Apologetics Terms, List 1

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Apologetics

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The rational defense of Christian faith

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Philosophy of Religion

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The branch of philosophy that seeks to understand and critically evaluate the beliefs and practices of religion.

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Fideism

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The view that faith must always take precedence over reason. Reason is sometimes seen as antagonistic or counter to true faith.

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Proactive (Positive) Apologetics

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A particular approach to apologetics that aims to demonstrate that objections to Christianity are unsuccessful.

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Soren Kierkegaard

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A Danish, Christian philosopher and theologian who rejected altogether rational proofs for God. Rational proofs are antithetical to faith. Christianity is true because of its absurdity. Christianity is a way of being; not a way of thinking. He is sometimes associated fideism.

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Karl Barth

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A neo-orthodox theologian who argued that because God is "wholly Other" He cannot be approached by using human arguments. The authority of the Word of God is the foundation for religious belief.

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Cornelius Van Til

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A Reformed theologian who argued for presuppositionalist apologetics. The believer has no common ground with the unbeliever because of radically different presuppositions. Apologetics must be negative focusing on the flaws in a non-believer's presuppositions.

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Tertullian

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He is sometimes called the "African Apologist." He was an ancient apologist from North Africa who argued strongly against the influence of pagan philosophy. He said famously, "what has Athens to do with Jerusalem?"

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Justin Martyr

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Ancient Christian apologist who argued against the claims being made by pagans. He famously argued that pre-Christian, pagan philosophy actually pointed to Christ.

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C.S. Lewis

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British novelist, literary critic, and apologist whose books like Mere Christianity have been some of the most popular and influential ever written on apologetics. He is known for the simplicity and imaginative creativity that he brought to the question of religious truth.

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Blaise Pascal

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A French mathematician and philosopher who argued for religious truth from the human condition. We have a God-shaped vacuum in our souls that can only be filled by God. He argued that reason alone can never produce certainty.He also formulated "Pascal's Wager" which said that, all things being equal, belief in God is much more prudent than not believing in God.

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Thomas Aquinas

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The most famous and influential of the medieval philosopher-theologians. He is noted for his synthesis of Christian theology with the philosophy of Aristotle. He is most famous for the Five Ways, by which he demonstrated the existence of God as the First Cause of such things as motion and design and as the necessary being that is the cause of the contingent beings in the natural world. He argued that some truths about God can be grasped by human reason but there are others (like the Trinity) that can only be accepted by faith. His most important apologetic work was Summa Contra Gentiles.

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Augustine

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One of the most important Christian theologians in history. His great contribution to apologetics was the writing of The City of God in which he claimed that the Church itself was a big enough miracle to prove Christianity true.

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Origen

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He was a church father from Alexandria who wrote one of the most important apologetics works titled "Contra Celsum" in 248 in which he defended the divinity of Christ, the resurrection, and the historicity of the Bible.

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Athanasius

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The defender of orthodoxy, he argued strongly against the influence of Arianism in the churches at the Council of Nicea. His list of canonical books from 367 proved to be very influential in identifying which books belonged in the canon of scripture.

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Irenaeus

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This ancient apologist argued passionately against the claims of Gnosticism. He also articulated what came to be known as the "soul-making theodicy" for dealing with the existence of evil.

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Alvin Plantinga

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American philosopher who argues that belief in God is one of many beliefs which is "properly basic" needing no outside justification.

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Anselm

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A medieval theologian who formulated the ontological argument for God's existence. He also, along with Augustine, described theology as "faith seeking understanding" by which he meant that the search for understanding can only rightly happen from within the context of religious faith - belief precedes reason.

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William Paley

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He was one of the first to argue for the existence of God from the design of the universe.

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John Locke

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A rationalist thinker who believed that all religious belief must have a rational justification in order to be believed. In his Essay Concerning Human Understanding he describes the mind as a "blank slate" at birth which we then fill in through our experiences. This work would become a principle inspiration for Enlightenment thought and the birth of empiricism.

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Evidentialist

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An approach to apologetics where well-reasoned rational and evidential arguments are provided with the goal of addressing intellectual objections to the faith. Many contemporary apologists like Lee Strobel, Josh McDowell, William Lane Craig, Alister McGrath, and others model this approach.

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Presuppositionalist

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An approach to apologetics which assumes that there is no common ground between the believer and the non-believer because of the pervasiveness of sin. No rationalistic evidences can be given for faith. John Calvin, Karl Barth, and Cornelius Van Til are examples of this approach.

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Experientialist

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An approach to apologetics which makes an appeal to religious experience rather than to rational argument.

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Classical Apologetics

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This approach to apologetics begins with evidence for the existence of God and then argues that Christian theism is the most reasonable form of theism.

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Historical Apologetics

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This approach to apologetics begins with historical evidence for the truth of Christianity especially for the truth of the resurrection or the reliability of the New Testament documents.

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Cumulative-case Apologetics

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This approach to apologetics pieces together a series of arguments that, when taken together, present a compelling and reasonable case for the truthfulness of Christianity.

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Internal Apologetics

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An approach to apologetics aimed at providing encouragement and reinforcement for believers.

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External Apologetics

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An approach to apologetics aimed at addressing unbelief in the skeptic.

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Pancake Apologetics

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A false was of defending the faith based on naïve, sensationalized, or sometimes just made up evidence which distracts and sometimes misleads.