Christian Apologetics

and

Postmodern Relativism

are in this page,
 and the other main worldview pages — which build on the 
worldviews-homepage that asks "What is a worldview?" — are
 Christian Worldview Education for Living 
and
Christian Stewardship of Life as a Worldview
 

 
Christian Apologetics

 
      PROOF — Can we be certain?
      Is there proof for God's existence and activity?  Questions about a lack of proof (in everyday life, or in what we see in creation or in the Bible) are discussed by Craig Rusbult — who asks Why isn't God more obvious? Why can't we "prove" God? and observes that "God seems to prefer a balance of evidence, with enough reason to believe [due to evidence that is historical, scientific, personal, and interpersonal] if we want to believe, but not enough to intellectually force belief...so we can make a decision by the heart and will...and live by faith by making daily decisions on the basis of trust in God's character and promises" — and by John Bloom (Why isn't the evidence clearer?);  also urging humility is Alistair McGrath, briefly asking "Isn't science more rational than faith?" and (especially in "Faith and Evidence") in more depth.
 

      Evidence and Apologetics

      There is no proof, but evidence does exist.  For example, Dick Innes describes a variety of indications for God's existence when we ask, Where is God? 
      And later in this page you can find some good apologetics websites.
      apologetics does not mean "apologizing for Christianity."  It is derived from the Greek word apologia ("to make a defense") and in this context it means "defending the rationality of Christian faith."   Michael Ramsden explains The Biblical Mandate for Apologetics (text & mp3 differ, but both are on same theme)
      Later, probably by September 2010, you'll find pages here about evidence for The Resurrection of Jesus.
      Or we can begin a few days earlier in the history of Jesus, as suggested in the Cross-Based Apologetics of George Murphy.  We can "give people knowledge of what is to be believed full strength, not some watered-down, all-purpose theism" by describing "the fundamental level of reality that is revealed in Christ crucified... and inviting people to consider their lives and knowledge of the world from this standpoint" with the goal of bringing them "beyond mere intellectual speculation to genuine faith in Christ... to the most important part of faith, trust in Christ crucified."
      Rick Wade explains why we should "reject both the demands of modernism and the limitations of postmodernism" so we can have confident beliefs that form a solid foundation for Christian apologetics.  David Snoke invites you to carefully examine The Apologetic Argument.
      The Cosmos According to Carl Sagan by Mark McKim, criticizes the "scientism" in Sagan's claim that science supports his atheistic worldview;  and Ray Bohlin analyzes the movie version of Sagan's "Contact".
      Douglas Groothuis describes the value of sharing our faith, and the logical reasons for it, with a humble attitude.  Jimmy Williams explains the importance of including both hearts and minds in evangelism.
      Jim Leffel provides guidelines (empirical and conceptual) for Testing Basic Beliefs.

      In another part of the ASA Website, Jack Haas provides an excellent introductory overview of Christian Apologetics Related to Science plus links to high-quality papers and bio-information about prominent modern apologists.

      Apologetics Websites

      Here are some of the many websites discussing the abundant evidence supporting the rationality of Christian faith:  Apologetics 315 (with an overview of web-resources), an invitation to Engage with Culture (at BeThinking.org) and Stand to Reason (check "Resources" and explore elsewhere), Virtual Offices of Leadership U (including William Lane Craig);  and you can read selected articles that (when you click "Main Directory") become part of a larger website, Ultimate Apologetics and a list from google.

 

 
Relativism & Postmodernism

 
      Tolerance & Truth in Relativism
      In two short essays, Josh McDowell and Bob Hostetler describe appropriate responses, motivated by love, to the two meanings (old and new, with critical thinking and with relativism) of tolerance:  1  2 .
      Douglas Groothuis summarizes principles for Thinking Straight about Tolerance.
      Reality 101 by Craig Rusbult, is about things that should be obvious, like the difference between truth and truth-claims — illustrated by asking "in reality did the sun and planets revolve around the earth in 1500, simply because people believed this was the reality?" — and between reality that is constructed by humans or is independent of humans.

      Logical Evaluative Thinking
      The value of Logical Evaluation in Critical Thinking — which includes Critical Thinking in a Christian Worldview — is challenged by postmodernism.

 
      Postmodernism

      Skeptical questions about evidence and reason have inspired the postmodernist perspective, based on relativism.
      introductions:  a brief outline of Apologetics on the Postmodern Campus;  and Understanding Today's Postmodern University by Jim Leffel.
      Xenos Fellowship provides a structured summary of five major worldviews: naturalism, pantheism, theism, spiritism & polytheism, and postmodernism.
      Following an introduction to worldviews and their evaluation, Rick Wade describes deism, nihilism, existentialism, and postmodernism.  He says, "Postmodernism isn't really a philosophy,... it's more a condition or mood,... a reaction against Enlightenment rationalism," against modernism.  Basically, postmodernism is a worldview that criticizes the value of rational evaluation based on logic.
      Mike Metzger explains how to talk with those who are influenced by postmodernism (and that's most of us!) in a way they can understand, with Open Forums for Reaching Postmoderns: Coming Alongside Our Friends in the Journey.  In this series of pages, he "leads the reader through the basic worldview of postmoderns, the common ground they share with biblical Christians, and how to use it effectively to bring them closer to a saving knowledge and faith in Christ."
      Wesley Hurd outlines the essentials of postmodernism, while Brian Walsh & Richard Middleton (authors of a book about pomo) ask Is it postmodern or hypermodern? (in wb-archive) Mary Klages describes "a complicated set of ideas" in a wide range of fields, including literature and art, and Don Closson explains appropriate Christian responses.
 
 

      Relativism in Religion

      As an observer of the 1993 Parliament of World Religions, Elliot Miller reports on spiritual relativism in "the new tolerance" in religion and asks, Should Christians participate in interfaith communion?
 

      Relativism in Science?

      Is the relativism of postmodernism supported by Einstein's Theory of Relativity? (no because it's about science not philosophy, and it should be called a Theory of Invariance, anyway)
      And in another area of modern physics, 5 pages about the Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics explain why quantum science does not provide support for the wild speculations, by some New Age apologists, about "mind creating reality."

      Modernism & Naturalistic Scholarship
      Eventually this website will look at critical attacks on the Bible (and traditional Christianity) — as in the Jesus Seminar — that claim to be based on the naturalistic methods of modern science.
      Currently you can read about the shoddy scholarship (and ethics) of "postmodern fiction" in Historical Accuracy and The Da Vinci Code.
 

Other Worldviews

Eventually, other worldviews (not just postmodernism) will be examined.  Currently there is a page about New Age Worldviews and other worldview descriptions will be added later.

 

A DISCLAIMER:
Even though in each resource I've found SOMETHING interesting and useful, this doesn't mean that I (the editor) agree with EVERYTHING in it.  And my views don't necessarily represent those of the American Scientific Affiliation.  Therefore, linking to a page does not imply an endorsement by the editor or the ASA.  As always, we encourage you to use your own critical thinking to evaluate everything you read.