Christian Apologetics

&

Postmodern Relativism

are in this page

---

and the other worldview pages — which build on the
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 uncertainty are discussed by Craig Rusbult — who asks Why isn't God more obvious? Can 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?) and Alistair McGrath (Isn't science more rational than faith?).
 

      Evidence and Apologetics

      But evidence does exist.  For example, Dick Innes describes a variety of indications for God's existence when we ask, Where is God?
      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.
      Later, by February 2008, 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.
      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 is an I.O.U. plus websites:  Hundreds of websites discuss the abundant evidence supporting the rationality of Christian faith, and eventually I'll invest the time needed to evaluate these websites and decide which to recommend.   /   But currently here are selected articles that (when you click "Main Directory") become part of a larger website, an invitation to Engage with Culture plus Stand to Reason and Ex-Atheist (the name describes him) and Ultimate Apologetics (with an introduction to Apologetics on the Net) and three long lists, 1  2  3 .

 

 
Relativism in Postmodernism

 
      Postmodernism as a Worldview

      Xenos Fellowship provides a structured summary of five major worldviews: naturalism, pantheism, theism, spiritism & polytheism, and postmodernism;  and following an introduction to worldviews and their evaluation, Rick Wade describes deism, nihilism, existentialism, and 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 .
      Craig Rusbult explains that in modern science the goal is a rationally justifiable confidence rather than the certainty of a formal proof, and — by asking "did the sun and planets really revolve around the earth in 1500, simply because people believed this was the reality?" — emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between truth and truth-claims, in Reality 101.

      Logical Evaluative Thinking
      The value of logical reasoning — which is the foundation of modern rational evaluation that 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, described in the pages above:  Rick Wade 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 cricicizes the value of rational evaluation based on logic.
      Wesley Hurd outlines the essentials of postmodernism, while Brian Walsh & Richard Middleton (authors of a book about pomo) ask Is it postmodern or hypermodern?, 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?
 

      Modernism & Naturalistic Scholarship
      Eventually, this website will look at critical attacks on the Bible (and traditional Christianity), such as the Jesus Seminar, claiming to be based on the naturalistic methods of modern science.
      And the shoddy scholarship of The DaVinci Code will be exposed.
 

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.