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The three main branches of Christian Apologetics

Jan 27

3 min read

The word apologetics comes from the Greek '' ἀπολογία'' (apologia), which means defensive speech. Christian apologetics is a branch of theology devoted to the defence and exposition of the Christian faith. It aims to respond to people who criticise Christianity through argument and logical explanation.

 

What many people don’t realize is that Christian apologetics has many branches. The three most familiar types are classical apologetics, presuppositional apologetics, and evidential apologetics – which we will explore in this article.

 

Classical Apologetics

 

Classical apologetics is a method that has been practiced for nearly two thousand years. It employs philosophical arguments to demonstrate the existence of the Christian God. This approach uses both reason and faith, asserting that they complement and support each other rather than conflict. When a classical apologist defends the Christian faith, they begin from a rational, neutral standpoint and gradually build the case for Christian theology step by step.

 

Some well-known classical apologists are St. Augustine, Anselm of Canterbury, Thomas Aquinas, William Paley, C.S. Lewis, B.B. Warfield, Norman Geisler, John H. Gerstner, R.C. Sproul, Frank Turek, and William Laine Graig.

 

For someone interested in this kind of apologetic reasoning, these books are a great place to start:

 

  1. Defending Your Faith: An Overview of Classical Apologetics by R.C. Sproul

  2. I don't have enough faith to be an atheist by Frank Turek

  3. Classical Apologetics: A Rational Defence of the Christian Faith and a Critique of presuppositional Apologetics by R.C. Sproul, John H. Gerstner, Art Lindsley

 

Evidential Apologetics

 

Evidential apologetics is a way of defending the truth of Christianity by looking at history, science, and other fields for evidence. This method uses concrete facts to argue for the existence of God, the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and other key Christian beliefs. For instance, it points to Old Testament fulfilled prophecies as evidence for the life and work of Christ. It also examines the complexity of the universe, Earth, and human biology; suggesting that these are too intricate to have happened by chance and must have been designed by an Intelligent Creator - God.

 

A few well-known evidential apologists are Joseph Butler, Josh McDowell, Gary Habermas, Michael Licona, and John Warwick Montgomery.

 

For further reading using this branch of Christian apologetics, these books would make for interesting reading:

 

  1. Faith Founded on Fact: Essays in Evidential Apologetics by John Warwick Montgomery

  2. Evidence That Demands a Verdict: Life-Changing Truth for a Skeptical World by Josh McDowell & Sean McDowell

  3. The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus by Gary Habermas & Michael R. Licona

 

Presuppositional Apologetics

 

Unlike classical apologetics, presuppositional apologetics doesn't start from a neutral standpoint but assumes from the outset that Christianity is true and that the God of the Bible is the only true God. For instance, presuppositionalists take it as a given that Christ is the Son of God, and that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God. They believe that everyone has a presupposed belief or worldview rather than a neutral stance or no worldview at all. Presuppositional apologists argue that the Christian worldview is the only one that consistently makes sense of reality. They contend that concepts like objective morality and the human conscience can only be adequately explained by the existence of God.

 

Well-known presuppositional apologists include Cornelius Van Til, Greg Bahnsen, Gordon Clark, Francis Schaeffer, Scott Oliphint, James White, Doug Wilson, Jeff Durbin, and Jason Lisle

 

For books written from a presuppositional standpoint, books such as these would be insightful:

 

  1. Always Ready: Directions For Defending the Faith by Greg Bahnsen

  2. Christian Apologetics by Cornelius Van Til

  3. God Does Exist: Defending the faith using presuppositional apologetics, evidence, and the impossibility of the contrary by Mike Robinson

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