 |
| Add caption |
A Christian war cabinet is at work not to spill blood but ink for the defense of the gospel, in a time of unprecedented attacks on the faith from various angles.
The intellectual defense of the faith, known as apologetics, is almost as old as Christianity itself. Paul’s trenchant theology and his Areopagus talk are classic apologetics.
In the early centuries of Christianity, apologists such as Origen, Augustine, Tertullian and Athenagoras had to contend with political attacks, pagan objections and heresy.
Each age had its unique challenges which the faith had to navigate. There has risen, in the lapse of centuries, intellectual sentinels of the faith such as Pascal, Jonathan Edwards, C.H Spurgeon and C.S Lewis who works still inspire contemporary apologists.
Today, the evangelical intelligentsia is drawn from different professions such as history, science, philosophy and journalism to play different keys for the same symphony.
Noted apologists include mathematician Prof John Lennox, philosopher Dr Ravi Zacharias, biologist Prof Alister McGrath, medical doctor Carl Wieland, journalist Lee Strobel and open-air preacher Ray Comfort but list cannot be exhausted.
They are in touch with the pulse of culture, taking a stand for the Bible against attacks of various motivations, and engaged with the big questions.
Drawn from the Greek word for defense, “apologia,” apologetics is a biblical mandate. Jude says to contend earnestly for the faith (1:3), Paul says he is set for the defence of the gospel (Philippians 1: 17) and Paul urges in his first letter “always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you” (3:15).
It is necessary to be able to answer clearly and confidently questions such as: Does God exist? How did the universe come about? Does science contradict the Bible? Who defines morality? Is there eternity?
Apologists do not assume a middle wall between believers and sceptics so as to assign such questions to the other side but answer them to clarify the case for the faith and to demonstrate its intellectual consistency.
In this day, when Christianity not only seems to be the betre noire of group of writers claiming monopoly over science and education, but is also having its moral agency contested in the public square, it is increasingly important to have intellectual sentinels set for the defense of the faith.
In this edition, Herald Review looks at three exponents of the evangelical intelligentsia whose work as the salt of the culture has been particularly priceless.
Prof John Lennox
John Lennox, Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford, is sometimes referred to as the opposite number of belligerent atheist Richard Dawkins.
Many attacks on the Bible, including Stephen Hawking’s “The Grand Design,” have met their catastrophic demise at the tip of Lennox’s pen.
Lennox has debated Dawkins a couple of times, first on the latter’s book, “The God Delusion,” then on a subject that was to become the subtitle of his own book “Has Science buried God?”
He has also debated the late Christopher Hitchens twice, first on the New Atheism then on the question ‘Is God Great?’ in addition to public discussions with many other academics.
Lennox puts a wet blanket on the condescending view often repeated by Dawkins that science is based on evidence while faith thrives on the lack of evidence.
Ironically, Dawkins has made a career out of criticising his own erroneous interpretation of Christianity. Lennox makes an important point in response:
“Where is the evidence that religious faith is not based on evidence? Mainstream Christianity will insist that faith and evidence are inseparable. Indeed, faith is a response to evidence, not a rejoicing in the absence of evidence,” Lennox points out.
“The apostle Paul says what many pioneers of modern science believed, that nature itself is part of the evidence for the existence of God, ‘Since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made. So that men are without an excuse.’
“Dawkins’ definition of faith turns out to be the direct opposite of the biblical one. Curious that he does not seem to be aware of the discrepancy,” he says.
Lennox is unique in that whereas apologists like C.S Lewis and Dr Ravi Zacharias begin as atheists and cross over to Christianity after a baptism of reason, he always maintained his evangelical conviction and decided to take a stance for the faith early on in college.
“It was at Cambridge that I got involved very early on in the public defense of Christianity. I was challenged my first week at Cambridge, somebody asked me: Did I believe in God?,” Lennox recalls.
He picked his answer from Paul before Agrippa, “Of course, I wish we all believed in God” but from that moment, the freshman decided to set it at a deeper level, and set about getting to know, befriending and talking to people who did not share his world view.
Lennox has a remarkable set on the interface between science, philosophy and theology. His apologetics titles include “God’s Undertaker: Has Science Buried God?” (2009), “God and Stephen Hawking, A Response to The Grand Design” (2011), “Gunning for God, on the New Atheism” (2011), and Seven Days that Divide the World, on the Early Chapters of Genesis (2011).
Dr Ravi Zacharias
Dr Ravi Zacharias’s media programmes are all themed with thought vocabulary, “Let My People Think,” “Just Thinking,” “Just a Thought,” perhaps a challenge to examine the evidence for Christianity.
Zacharias, one of the better known apologists, had a turbulent youth, becoming an atheist and anticipating suicide at some point.
He shares his way back with characteristic poetry and profundity in his book, “Jesus among Other Gods”: “I came to Him because I did not know which way to turn. I remained with Him because there is no other way I wish to turn.”
“I came to Him longing for something I did not have. I remain with Him because I have something I will not trade. I came to Him as a stranger. I remain with Him in the most intimate of friendships,” Zacharias recalls.
“I came to Him unsure about the future. I remain with Him certain about my destiny. I came amid the thunderous cries of a culture that has 330 million deities. I remain with Him knowing that truth cannot be all-inclusive,” he says.
Zacharias has spoken all over the world for 43 years in scores of universities. He has a high-profile itinerary and has addressed writers of the peace accord in South Africa, military officers at the Lenin Military Academy, the Center for Geopolitical Strategy in Moscow, the First Annual Prayer Breakfast for African Leaders, the Annual Prayer Breakfast at the United Nations, the White House, the Pentagon, and The Cannon House.
During his university talks, uniformly laced with his Indian jokes, he takes on tough questions from unexpected angle with forceful wisdom.
Zacharias captures the logical implications of atheism with his characteristically trenchant approach: “To sustain the belief that there is no God, atheism has to demonstrate infinite knowledge, which is tantamount to saying, ‘I have infinite knowledge that there is no being in existence with infinite knowledge.’” No easy wager, of course.
Zacharias has studied other religions extensively and met leaders from other religions. His talks make informed reference to most religions in relation to Christianity.
Zacharias is a prolific author and editor and from what I have read I daresay everything from his pen is worth reading.
His books include “Can Man Live Without God (1994), Walking from East to West (2006), The Grand Weaver (2007), Has Christianity Failed You? (2010), Why Jesus, (2012), Beyond Opinion (2007), The Lamb and the Fuhrer ( 2014) and Why Suffering? (2014).
Dr Carl Wieland
Dr Carl Wieland, reputed as one of the uncompromising creationists, is a symbol of resilience in adversity.
In 1986, survived a head-on collision with a fully laden fuel tanker at highway speed. The accident led to nearly six months in hospital and 56 reconstructive operations extending into succeeding years.
Scarcely out of the ordeal, Wieland was championing the creationist cause, demonstrating with the benefit of his scientific training that the earth came about as a result of intelligent design and creation not time and chance.
Wieland merits credit for being uncompromising on the Bible, refusing to bent to mainstream interpretations of scripture detached from wholesome theology.
Even though he has retired his post at the helm of Creation Ministries International (CMI), he remains a committed author and last year released “World Winding Down: Understanding the Law of Disorder—and How it Demands a Creator.”
He authored one of the most important books on racism entitled “One Human Family: the Bible, Science, Race and Culture.”
His others books are “Stones and Bones,” “Dragons of the Deep: Ocean Monsters Past and Present” and “Beyond the Shadows: Making Sense of Personal Tragedy.”
Wieland breaks down uses of science, operational science, observable and unrepeatable, and forensic/detective science, for reconstructing the most plausible picture of history.
Where the question of origins is concerned, the only searchlight available is origins science and there is no basis for considering it the monopoly of evolutionists as creationists also do it.
Wieland has an interest in the ability of people in developing countries to access the huge amounts of creationist resources including their 39 translations
