What is apologetics and why is it important? This is a question that many people ask themselves when they first encounter the subject. Apologetics, as described by the Oxford English Dictionary, is “the argumentative defense of Christianity.” Alister McGrath refers to apologetics as a precursor to evangelism because it “stresses the reasonableness and attractiveness of the Christian faith”, which is then offered through evangelism. Others view apologetics as an approach to evangelism. No matter their view of the purpose of apologetics, without an understanding of one’s own beliefs and why they are legitimate, a person’s faith can be considered to be foolish or unfounded by those who hold to other beliefs. On the other hand, a person
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It is somewhere within this span of approximately 300 years that the Scriptures had to have been written. In order to begin pinpointing the time of Scriptural writing, Wallace points to things events writers such as Paul and Luke did not include in their books. The New Testament contains no mention of two of the greatest events in Jewish history that took place in the late first century AD: the siege of Jerusalem in AD 66 and the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in AD 70. Not only would these events been significant enough to perhaps merit mention in relation to suffering in Paul’s letters to scattered churches, but they would have also been worth noting as the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy of Matthew 24:2. Additional ‘left out’ information would be concerning the deaths of James the brother of Jesus, Paul, and Peter in AD 62, 64, and 65, respectively. Despite referencing these men with some frequency in the book of Acts, the writer Luke never mentions their executions, although he describes the martyrdom of both Stephen and James the brother of John. All of this missing history, combined with the frequency with which Paul quotes Luke and the other Gospel writers, shows that all of these writings had to have been recorded before AD 64, when Paul was martyred. There was no way that Luke could have recorded the apostles’ deaths because they had not yet taken place, and the same can be said for the siege and subsequent fall of Jerusalem and the temple. It can be assumed then, that Luke’s writing preceded much of Paul’s, and Luke’s gospel was preceded by the gospels of Matthew and Mark, those “eyewitnesses and servants of the word” whom he directly quoted or referenced over 500
It is somewhere within this span of approximately 300 years that the Scriptures had to have been written. In order to begin pinpointing the time of Scriptural writing, Wallace points to things events writers such as Paul and Luke did not include in their books. The New Testament contains no mention of two of the greatest events in Jewish history that took place in the late first century AD: the siege of Jerusalem in AD 66 and the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in AD 70. Not only would these events been significant enough to perhaps merit mention in relation to suffering in Paul’s letters to scattered churches, but they would have also been worth noting as the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy of Matthew 24:2. Additional ‘left out’ information would be concerning the deaths of James the brother of Jesus, Paul, and Peter in AD 62, 64, and 65, respectively. Despite referencing these men with some frequency in the book of Acts, the writer Luke never mentions their executions, although he describes the martyrdom of both Stephen and James the brother of John. All of this missing history, combined with the frequency with which Paul quotes Luke and the other Gospel writers, shows that all of these writings had to have been recorded before AD 64, when Paul was martyred. There was no way that Luke could have recorded the apostles’ deaths because they had not yet taken place, and the same can be said for the siege and subsequent fall of Jerusalem and the temple. It can be assumed then, that Luke’s writing preceded much of Paul’s, and Luke’s gospel was preceded by the gospels of Matthew and Mark, those “eyewitnesses and servants of the word” whom he directly quoted or referenced over 500