I had the privilege of attending the 2008 Apologetics Conference sponsored by the Evangelical Philosophical Society in Rhode Island. Here a number of renowned theologians and philosophers presented a number of topics in the field. Additionally, I was able to attend a separate session for pastors and leaders.
The first session was the plenary given by William Lane Craig on the importance of apologetics both in shaping the culture and strengthening the modern believer. In both cases the Holy Spirit uses apologetic fodder to engage the culture and to allow the believer to persevere. He concluded his talk addressing the issue of apologetics where some contend that no one will come to the kingdom via argument. Biblical evidence suggests that argumentation, led by the Spirit, is very effective in the evangelistic process.
Darrell Bock of Dallas Theological Seminary gave the next lecture. His topic was “The Other Gospels”. Here Dr. Bock quickly dismantled the plethora of non-gospels by establishing an easy to use rubric. The crux of his argument focused on four criteria for a gospel to be considered legitimate. These criteria capture the earliest forms of Christianity espoused by those Jews who accepted the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Views of Christ, the relationship of God and Creation, the person of Jesus, and the nature of salvation are all the criteria used to validate the gospels. When a text deviated from these criteria it was quickly dismissed. These criteria were necessary prior to the canonization of the New Testament.
Stuart McAllister from Ravi Zacharias Ministries gave part one of a special session for pastors and leaders. His talk was entitled “The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society”. Here Stuart focused on the challenges of building bridges to those with differing worldviews. Alternate worldview thinking permeates the culture and media. The job of the modern Christian is to form relationships and nurture the unbeliever along to meeting Jesus. He advised against the idea of “gospel mugging” where the truth of Scripture is rammed into the unbeliever. He also commented on the variability in the definitions of truth and how it is necessary to formalize this definition.
Patrick Smith from Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary gave the second talk in the pastors/leaders session entitled “Apologetics and the Church”. He focused on the core definition of apologetics and then emphasized the importance of this spiritual discipline in the life of the church. Apologetics aids in fulfillment of the Great Commission, should be contextualized within spiritual warfare, and supports pastors dealing with real life issues (i.e., the problem of evil and grief). He concluded with addressing the challenges of implementing apologetics and the responsibilities of pastors with regard to this discipline.
Craig Evans gave a talk on the authenticity of the burial of Christ. He frequently cited the ancient burial practices of the Jews and how the burial of Christ was consistent with those customs. While at a few points this talk seemed to be rather historical and un-applicable to the modern believer, he did tie his very tightly woven arguments to the objection around the death of Christ. Some have contended that Christ did not really die but rather “faked it” (i.e., the swoon theory). Some objectors have even suggested alien intervention and replacement of the body of Christ.
Greg Ganselle provided a brief response to the book “The God Delusion” written by Richard Dawkins. He addressed objections that religion is inherently bad by showing how it is really the people that are bad and not the religion, per se. He advised caution and patience for the modern believer when responding to new attacks and claims against the faith. Believers should respond to objections (1 Pet 3:15) but not react.
Gary Habermas gave a talk on the historical evidence for the resurrection of Christ. As this is his key area of scholarly focus, the talk was certainly a microcosm of the overall argument. His line of reasoning focused on the timeline of Pauline experience and writings that affirm the resurrection account. When one examines the dates of both the writings of Paul and his experiences, they weigh in with more credibility even among skeptics. The dates come in around three to five years of the resurrection that is immensely credible.
Craig Blomberg provided a glimpse of the arguments used to attest to the reliability of the gospels. He compared the quantity and dating of the gospel texts with those of other ancient authors. He also mentioned the archeological evidence supporting the historicity of the gospels.
John Bloom gave a talk on Darwin and Design. He provided definitions of both science and intelligent design (ID). He then provided a high-level overview of the evidence of ID. He commented on the tension existing between science and religion. In reality, he suggests, the tension is simply between two religions - Christianity and Darwinism.
Randy Newman concluded the conference with a talk on using Questions and Dialogue in Evangelism. Being a converted Jew he understood the need to bring people along in the evangelistic journey. One is not going to move an ardent atheist to theism in one or two conversations. This sort of paradigmatic move takes time. He used the alphabet to represent the degree of theism in an individual. The letter A represented radical atheism while the letter Z represented the committed Christian. He emphasized the need to sometimes answer questions with questions to remove the layers of emotion and move to the “root cause” of one’s beliefs.
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