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Transcript of Pulse Magazine - Issue 12
R Z I M E U R O P E ’ S M A G A Z I N E
Introducing Christian Hofreiter
Interview with John Lennox
www.rzim.eu
BEYOND NARNIA: The Imaginative Appeal of Faith
Training Weekends Relaunched
ISSUE 12 | AUTUMN 2012
C. S. Lewis SUMMER SCHOOL 2013
AUTUMN 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 12
Our speakers are trained to respond to the objections and questions that people have about faith, so that
lives might be transformed by the gospel message. We also help to resource the church, through apologetics
articles and talks, engagement with the media, training events and academic courses at the Oxford Centre for
Christian Apologetics (OCCA). Furthermore, we run an Associates Programme for emerging evangelists around
Europe and we contribute to the work of Wellspring International, RZIM’s humanitarian organisation.
RZIM Europe is the working name of RZIM Zacharias Trust, a charitable company founded in 1997 that is limited by guarantee and registered in England. Company No. 3449676. Charity No. 1067314
PRINTER | VERITÉ CM LTD
DESIGN AND ILLUSTRATION | KAREN SAWREY
PHOTOGRAPHY | JOHN CAIRNS
STOCK IMAGES | COVER IMAGE & P6: © ALAMY.
INSIDE PAGES: ISTOCKphoto & [email protected]
The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics (OCCA) is a partnership between RZIM and Wycliff e Hall, a Permanent Private Hall of the University of Oxford.
RAVI ZACHARIAS
PRESIDENT OF RZIM AND SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW AT WYCLIFFE HALL
MICHAEL RAMSDEN
EUROPEAN DIRECTOR OF RZIM AND DIRECTOR OF THE OCCA
ALISTER MCGRATH
PRESIDENT OF THE OCCA
AMY ORR-EWING
UK DIRECTOR OF RZIM AND CURRICULUM DIRECTOR OF THE OCCA
JOHN LENNOX
ADJUNCT PROFESSOR AT THE OCCA
OS GUINNESS
SENIOR FELLOW AT THE OCCA
VINCE VITALE
SENIOR TUTOR, OCCAAND RZIM ITINERANT SPEAKER
TOM PRICE
TUTOR, OCCAAND RZIM ITINERANT SPEAKER
SHARON DIRCKX
TUTOR, OCCAAND RZIM ITINERANT SPEAKER
MICHELLE TEPPER
RZIM ITINERANT SPEAKER
TANYA WALKER
RZIM ITINERANT SPEAKER
VLAD CRIZNIC
DIRECTOR OF RZIM ROMANIA
RZIM Europe, 76 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 6JT T: +44 (0)1865 302900 F: +44 (0)1865 318451 www.rzim.eu
our team includes:
HELPING THE THINKER BELIEVE AND THE BELIEVER THINK
RZIM Europe is an evangelistic organisation that seeks to engage hearts and minds for Christ.
AUTUMN 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 12
WELCOME TO THE T WELFTH EDITION OF
pulse magazine
PULSE ISSUE 12 | AUTUMN 2012
CONTENTSINTERVIEW WITH
JOHN LENNOX 4BEYOND NARNIA 6C. S. LEWIS EVENT 9TRAINING WEEKENDS 10DIARY DATES 11THE OCCA BUSINESS
PROGRAMME 12INTRODUCING
CHRISTIAN HOFREITER 13WHAT IS FAITH? 14MISSIONS AT THE OCCA 16THE DARK SIDE
OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY 18WHAT IS BEAUTIFUL? 21
IN THIS ISSUE:
C. S. LEWIS
To mark the 50th anniversary of
C. S. Lewis' death (2013), the next
RZIM Summer School will be focusing
on his apologetic work and his legacy
to the Christian faith (page 9). Mere
Christianity remains one of the most
infl uential apologetics books and,
in his article ‘Beyond Narnia’, Alister
McGrath discusses the endearing
appeal of Lewis’ work (page 6).
TRAINING EVENTS
There are also a number of RZIM
training events coming up over
the next few months, the fi rst of
which is ‘How do I answer that?’,
a day conference on 22 September in
Manchester (back cover). This will be
followed by a training day in Oxford
on 26 January entitled ‘Confi dence
in the truth’. We are also happy to
announce that, in February, we will
be re-launching the popular RZIM
Training Weekends (page 10).
INTRODUCING CHRISTIAN HOFREITER
We are pleased to announce the
appointment of Christian Hofreiter
to the RZIM team and you can read
more about his work and passion for
evangelism on page 13.
EVANGELISM AND THE OCCA
Our primary goal is to communicate
the gospel message to others
eff ectively and the training at the
OCCA is designed to equip Christians
to do likewise. Sharon Dirckx explains
why participating in missions is an
important part of helping students on
the one-year programme to develop
the practical skills they need to do
evangelism (page 16). The OCCA also
off ers a six-week course tailored to
business professionals and the details
of this can be found on page 12.
WELLSPRING INTERNATIONAL
Another side to our ‘practical
apologetics’ is Wellspring
International, the humanitarian
arm of RZIM. In ‘What is beautiful?’,
Naomi Zacharias discusses the
work of the organisation and what
sex-selective abortion says about
humanity (page 21).
ARGUMENTS FROM THE NEW ATHEISTS
Isn’t it true that science and
religion don’t mix, hasn’t
Christianity caused a lot of
suff ering throughout history
and isn’t faith the preserve of
those who have no evidence?
These topics are tackled by
John Lennox (page 4), Michael
Ramsden (page 14) and Simon
Wenham (page 18) respectively.
Simon Wenham
RESEARCH CO-ORDINATOR
AUTUMN 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 12
Is it important for Christian leaders to have a thirst for scientifi c literacy?
I think it’s immensely important.
Science has enormous cultural
authority. In a sense, nature has
replaced God and scientists have
become nature’s high priests. There
is concern on the part of churches
of all kinds to increase scientifi c
literacy, because that is where a
threat is perceived. And of course it is.
Because who are the gurus of the age?
Dawkins and co., who are scientifi cally
literate - or at least claim to be.
What should Christians be literate about, in terms of scientifi c theories?
The problem lies more in the
philosophy of science, rather than
science itself. People need to be aware
that science is limited. ‘Scientism’ is the
big enemy at the moment – [the view
that] science is the only way to truth.
There is immense eff ort being put into
this, to try and invade every area. The
latest, very important one is ethics.
Einstein rightly said, ‘You can talk about
the ethical foundations of science,
but not the scientifi c foundation of
ethics’. But the pressure is to make
science the arbiter of everything.
And it’s that, more than anything
else, that needs to be discussed.
It’s learning that science is limited.
Do science and religion really ask fundamentally diff erent, distinct questions about the universe?
Not entirely distinct but largely
distinct. It was Stephen Jay Gould
who popularised the notion of
INTERVIEW WITH
JOHNLENNOX
PHO
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RAPH
FO
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RTIC
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Y JO
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IRN
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John Lennox, Oxford Professor of Mathematics and one of Britain’s most popular authors on the subject of science and Christianity, talks to Jonathan Langley about proving God, unhelpful Christians and missional science.
John Lennox was recently awarded the 2012 Phillip E. Johnson Award for Liberty and Truth, in recognition of his eloquent
responses to naturalism and for his defence of intelligent agency in the universe from the perspective of science and
philosophy (see www.johnlennox.org for further information).
AUTUMN 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 12
5‘non-overlapping magisteria’ (NOMA,
he called it) where you kept them
completely separate. My own take is
to say: yes, in general, science largely
answers the ‘how’ question, whereas
religion would answer the ‘why’ of
purpose. But there is an overlap since,
speaking as a Christian, the Bible
does talk about the real world that
physics and chemistry talk about. So
there is an overlap – it’s small, but
it’s highly signifi cant. And signifi cant
because that is a position that seems
to have driven a lot of Christians,
particularly in North America, to
a kind of anti-science position.
Is the anti-science position helpful to the debate, to the Church and to the world?
Absolutely not. I think it’s a major
tragedy, because it’s what the new
atheists over here love: ‘you’ve got
to choose: God or science.’ And I
want to fi ght against that choice. I
want to say that asking people to
choose between God and science is
like asking them to choose between
Henry Ford and the laws of internal
combustion to explain a motorcar.
Which is just foolish, because you
need both a description in terms
of an agency (Henry Ford), and law
and mechanism (the science side).
School kids can see it, but Dawkins
and many of his colleagues cannot.
They think scientifi c explanation is
exhaustive, which of course it isn’t.
Why do you think the anti-science movement in the Christian Church has become so popular?
I think it’s broader than anti-science.
There’s an anti-intellectual streak
that comes from a confusion about
the nature of faith. The new atheists
have scored a big hit in redefi ning
faith as believing where there is no
evidence – you know, what we’d
normally call ‘blind faith’. I think that’s
where a lot of the problem lies. Some
Christians have bought into [the
idea that] faith is something that just
happens to you; it’s believing where
there is no evidence, so we don’t
need to enter this kind of debate.
In my view this is not Biblical.
Quantum physics seems to be quite important for Christians, because it, in some ways, undermines the idea that nature is fi xed and rigid, and science leaves no room for anything we can’t explain in simple, mechanical terms.
But that has not connected with the
public mind, unfortunately: that the
old clockwork universe of Newton is
no longer with us, so to speak. That
opens up a whole lot of possibility
obviously. The universe gets more
and more mysterious. You’re absolutely
right – there’s that element in there
and it needs to be mentioned. How
far you can take it is another matter
as we don’t really understand it.
Should Christians consider the idea of paradigm shift s good news in terms of scientifi c apologetics?
Yes and no. I think the old idea of
the objective scientist observing a
clockwork universe has gone. The
social critique of sciences, in that sense,
has done the service of recognising
that science is done by communities
and they all have their belief systems
and we bring our theories to our
observations. To quote the well-worn
phrase: ‘observations are theory-laden’.
However, there is a danger in taking
that to its extremes where you get the
postmodern, relativism of truth [that
holds that] everybody’s theory is as
good as anybody’s else’s. And I think
I would say – although this might be
a controversial thesis for some – that
most working scientists are critical
realists. They believe there is truth
out there – we never get absolutely
to it but certainly Newton’s an
improvement on Aristotle or Ptolemy,
and Einstein is an improvement on
Newton. We are getting somewhere.
But some people are more modest
these days in making their truth claims
because they are aware of the Kuhnian
social critique of science work.
Antony Flew [a philosopher of science who made his name attacking religion and later came to the conclusion, based on scientifi c evidence, that God must exist] said that people like Dawkins were beyond their fi elds of expertise by making philosophical judgments…
Well, that’s absolutely right. And
Dawkins is a rotten philosopher.
The best way, if you read German,
is to see what’s being said about
Dawkins and Hawking on the
continent – they’re just not regarded
as serious thinkers at all! Even
though their books are bestsellers.
Do you believe we can prove God’s existence?
The word ‘proof’ is loaded. If by ‘proof’
you mean mathematical proof, which
is my subject, well, no, of course you
can’t – you can’t prove anything
except things in mathematics. You
can’t prove my wife loves me. You
can’t prove that Napoleon fought at
Waterloo, or anything like that. But
if you mean ‘proof’ in the informal
sense, which means ‘prove beyond
reasonable doubt’, that is ‘give
evidence for’, well, that is another
matter. You can’t do it in the sense of
mathematics, but don’t run away with
the idea that there is not very strong
evidence for belief in God and Christ,
enough to stake your life on it. It’s that
sort of thing you want to get across.
Is engagement with science a missional issue?
Utterly. We are in a battle for what is
truth. And that is why many people
are very happy when I talk about
abstract, philosophical evidence of the
existence of God, but they become
very unhappy when I talk about Christ.
That’s too much for them. That’s
what Dawkins hates, of course.
John Lennox
ADJUNCT PROFESSOR AT THE OCCA
Interview by Jonathan Langley, which fi rst appeared in Mission Catalyst 3 (2012) and was reproduced by kind permission (www.bmsworldmission.org/catalyst).
AUTUMN 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 12
AUTUMN 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 12
7
Lewis was already well-known for his
witty Screwtape Letters (1942), and was
on the road to international literary
acclaim through his The Lion, the Witch
and the Wardrobe (1950) – the fi rst
of the seven ‘Chronicles of Narnia’.
These fantastical tales of children in
the land of Narnia established him
as the J. K. Rowling of the 1950s.
Lewis never tired of defending the
place of fairy tales in western culture.
He showed an imaginative vision
of reality which contrasted with
what he called the ‘glib and shallow
rationalism’ he knew in his own youth.
Yet most cultural analysts regarded
Mere Christianity as too wedded to
the anxieties and concerns of
Lewis’s own age to be of any
relevance to later generations.
Even Lewis himself was gloomy
about the future prospects of his
works. They would, he once remarked,
BEYOND
NARNIA:THE IMAGINATIVE APPEAL OF FAITH
Sixty years ago, C. S. Lewis published a short book entitled Mere Christianity. It was based on a series of talks Lewis
had given on the BBC during the Second World War, exploring the
foundations of faith and their relevance during this time of danger and uncertainty.
PHO
TOG
RAPH
FO
R A
RTIC
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CO
VER
© A
F ar
chiv
e / A
lam
y
BY ALISTER McGR ATH
AUTUMN 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 12
8
be forgotten within fi ve years of his
death. Lewis, who died in 1963, was
widely regarded as an irrelevance
to the new social, intellectual and
religious issues of the 1960s.
In its obituary for Lewis, Time
magazine declared him to be ‘one
of the church’s minor prophets’,
a defender of the faith who ‘with
fashionable urbanity justifi ed an
unfashionable orthodoxy against
the heresies of his time’. Yet the
tone of the obituary was that
of marking Lewis’s passing, not
anticipating his resurrection. Lewis
would be remembered as ‘an
impressive scholar’ by those who
looked backwards. There was to
be no future. Even Lewis’s friends
regarded him as a spent force.
Then Lewis bounced back. Nobody
really knows why. From about
1990, Lewis enjoyed a resurgence
of such magnitude that his books
now sell more copies than at any
point during his lifetime. He now
enjoys the dubious privilege of
being pilloried with equal vigour by
both the American religious right
and secular left – a sure sign of the
potent threat that Lewis is seen to
pose to the complacencies of both.
Part of the explanation for this
comeback lies in the continuing
popular appeal of the Narnia series,
given a new lease of life through big
budget movies. But Lewis’s renewed
appeal ultimately owes more to the
ideas of Mere Christianity than to the
magical world of Narnia. Lewis is
more than a master story-teller. He
possessed a rare ability to convey the
imaginative and rational appeal of
faith in a time of growing scepticism
towards both religious ideas and
institutions. In North America, Lewis
is appealing to a new generation
which has grown weary of the
shallow grandstanding that has
come to pass for public Christianity
in recent decades, especially during
Presidential election campaigns.
A fatigue with the superfi cial and a
yearning for the real substance of faith
has driven many to pick up Lewis and
read him again with new interest.
In Britain, religious believers are
fi nding Lewis both a source of
spiritual depth and intellectual
breadth. The rise of the so-called
‘New Atheism’ has made many within
the British churches aware of the
importance of apologetics, with
Lewis widely acknowledged as a
master of the genre. Lewis’s Narnian
fantasies off ered narrative adventure
and religious allegory in about
equal measure. Yet Mere Christianity
off ered a compelling vision of
Christianity that still resonates with
many today. To the surprise of some
commentators, Mere Christianity is
often identifi ed in popular surveys
as the most infl uential religious
book of the twentieth century.
Why is this? Lewis’s Oxford colleague
Austin Farrer had little doubt about
the reason for the work’s infl uence.
It affi rmed both the rational integrity
and imaginative appeal of faith. ‘We
think we are listening to an argument;
in fact, we are presented with a
vision, and it is the vision that carries
conviction’. While off ering a defence
of the reasonableness of faith, Lewis
emphasised the ability of faith to
connect with the deepest human
intuitions about life, and captivate the
human imagination. It is an important
point, which British churches need to
take to heart as they refl ect on how
best to reconnect the Christian faith
with their wider culture. It is one thing
to argue that Christian faith makes
sense. It is quite another to show
that it is imaginatively compelling
and existentially transformative.
Yet there is another point at which
Mere Christianity speaks deeply
to contemporary Christianity: on
both sides of the Atlantic Mere
Christianity was, and is, a manifesto
for a form of Christianity that exults
in essentials, regarding other matters
as of secondary importance. Lewis’s
notion of ‘Mere Christianity’ was more
than a rejection of denominational
supremacy. It was also a subtle
critique of the abuses of power and
privilege that so easily arise in more
institutionalized forms of Christianity.
Lewis is generally critical of the clergy
in his writings. As a lay Christian, he
came to see himself as representing
a form of Christianity that recognized
the crucial role of the laity, allowing
neither clergy nor ecclesiastical
institutions any special privileges.
Perhaps this is why so many Catholics,
increasingly disenchanted with the
failings of their bishops and dioceses
in response to allegations of child
abuse, are turning to Lewis as a role
model. They fi nd in him a prophetic
voice that allows them to reaffi rm
their personal faith, without having
also to affi rm the religious institutions
which they believe to have
tarnished this faith in recent years.
Lewis has managed to unite
Christians across the denominational
spectrum who have come to see
him as a trustworthy, intelligent,
and accessible representative of a
theologically and culturally attractive
vision of the Christian faith. As
churches and general readers prepare
to mark the fi ftieth anniversary of
his death next year, it is clear that
Lewis’s writings still have immense
spiritual and intellectual power.
© Alister McGrath
PRESIDENT OF THE OXFORD CENTRE FOR CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS
IN FACT, WE ARE PRESENTED WITH A VISION, AND IT IS
THE VISION THAT CARRIES CONVICTION . . .
His latest book Mere Apologetics is available in bookshops.
A new biography of C. S. Lewis, written by Alister, will be
published by Hodder & Stoughton in March 2013.
This article fi rst appeared in The Times on Saturday,
7 January 2012.
AUTUMN 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 12
RZIM SUMMER
SCHOOL 2013,
30 JUNE – 6 JULY 2013
‘If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.’ (C. S. LEWIS)
‘I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.’ (C. S. LEWIS)
Many illustrious names are associated
with the public defence of Christianity,
but among the pantheon of famous
apologists, C. S. Lewis looms largest.
The Northern Irishman, who arrived in
Oxford during the First World War as
an atheist undergraduate, would leave
the city, almost forty years later, as
one of the most celebrated Christians
in the country. In many ways, Lewis
was the archetypal apologist; a gifted
communicator whose work resonated
with a wide constituency ranging from
academics to children. His work has
also inspired generations of Christian
thinkers, as there are few areas of
apologetics that have not been
informed, at least in some way, by this
remarkable author. Whether it is the
topic of miracles, prayer, joy, morality,
suff ering, the abolition of humankind
or the nature of the spiritual realm, he
was written something authoritative
on it.
The 2013 RZIM Oxford Summer School
is a week-long apologetics conference,
held at The Queen’s College, that
will mark the fi ftieth anniversary of
the death of C. S. Lewis. It will include
sessions that examine his legacy to
the Christian community and teaching
on some of the principle subjects
he addressed, as well as apologetics
material from RZIM that has drawn
upon his work. The Summer School is
designed to help and equip Christians
to communicate and defend their faith
more eff ectively. After all, the task of
the apologist is much the same as an
educator’s, which according to Lewis
is ‘not to cut down jungles, but to
irrigate deserts.’
For further information
about the event see
www.rzim.eu.
Bookings will be taken
from 1 November.
2013 marks the 50th anniversary of the death of C. S. Lewis,
and RZIM Europe will be considering his life and works
in the Oxford Summer School.
C. S. Lewis SUMMER SCHOOL 2013
C. S. LEWIS CHALLENGE 2013
Why not take the opportunity to create a ‘C. S. Lewis group’ for the year in your local area? Each group could meet monthly to discuss diff erent aspects of Lewis’ work. This could include holding book discussions, fi lm nights featuring the Narnia stories, or evangelistic events with a guest speaker addressing a particular theme that C. S. Lewis covered (with a question and answer session afterwards).
ILLUSTRATION BY KAREN SAWREY
AUTUMN 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 12
RELAUNCHED
TRAINING
W E A R E P L E A S E D T O A N N O U N C E T H A T ,
I N F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 3 , W E W I L L B E R E L A U N C H I N G
T H E P O P U L A R R Z I M E U R O P E T R A I N I N G W E E K E N D S .
Spread over three long-weekends in the year, the course provides in depth teaching in apologetics and the spiritual disciplines. Our aim is to equip each participant to be a dynamic witness in whatever context God has placed them in, by helping them to grapple with the heartfelt questions and intellectual challenges of apologetics, as well as to grow signifi cantly in spiritual life and character. Th e training is structured to allow for a lot of interaction with speakers and opportunities to ask questions. Past courses have also proved to be times of forging meaningful and lasting friendships with like-minded Christians
SPEAKERS FOR THE COURSE INCLUDE MICHAEL RAMSDEN, AMY ORR-EWING, JOHN LENNOX, TANYA WALKER,
TOM PRICE, MICHELLE TEPPER, VINCE VITALE SHARON DIRCKX AND CHRISTIAN HOFREITER.
14th – 17th February 2013, Cheltenham
To register your interest and for further details, please email offi [email protected].
Phase 1 (Feb, Apr and Sept)
• Conversational Apologetics
• Spiritual Disciplines
• Logical Fallacies
• Th e Cross
Phase 2 (11 - 14 Apr)
• New Atheism
• Postmodernism
• Th e Problem of Pain
• Th e Origin of the Universe
Phase 3 (Sept)
• Eastern Spirituality
• Islam
• Ethics and Judgment
• Th e reliability of the Bible
C O U R S E C O N T E N T I N C L U D E S :
AUTUMN 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 12
SELECTED EUROPEAN HIGHLIGHTS:
THE DIARY
THIS LIST DOES NOT INCLUDE ALL OF THE EVENTS THAT OUR SPEAKERS ARE INVOLVED WITH AND SOME MAY BE SUBJECT TO
CHANGE. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT ANY OF THE ABOVE, PLEASE CONTACT OUR OXFORD OFFICE
22 RZIM TRAINING DAY, MANCHESTER (Team)
26-28 APOLOGETICS TRAINING, STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (Os Guinness)
27 BATH UNIVERSITY EVENTS (Michael Ramsden and Tanya Walker)
29-30 APOLOGIA CONFERENCE, GOTEBÖRG, SWEDEN (Os Guinness)
30 HOLY TRINITY BROMPTON, LONDON (Michael Ramsden)
1 APOLOGETICS TALK, COPENHAGEN, DENMARK (Os Guinness)
2 ST ALDATE’S ALPHA BANQUET, OXFORD (Michael Ramsden)
3 CHRISTIANS IN PROPERTY TALK, LONDON (Amy Orr-Ewing)
17 EVANGELISTIC WOMEN’S EVENT, SOUTHWELL (Amy Orr-Ewing)
18 BATH UNIVERSITY CHRISTIAN UNION (Tom Price)
22 C.S. LEWIS LECTURE, DUBLIN (Os Guinness)
10 ST PAUL’S THEOLOGICAL CENTRE, LONDON (Tom Price)
12-14 COPENHAGEN UNIVERSITY MISSION (Amy Orr-Ewing)
13 ST ALDATE’S CHURCH ALPHA COURSE, OXFORD (Vince Vitale)
19-23 BATH UNIVERSITY MISSION EVENTS (Michael Ramsden and Tanya Walker)
24 SOLAS CONFERENCE, DUNDEE (John Lennox)
25 ETON COLLEGE CHAPEL AND ST PAUL’S EALING (Amy Orr-Ewing)
27 PARLIAMENTARY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP, WESTMINSTER (Os Guinness)
29 BATH UNIVERSITY CHRISTIAN UNION (Vince Vitale)
7 CAROL SERVICE, LIVERPOOL (Vince Vitale)
19 PHILIA WOMEN DAY CONFERENCE, CHIPPING CAMPDEN (Amy Orr-Ewing)
23-24 SOAS EVENTS (Tanya Walker and Tom Price)
26 RZIM TRAINING DAY, OXFORD (Team)
27–2 FEB YORK MISSION EVENTS (Vince Vitale and Michelle Tepper)
11 HTB WOMEN’S EVENT, LONDON (Amy Orr-Ewing)
14-17 RZIM TRAINING WEEKEND, CHELTENHAM (Team)
18-23 BATH UNIVERSITY EVENTS (Michael Ramsden and Tanya Walker)
18-23 ABERYSTWYTH EVENTS (Frog Orr-Ewing)
25–1 MAR LIVERPOOL MISSION EVENTS (Tom Price and Sharon Dirckx)
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
NOVEMBER
DECEMBER
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
Six-Week Business Programme27th May to 5th July 2013
Oxford, UK
The OCCA is a partnership between Ravi Zacharias International Ministries and Wycliff e Hall, a Permanent Private Hall of the University of Oxford.
Are you a business leader with a passion to make Christ known in the
marketplace? If so, the six-week Business Programme at the Oxford Centre
for Christian Apologetics will equip you with the necessary tools to do this in
a credible, culturally-engaging and relevant way.
Designed for senior business people and professionals with over ten years’ experience in the marketplace, this course will re-invigorate and envision you for your return to serve God in your work environment. Core lecturers include the world-class team of Alister McGrath, John Lennox, Os Guinness, Michael Ramsden and Amy Orr-Ewing.
This intensive course seeks to invest in up to twelve people only, and it includes a dynamic mix of lectures, discussion groups and one-to-one vocational meetings, as well as giving time for spiritual refl ection in a small group setting.
The Biblical mandate for apologetics, the relationship between science and religion, competing worldviews, morality and ethics, and much more, are all brought together in this holistic programme.
For the fi nal week, students will attend the RZIM Summer School at The Queen’s College, Oxford, where they will be joined by around 100 delegates for a week-long event which, in 2013, will focus on the apologetics of C. S. Lewis.
This is the perfect course for those seeking to sharpen their evangelistic and apologetic skills for the workplace, as it provides the ideal opportunity to be refreshed, to recalibrate and then to engage at a deeper level with the world around you.
ALISTER MCGRATH MICHAEL RAMSDENJOHN LENNOX
OS GUINNESS
AMY ORR-EWING
For further details and to apply online, see www.theocca.org
AUTUMN 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 12
AUTUMN 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 12
13
Born and raised in Innsbruck, Austria,
Christian will be a full-time Apologist
reaching the German speaking world
and a Research Fellow and Visiting
Lecturer at the Oxford Centre for
Christian Apologetics (having been a
Senior RZIM Associate since 2008). He
brings with him a diverse experience
of Christian ministry, government
relations and academic research
and teaching in Austria, Belgium,
the United States and England.
For the past four years, Christian has
served as a chaplain to the diverse,
international graduate student body
at Oxford University, working closely
with senior academics, leaders
of various churches and a broad
variety of students. An ordained
Anglican minister, he has been a
member of the ministry team of St
Aldates, Oxford, overseeing a large
group of postgraduate students
and early career academics.
Christian is also currently in the fi nal
stages of a doctorate in theology
at Oxford University, where his
research—funded by the United
Kingdom Arts and Humanities
Research Council—focuses on
the Christian interpretation of the
‘genocide texts’ of the Old Testament.
In 2008, he was awarded Oxford
University’s Denyer and Johnson prize
for the highest marks in the Final
INTRODUCING
CHRISTIAN HOFREITER
We are pleased to announce that Christian Hofreiter will be joining the RZIM team on 1 October.
Honour School of Theology for which
he prepared at Wycliff e Hall, focussing
on Biblical Studies. During his Master’s
course in Biblical interpretation,
he was the Gosden graduate
scholar at Keble College, Oxford.
Before coming to Oxford in 2006,
Christian served as deacon at the
Church of the Resurrection in
Washington, DC, where he also
worked in international relations
representing the interests of foreign
governments and other clients to
the United States Congress and
Administration. Prior to that, Christian
worked in Austria as a freelance
interpreter and as a lecturer in
translation at his alma mater, the
University of Innsbruck, and also
served as a pastor at a local church.
A native German-speaker with fl uent
English and French, Christian has a
longstanding interest in cross-cultural
Christian witness: His Master’s thesis
at Innsbruck was supervised by an
eminent translation scholar and
missiologist, the late Eugene A. Nida;
Christian also completed two terms
of postgraduate study in intercultural
theology at Fuller Theological
Seminary, Pasadena, California.
Christian is married to Helen,
who is from England, and they
have two small children. Their
passion is to contribute to the
re-evangelisation of Europe.
AUTUMN 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 12
WHAT IS
FAITH?
BY MICHAEL R AMSDEN
AUTUMN 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 12
15OUR HOPE IS NOT WISHFUL THINKING ... FAITH IS THE
RESPONSE TO A REAL GOD WHO WANTS TO BE KNOWN BY US
‘Faith is believing what you want
to believe, yet cannot prove.’
Sadly, many people, including
some Christians, live with this
defi nition of faith. For some it feels
liberating. It means being able to
believe in anything you want to
believe. No explanation is required,
indeed, no explanation can be
given; it is just a matter of faith. For
others, such a defi nition is sickening.
Embracing faith means you stop
thinking. As faith increases, reason
and meaning eventually disappear.
No explanations can be given,
and none can be expected. Thus,
living in faith is living in the dark.
For both groups, the problem is the
same. By starting with the wrong
defi nition of faith, they have asked
the wrong question, are dealing with
the wrong problem, and so have
ended up with the wrong answer.
Faith is not wishful thinking. It is not
about believing in things that do
not exist. It neither makes all things
believable nor meaning impossible.
So what is the right defi nition of
faith? ‘Faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of
things not seen,’ writes the author
of Hebrews. A few verses later faith
is similarly defi ned as knowing that
God exists and that God rewards
those who earnestly seek Him.
Perhaps the best word we can
use to translate the Greek word
pistis (usually translated as ‘faith’)
is the word ‘trust’ or ‘trustworthy.’
Suppose you tell a friend that
you have faith in her. What does
that mean? It means two things.
First, you are sure the person you
are talking to actually exists. And
second, you are convinced she is
trustworthy; you can believe what
she says and trust in her character.
It is in this way that the writer of
Hebrews talks about faith in God.
Faith is knowing that God is real and
that you can trust in God’s promises.
You cannot trust someone who isn’t
there, nor can you rely on someone
whose promises are not reliable.
This is why faith is talked about as
the substance of things hoped for
and as the evidence of things not
seen. Both words carry with them
a sense of reality. Our hope is not
wishful thinking. Faith does not
make God real. On the contrary,
faith is the response to a real God
who wants to be known to us:
‘I am the Lord, and there is
no other;besides me
there is no god. I arm you,
though you do not know me, so that they may know,
from the rising of the sun and from the west,
that there is no one besides me;
I am the Lord, and there is
no other’
(ISAIAH 45:5-6).
Ever since the church began, the
refrain has always been the same:
Come, believe, follow the light of
the world. It has never appealed
for people to leap into the dark; no
such invitation is found anywhere
in Scripture. Instead, we are called
to step into the light. The Christian
gospel is not a message that revels in
ignorance. It is the revelation of God
in the person of Christ, so that we
might know there is no other. The
Christian is called to see things as
they really are, and not as she would
simply like them to be. We trust
in a God who has been revealed
to us in the Son and the Spirit.
We believe because God is real.
The Christian gospel invites you to
delve into reality. It commands you
to be honest in your commitment
to know that which is true. Is Jesus
real? Who did he claim to be? Is he
really alive today? Faith comes in
response to knowing the answers
to these questions, even as Christ
is calling you near. But don’t stop
after the initial introductions! Just
as you are able to put more trust
in someone as you grow to know
him, so faith increases as you grow
in your relationship with Christ.
There is a God who is real and true;
there is a God who is near and
longing to gather you nearer. The
great joy of the Christian faith is
found in the person who invites
us to trust and believe.
Michael Ramsden
EUROPEAN DIRECTOR OF RZIM
AUTUMN 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 12
16
MISSIONS
AT THE OCCABY SHARON DIRCK X
One of the unique features of our training at the OCCA is putting theory into practice, and this past year has been
no exception. Our students have poured themselves out in missions in a number of diff erent cities and contexts.
The scene was set for the fi rst mission
(to Leeds), when more than thirty
people gave their lives to Christ, at a
Carol service at which Amy Orr-Ewing
spoke in December. In February,
half of the student team returned
with Amy and Vince. In partnership
with the student Christian Union,
the OCCA students hosted daily
lunchtime and evening talks from
Amy & Vince Vitale in a marquee
on campus. I think the words that
summarized the week were, ‘The
harvest is plentiful, but the workers
are cold!’ This was the coldest week
of the year, and the students were
working in a tent surrounded by
snow, during the day, and sleeping
on student fl oors at night. Yet this
was an incredibly fruitful time: at least
forty people professed faith during
the meetings, and a further 140 asked
for follow-up. The OCCA students
also spoke at various events including
sport events, curry nights and dinner
parties. At an international gathering,
a girl from China professed faith for
the fi rst time.
In the same week, the other half of
the student team remained in Oxford
to be involved in the week-long
AUTUMN 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 12
17university mission there. Tim Keller
spoke at lunchtimes and evenings
and, after these events, our students
were engaged in conversations and
receptions with both undergraduates
and postgraduates. Some of the
OCCA students were also involved
in follow-up courses, as part of their
weekly practical placements, and over
the subsequent months they saw a
number of people come to Christ.
In late February, Tom Price and
Michelle Tepper led a team of our
students on a time of outreach
at Oxford Brookes University, in
partnership with the Christian Union.
During the daytime, the students
were engaged in conversations on
campus, which were prompted by
the worldview questionnaires they
carried out and their handing out
of fl yers for the upcoming events.
One student also gave a lunchtime
talk on ‘Exploring life’s questions’.
Towards the beginning of the week,
the students were involved in dinner
parties that CU members hosted
for their non-Christian friends and,
towards the end of the week, Tom
and Michelle spoke both at Oxford
Brookes and in local churches. At
least ten students signed up for a
follow-up course and a number of
people came to Christ in the weeks
that followed.
Around Easter, Frog Orr-Ewing led a
team of fi ve students on mission to
the town of Östersund in Sweden.
Frog was invited by a pastor from the
EFS church, who had heard him speak,
and had seen the students’ impact at
the Canterbury mission, the previous
year. The team began the week
preaching, prayer-walking and crying
out to God for this beautiful snowy
town. Opportunities to cross-country
ski and walk to church across a frozen
lake were not to be missed either! The
team delivered apologetics training
for the church, for which there was
a huge hunger. Much time was
also spent conducting worldview
questionnaires in the town centre and
university, leading to many signifi cant
conversations and opportunities
to respond to questions. In just fi ve
days, the frozen lake had begun to
melt, and the spiritual climate was
also changing. Two people came to
Christ, including an older man for
whom the church had been praying
for many years and whose wife was
a Christian. Many Christians were
also encouraged and inspired to live
and share their faith with greater
confi dence and boldness. By the end
of the week, such was the bond with
the hosts that the OCCA team were
serenaded at the airport and, needless
to say, there were many tears.
In April, the team travelled to East
London with Frog and I (with visits
from Tom). The team was based at St
Paul’s Shadwell, a church planted by
Holy Trinity Brompton six years ago,
but was also working with the recent
church plants of St Peter’s Bethnal
Green and All Hallows Bow. It was
wonderful and challenging to be on
mission in such socially and ethnically
vibrant and diverse areas where, for
example, bankers, families, students
and artists, wealthy and deprived,
Muslims and atheists, all live
alongside each other.
The week began with preaching
in the diff erent churches and
apologetics training. The students
were spread across the three
churches and, during the day, they
were involved in anything from
prayer-walking to questionnairing.
Some ventured into pubs and coff ee
shops to chat, others spoke to
mums at toddler groups or in Bible
study groups. Some went to youth
groups, dance groups and football
games (including between local
gang members), and others spent
time talking to and praying with
ex-off enders during their community
service break time. Students also
spoke at lunches or evening meetings
in homes and cafes. On the fi nal
Sunday, the London marathon ran
straight past St Paul’s, providing
some great opportunities, and in the
evening, Frog preached powerfully
on the resurrection. Every student
had multiple opportunities to share
their faith, as well as to work in the
community. The weather was terrible
again (this time the workers were
wet!), but a good number of people
made pivotal progress, with several
saying they wanted to follow Christ.
We thank God for all of the
opportunities we at the OCCA
have had to share Christ with
others in 2012.
Sharon Dirckx
TUTOR, OCCA
Sharon Dirckx’s fi rst book Why? God, Evil and Personal
Suff ering is being published by IVP in January 2013.
In the book Sharon deftly interweaves the stories
of people who have faced some of life’s toughest
personal challenges, with a practical consideration
of the diffi cult yet instinctive 'Why?' questions being
asked about God and suff ering.”
ONE STUDENT WRITES:
“It was an extraordinary privilege to spend Wednesday night talking to two women who were seriously considering accepting Jesus as Lord of their lives. At the end one of them said, ‘You know I think perhaps I should just become a Christian…maybe I already am.’ Another exciting thing was getting a couple of hours to talk with the Muslim cafe owner and share my faith with him and his sister. He asked me to explain why my faith meant so much to me, so I stayed a bit longer. The next day I went back and was able to pray with him and his sister.”
HELP US MATCH MAJOR MISSIONS GIFT A major Christian trust has recently pledged £10,000 towards the costs of our missions work in 2012-13, but we must match this generous grant before these funds will be released. Can you help us towards this target? Gifts can be made by cheque, by credit card (phone Liz on 01865 302900) or online at www.rzim.eu/supporting-us (Please specify that your donation is towards this missions gift match). Thank you.
AUTUMN 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 12
THE
‘DARK SIDE’OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY
How should believers face up to the ‘dark side’ of Christian history? Should we simply admit that the late Christopher Hitchens was right when he
wrote that ‘religion poisons everything’?
The historian, John Coff ey, argues that
we should adopt three approaches:1
1. Confession
2. De-Mythologizing certain historical events
3. Narration
CONFESSION
Firstly, Coff ey argues that Christians should avoid
the temptation of using the approach favoured
by the political consultant Roger Stone: ‘admit
nothing, deny everything, launch counter-attack’.
Instead, we should be in the habit of acknowledging
when we have fallen short of God’s standards and
this includes apologizing for things of the past.
DE-MYTHOLOGIZING HISTORICAL EVENTS
Secondly, it is important to ensure that historical
myths are debunked, as there are many
misconceptions about Christianity circulating in
society today, even amongst the educated. These
include the idea that science and religion are at war
(popularised by Draper and White), for example,
or that the Enlightenment was essentially a clean
secularist break from the past. Furthermore, it is
important to realise that the most extreme events
of the past get the most attention from scholars
and this can skew our overall perception of history.
NARRATION
Finally, we need to accept that humans are naturally
story-tellers and we must engage, therefore, with the
grand narrative told by atheists (and those of other
worldviews). If we look at history, it actually seems
to fi t well with the idea of sin and redemption.
Although believers have done all kinds of bad things
(sometimes appealing to the Bible for support), we
should not lose sight of the fact that the redemptive
power of Christ plays a central part in the story.
1 J. Coff ey, ‘Thinking Christianly about Early Modern Violence’ (‘The Dark Side of Christian History’ conference, Oxford, 5 February 2011). 2 Meaning roughly ‘catastrophe’ or ‘destruction’.
3 See www.ushmm.org/museum/exhibit/focus/antisemitism/. 4 Arutz Sheva, 18 July 2012 (www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/157977#.UAfvuaDMhGY).
5 J. C. Lennox, ‘If God is so great, why is there so much suff ering?’ (RZIM Europe Training Day, Oxford, 23 January 2010).
BY SIMON WENHAM
AUTUMN 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 12
19THE HOLOCAUST:
A CASE STUDY
BY SIMON WENHAM
It is seventy years since the Nazi party
began to build its fi rst extermination
camps (1942) which would consign
millions of people to death during the
holocaust (or Shoah)2 and yet are we any
closer today in understanding how this
horrifi c event occurred on a ‘Christian
continent’? There has recently been an
increasing amount of literature blaming
Christianity for what happened to the
Jews. On the website of the United
States Holocaust Museum, for example,
it records that ‘early Christian thought…
had terrible consequences for the Jews’.3
Others put it more strongly than this. In
July, the Israeli lawmaker, Michael Ben Ari
of the National Union Party, ripped up a
copy of the New Testament he had been
sent by a Christian organisation because
he was enraged to receive a book in
whose name he said millions of Jews
were slaughtered.4 How should Christians
respond to accusations such as this?
Before beginning to approach the
subject, it is important to stress that it
needs to be handled very sensitively.
John Lennox reminds us that when we
address the topic of human suff ering,
we need to realise how much our
perspective is shaped by whether or
not we have been personally aff ected
by it.5 Furthermore, we should not
lose sight of the continued personal
and political sensitivities of the issues
involved. Secondly, it is helpful to bear
in mind that some of the terms are not
always applied consistently, such as
‘antisemitism’, for example, which can
be used to describe anything ranging
from a disagreement or an internal
prejudice to outright aggression or
discrimination towards the Jews.
The fi rst point to make is that although
the church is not a single entity, many
infl uential Christians, throughout history,
were responsible for fuelling what has
been termed ‘theological anti-Judaism or
antisemitism’.6 The German reformation
theologian Martin Luther was particularly
outspoken in his ‘On the Jews and their
lies’ (1543), for example, although he
had a reputation for strongly worded
attacks against those he disagreed with
in general. Animosity towards the Jews
certainly predated the time of Jesus, but
some of the criticism since was rooted in
certain Christian theological emphases.
The Jews were perceived as having lost
their chosen status (through the new
covenant), they were viewed as being
responsible for rejecting Jesus (thereby
causing his crucifi xion) and they were
blamed for the persecution of the early
church. Yet it is important to stress that
this was distinct from the particular
strand of racial antisemitism that
emerged in Nazi Germany. Nevertheless,
there was a pro-Nazi ‘German Christian’
faction in the protestant church that
came to prominence in the 1930s, which
upheld a Völkisch theology, incorporating
nationalism and a mystical perception of
the German people. In 1939 the group
was behind a theological institute at the
University of Jena, which was set up in
order to eradicate the Jewish infl uence
on Christianity. An illustration of how
far this had strayed from mainstream
Christianity was its re-writing of the
New Testament (a process that included
removing references to the Old
Testament and anything suggesting
Jesus was a Jew) and the downgrading
of the Old Testament.7 This did not
go unopposed, however, as a group
of theologians, including Karl Barth,
criticised the German Christians for being
heretical and their Barmen Declaration
(1934) provided the foundation for the
formation of the Confessing Church.8
As this suggests, the response of the
church to the Nazi party was mixed. Hitler
was adept at appealing to a Christian
audience and he was able to portray
himself as someone with a sense of
providence who was divorced from some
of the nastier practices associated with
his party.9 Furthermore, his commitment
to tackling Communism resonated
with many within the church and there
were clergy who remained enthusiastic
supporters of him throughout the war.
Hitler was most successful in gaining
support from some of the Protestant
churches that were receptive to his
nationalistic pronouncements. The Nazis
tried to control religious aff airs through
a unifi ed Reich Church (established in
1933)10 but this was not totally successful
and those opposed to Nazi interference
established the rival Confessing Church.
Karl Barth later summed up this response
by saying that although the church had
‘suffi cient reason to be ashamed that it
did not do more’, it had at least put up
‘partial resistance’ to the ‘encroachment
of National Socialism’, which was more
than many other groups or institutions
achieved.11 Indeed, a number of the
Confessing Church leaders were sent to
concentration camps because of their
stance, including Dietrich Bonhoeff er
who was executed for his involvement
in a plot to assassinate Hitler.
The regime’s relationship with the
Catholic hierarchy was more chequered.
Following agitation from the Nazi party,
an offi cial Concordat between the
two sides was reached in 1933, which
enabled the church to govern its own
aff airs in return for swearing allegiance
to Hitler.12 The Nazi party closed down
the Catholic political parties and its Youth
League, however, and as its anti-church
stance became increasingly obvious
there was a ‘war of attrition reaching
peaks in 1936-1937 and again in 1941.’13
Furthermore, in 1937, Pope Pius XI
wrote ‘With Burning Concern’ (1937), a
statement which was read out in German
in every church on Palm Sunday that
condemned the elevation of one race
above others. Its opposition did not go
unnoticed, as Sigmund Freud praised
the Catholic Church for its ‘powerful
defence’ against the Nazis,14 whilst
Albert Einstein remarked in 1940 that:
Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler’s campaign for suppressing the truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great aff ection and admiration for it because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual and moral freedom…what I once despised I now praise unreservedly.15
6 The former being a rejection of the beliefs and the latter being hostility to the Jews, because of their religion. 7 S. Herschel, The Aryan Jesus (Princeton, 2008), p. 106. 8 Ibid., p. 4. 9 I. Kershaw, The
Hitler Myth (Oxford, 2010), pp. 107-108. 10 V. Barnett, For the Soul of the People (New York, 1992), p. 36. 11 E. W. Lutzer, Hitler’s Cross (Chicago, 1995), p. 118. 12 D. G. Dalin, The Myth of Hitler’s Pope
(Washington, 2005), p. 61-62. 13 I. Kershaw, Hitler’s Profi les in Power (Harlow, 1991), pp. 94-95. 14 C. R. Terrell, Christ, Faith and the Holocaust (Bloomington, 2011), p. 118. 15 Time, 23 December 1940.
AUTUMN 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 12
20 Whilst this in no way excuses the mixed
response from the church, Hitler’s
rise to power cannot be understood
without some reference to certain
socio-economic factors. In particular,
the Nazi party was able to capitalise
upon the widespread unemployment
and social instability caused by the great
depression of the 1930s. Hitler was a
hugely charismatic speaker and he was
able to slowly gain support, by way of
grass-roots agitation, a very eff ective
propaganda campaign and some astute
political manoeuvres, most notably his
seizing of emergency powers following
the Reichstag fi re of 1933. The country
had been humiliated by the terms of
the Treaty of Versailles (imposed after
the First World War) and Hitler not only
promised to restore law and order, but
he vowed to make Germany great once
again, a message that resonated with
most of the electorate. We also have to
take into account that the Nazis created
a ‘pervading atmosphere of fear and
repression’16 that discouraged many
from openly criticising the regime.
Nevertheless, what is perhaps most
shocking is that the plight of the Jews
had surprisingly little impact on public
opinion. The attacks against them slowly
escalated (it was not until 1941, during
the war, that the ‘Final Solution’ began),
but as Ian Kershaw memorably put it,
‘The road to Auschwitz was built by
hate but paved with indiff erence.’17
Indeed, it is one of the sad facts that,
on the whole, the church’s response to
the persecution of the Jews was largely
indiff erent, as its primary focus was
on matters relating to theology and
self-governance. Some self-professing
Christians allowed themselves to be
co-opted into the Nazi agenda, but
there were others who stood fi rm
against the oppression, including
Bonhoeff er who used his church contacts
to help a number of Jews escape to
Switzerland. The church should have
done more, however, and this was
acknowledged in 1945 when the
Evangelical Church of Germany issued
the Stuttgart Declaration of Guilt.
Finally, some have suggested that Hitler
was a Catholic, because of his baptism
and the pro-Christian pronouncements
he made from time-to-time.18 Although
there are admittedly certain problems in
defi ning religious identity (as is shown
by recent surveys in the UK, which
suggest that 70% of people identify
themselves as ‘Christian’,19 whilst only
around 10% regularly attend a place
of worship),20 these suggestions are
misleading and we must remember that
politicians are well-known for pandering
to particular audiences. We should not
lose sight of the fact that most political
parties are secular by nature and they
tend to have vastly diff erent beliefs
and objectives to religious institutions.
Indeed, to use a modern example, the
right-wing British National Party (BNP)
appeals in its manifesto ‘to the values of
Western Christianity, as a benchmark for
a decent and civilised society’. Yet the
party stands for principles that clearly
do not mirror the gospel, as its central
argument is that the country is in an
‘unparalleled crisis’ because of problems
caused by immigration and that the
‘indigenous’ population must, therefore,
be protected with solutions including
reviewing people’s citizenship grants
(those made since 1997), repealing the
Race Relations Act and encouraging the
voluntary resettlement of immigrants.21
Joseph Goebbels perhaps summed up
Hitler’s beliefs best when he wrote in his
diary that ‘the Führer is deeply religious,
though completely anti-Christian.’22 This
is a telling remark, as Hitler regularly used
religious rhetoric in his speeches and
he certainly wanted to portray himself
as a messianic fi gure.23 Yet it is clear
that his ideology was far removed from
Christianity and Jews were certainly not
the only group he targeted in his quest to
produce a strong and racially ‘pure’ nation.
CONCLUSION
One of the most alarming things that the
holocaust has taught us is that humans
have the capacity to commit terrible
acts of evil, as has been confi rmed by
more recent studies including Stanley
Milgram’s famous experiment, which
showed that ordinary people (without
strong prejudices) are willing to follow
orders from an authority fi gure, even
if it means administering a potentially
fatal electric shock to another person.24
If you dismiss Christianity because of the
events of the holocaust, therefore, then
you have to dismiss just about everything
else, as no group emerges free of
criticism. There is of course an important
distinction to be made between the
perpetrator and the bystander, but
acquiescing in the face of evil is still
providing tacit support for it. Standing
up against injustice can be costly, but
Christians should be at the vanguard of
fi ghting against evil and suff ering and
if we are not, then one has to question
to what extent we are in tune with the
saviour we purport to follow. Bonhoeff er
was one who truly understood the cost
of discipleship, as he was prepared to
pay the ultimate sacrifi ce for what he
believed in. Indeed, the church’s response
to Hitler reminds us that it is important
to distinguish between the message and
the messengers. Whilst we should praise
God for those who had the courage to
stand up against the Nazis, we also need
to acknowledge that many failed to act
appropriately. This serves as a reminder
that we all need to repent when we fall
short of God’s standards whether we
do it (to paraphrase an Anglican prayer)
in thought, word or deed, because
of negligence, weakness or our own
deliberate fault. The Christian message is
all about forgiveness and reconciliation
and this is something we all need, as
much as we should be modelling it
to others. We might, therefore, like to
refl ect on the following questions:25
1. When is our theology overridden or shaped by other agendas?
2. To what extent are we ‘Christian’ and how does our faith manifest itself?
3. How do we treat those who disagree with us?
4. How aware are we of injustice and suff ering and to what extent are we bothered by it?
5. When do political parties use Christianity for their own ends?
6. How can we make sure our own faith is robust?
16 I. Kershaw, Hitler, The Germans and the Final Solution (New York, 2008), pp. 171-2. 17 Ibid., p. 5. 18 For a discussion on this see Richard Dawkins’ article in the Guardian on 22 September 2010
(www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/sep/22/ratzinger-enemy-humanity). 19 See www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2043045/Modern-Britain-70-claim-Christians-1-5-gay.html.
20 See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/03_04_07_tearfundchurch.pdf. 21 Democracy, Freedom, Culture and Identity: British National Party General Elections Manifesto 2012.
22 J. Goebbels, The Goebbels Diaries 1939 – 1941 (London, 1982), p. 77. 23 Kershaw, Hitler Myth, p. 108. 24 Published in S. Milgram, Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View (London, 1974).
25 With thanks to Matthew Kirkpatrick and Tanya Walker for commenting on the article.
‘What does sex-selective abortion say
about humanity?’
WHATIS
BEAUTIFUL?BY NAOMI ZACHAR IAS
AUTUMN 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 12
AUTUMN 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 12
22
OUR GOD WHO KNOWS HER STORY,
HER FACE, HER SCARS, HER SKILLS ...
It was the fi rst question Toronto-
based host Lorna Dueck asked me
in an interview on her current
events programme, ‘Context with
Lorna Dueck’. A tragic issue that
has signifi cantly impacted several
countries in East Asia and is growing
in North America, sex-selective
abortion is chosen by parents
with a preference for a son, who
choose to abort their baby when
a sonogram reveals the mother
to be carrying a daughter.
India alone is said to have 20-
30 million ‘missing women,’ and
predictions estimate that by the
year 2020, China will have 40 million
unmarried men, a number equal
to the entire population of young
men in America. As a direct result,
crime rates, bride traffi cking, sexual
violence, and even female suicide
rates are all rising. What does this say
about humanity? What does it say
of how far we have come, or rather
how far we still have to go in the area
of human rights, and specifi cally,
respect and protection of women?
The horror of this issue stayed at
the forefront of my mind in the
days following the interview. The
next week, I somewhat nervously
walked into a lecture hall at Princeton
University to speak at a conference for
women sponsored by the Christian
Union. I was distinctly aware of the
honour it was to be on this historical
campus and in the presence of
intelligent, capable, sincere women
fi lled with ambition, potential,
questions, and a desire to identify
their specifi c purpose in this world.
I have come across much of the data
that speaks of the strength of women
in society – data that conclude
that in societies where men and
women are treated equally, there is
a lower rate of poverty and higher
economic quality of life. Statistics
speak to the contribution, skill,
unique ability of women, and, while I
know it to be true, I cannot help but
wonder about the inherent danger
therein, too. For should someone
– male or female – have to justify
worth, in order to be granted the
opportunity to exist, and to have a
life free of exploitation and abuse?
The opportunities for Wellspring
have continued to grow, both in the
arena of dialogue with individuals
and audiences on subjects of human
traffi cking, human rights, prostitution,
HIV/AIDS, and global issues impacting
the world today. And our primary
mission to reach out to the hurting
continues to call us to various
geographic regions and to specifi c
projects as we serve as a bridge
between the giver and eff orts that are
providing aid to women and children
at risk. Though conferences on
social justice and human traffi cking
continue to highlight a sobering
global plight, the opportunities to go
beyond the conference table abound.
We recently received an emotional
letter from Director of Bombay Teen
Challenge, KK Devaraj. From Mumbai,
India, he wrote to tell us they had
to say goodbye to Nimmi, a young
woman they had helped to escape
life in a brothel. She had been sold
into prostitution at the age of 13 and
had eventually contracted HIV/AIDS.
She had lost hope and felt she had
nothing to off er. But four years ago,
she left the dark world and stepped
into safety at Bombay Teen Challenge
where she found a home and was
introduced to the grace of God and
Y, HER
AUTUMN 2012 | PULSE ISSUE 12
23
THE MISSION
Wellspring International was established
in 2004 by Ravi Zacharias International
Ministries (RZIM). A humanitarian arm of
the organization, Wellspring International
is an extension of the central focus of
RZIM, where we live out what we preach
and defend. Through a process of due
diligence, the vision of Wellspring is to
identify and fi nancially equip existing
organizations aiding women and children
at risk, as well as to provide individual
scholarships to support education,
healthcare, and basic living needs.
THE METHOD
Wellspring International exists to
empower you to impact the lives of
women and children in need around
the world. One hundred percent of
donations designated for Wellspring
are distributed to projects overseas
that we have researched and vetted.
It is our privilege to aid organizations
that embody four principle aspects we
believe are vital to this eff ort: RESCUE,
liberating individuals from destructive
environments; REHABILITATION, off ering
programmes that provide treatment,
and healing for physical, and emotional
needs; RESTORATION, a period of respite,
and renewal, that they may embrace
a new hope, and freedom, claiming
confi dence, and independence; RE-
ENTRY, providing homes, vocational
training, and job opportunities.
THE REASON
‘RZIM is an apologetic ministry. We are here to lift the intellectual veil that casts a blinding shadow upon the eyes of the thinker…not all shadows are imagined. Some are real. The pain and suff ering of people is real. Wellspring is ‘practical apologetics.’ Love is the most powerful apologetic. It is the essential component in reaching the whole person in a fragmented world. The need is vast, but it is also imperative that we be willing to follow the example of Jesus and meet the need.’ (RAVI ZACHARIAS)
the freedom and redemption He
off ers. After four years, losing Nimmi
was painful, but as Devaraj wrote, we
are confi dent we will see her again.
His letter ended with a sincere plea:
‘not far from my house, the dreams of a little girl like Nimmi are being shattered…we must stop sexual slavery and stop it now. Let us free them from the chains…’
Not far from Mumbai, Zamar Academy
waits for their new land and school in
Chennai. Because of the generosity,
care, and response from many of you,
we were able to raise enough funds
to purchase the property required
to remain open and provide quality
education free of cost to children from
a local slum area. Through a diligent
search and many negotiations, our
team in India has patiently viewed
properties and is committed to
identifying land that meets the need
and respects all legal requirements
for the process. This has been a
challenge, and we are prayerful that
God will soon provide the land that
will enable us to uphold this standard.
The children of Zamar Academy have
been overlooked, often missed by
society. They do not have wealth or
opportunity. They have not yet made
their contribution to the community.
When you see them stand with
perfect posture and recite a Psalm
or a poem recently assigned in Tamil
class, or watch their absolute glee at
learning to throw a baseball, you see
the richness they hold and represent.
At Agni Raksha in Bangalore, we
recently sent a grant for medical
supplies for surgeries and for skills
training for women who are victims
of bride burning. I remain deeply
aff ected by my previous visits to
this project. In recent speaking
opportunities, I have been asked
to address the issue of beauty. The
fi rst pictures that form in my mind
as I consider this topic, are the faces
of these women. Their scars are
deep and highly visible. This does
not meet our cultural standard for
beauty, for what is oft misunderstood
to be perfection. Each one of
their faces challenges our norm,
and redefi nes our perception of
beauty not in spite of the scars,
but directly through them.
As I consider each one of these stories,
I am reminded of an email sent from
a friend several months ago. His sister
was valiantly battling cancer that had
left her face partially paralyzed. In a
photo attached, the paralysis tugged
slightly at one eye and at a corner
of her lovely smile. My friend’s note
simply read, ‘Have you ever seen
anything more beautiful?’ His words
need no explanation, for every one of
us understands; in those moments,
every one of us instantly recognizes
the certainty and centre of value and
recognizes unmatched beauty as it
stands before us.
A woman, a person, need not strive to
prove her value to family, community,
or society. The battle here is not one
of proving value enough, but the
ultimate signifi cance of the intrinsic
value of every life created in the
image of God, our God who knows
her story, her face, her scars, her skills.
Her need to fi ght to be and to survive
does raise a legitimate and frightening
question about humanity. And how
we respond as an individual and as a
community, will continue to script
the answer.
Naomi Zacharias
DIRECTOR, WELLSPRING INTERNATIONAL
For further information about the ministry, see
www.wellspringinternational.org.
More stories from those helped by the ministry
can be read about in Naomi Zacharias’ book,
The Scent of Water.
RZIM Training Day Manchester 2012Many Christians have a desire to communicate the gospel to their non-believing
friends or colleagues, but few feel well-equipped or confi dent to do so.
It can be diffi cult to know how best to approach some of the strong objections that people have about faith, as even bringing up the topic can sometimes provoke a hostile reaction. What should we say, for example, to someone who does not believe in God because of the suff ering and evil in the world, or to someone who argues that the Christian faith does not make any rational or philosophical sense? How do we even begin to approach the topic with someone who seems completely closed off to the gospel message?
“Tackling the Hardest Questions” is designed to help Christians communicate their faith more eff ectively, without having to duck the hard questions.
Book your place online
Talks will include:
“The Hardest Conversations – Recovering the art of persuasion for people who are closed”, “The Hardest Challenge – Responding to the challenge of evil” and “The Hardest Convert – Revival in Philosophy, and why it matters”. OS GUINNESS
www.rzim.eu E: [email protected] T: 01865 302900
Further information can be found on the website
Location: Parrs Wood High School, Wilmslow Road, East Didsbury, Manchester, M20 5PG. Date: Saturday 22nd September 2012, 9.00am – 4.30pm
Prices: £25.00 per person, £17.50 for students/unwaged. Prices include lunch and refreshments during the day
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