to investigate the empirical evidences of its/his reality . Thus the far bet-ter Chris tian argument is that “God was in Christ, rec-onciling the world unto himself ” (II Cor . 5:19) . This critique having been offered, it is worth noting that neo-Orthodox theologian Karl Barth (Anselm: Fides Quaerens Intellectum) was quite wrong that Anselm was not trying to do apologetics but was simply preaching to the converted .3

The most influential medieval apologist of west-ern Christendom was its most influential theologian: Thomas Aquinas . Though probably having never met a pagan, he wrote his Summa contra gentiles (“Sum-mation against the pagans”) . By his time — the 13th century — Aristotle had replaced Plato as the most favoured classical philosopher, so Aquinas developed his apologetic along Aristotelian lines . He took over Aristotle’s traditional proofs for God’s existence, and argued that they can establish a foundation of Reason

upon which Faith can operate . This stress on the Aris-totelian proofs would have a tremendous influence on all subsequent Chris tian apologetics .

Contemporaneous with Aquinas was Ramon Lull (or Lullius), a Catalonian who is considered to be the first European missionary to the Muslims . Lull was a philosopher, but not a scholastic in the Aristotelian tradition . He developed an original “method” for the conversion of the infidel through the combining of theological and philosophical concepts and the illus-trative use of rotating, interlocking disks . He now fig-ures in the prehistory of the modern computer .4 Lull also practiced literary apologetics by way of his apolo-getic novel, Blanquerna .

renaissance and reformationBy the time of the Italian Renaissance (15th – 16th centuries), the world was opening up to exploration and Plato had returned to philosophical prominence . Thus the apologists of that era directed their efforts to adventurous thinkers committed to a Platonic view of the world . Thomas More, in his Utopia, well illustrates this . The Utopians pray each night that “if there is a better and truer faith, may God bring it to us .” More’s explorers reach Utopia and present the Chris tian reli-gion as that better faith . The Utopians, in seeking the Good, the True, and the Beautiful, accept the God of Chris tian revelation .

The Protestant Reformers were not concerned with apologetics as such; they had more than enough to do cleaning up the theology of the medieval church . But their work had much indirect value for apologetics . Thus, Luther’s insistence on sola Scriptura and thor-oughgoing christocentricity were healthy counterac-tives to medieval Aristotelian/Thomistic emphases .5 And when the Roman Catholic opponents of the

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