What is apologetics?

The first question that probably comes to mind when you hear this title is: « uh… what is apologetics? » Apologetics is simply the presentation and defense of the faith. In this context, we are talking about Christian apologetics, which means we are defending the Christian faith and not any other. So, where should we start when presenting the faith to someone?

Where to Start?

Several methods have been proposed throughout each era. Some of us are familiar, for example, with the presentation of the gospel in 4 points: 1) God loves me, 2) I have sinned, 3) Jesus died and rose again for me, 4) Do I want to live for Jesus now. I don’t want to question the truthfulness of these statements, but it should be noted that if I were to present the gospel to those around me with these 4 points, they would likely respond with: 1) I don’t believe that God exists, and even if He did, He wouldn’t be loving, 2) I don’t consider myself a bad person, or there is no absolute truth/ethics, 3) Miracles don’t exist, science has proven it, 4) Why would I want to live for someone who is a guru and imposes his will on mine? Each point mentioned in this presentation of the gospel will raise questions that need to be addressed. Due to the fact that our culture is becoming more and more secularized, we no longer have the same basis for dialogue. If I say that Jesus is resurrected, the response will be: « I’m glad it works for you, but I have my own spirituality that works for me. » The evangelist Francis Schaeffer understood this very well and said: « The effectiveness of classical apologetics was due to the fact that Christians and non-Christians reasoned in the same way and did not question their presuppositions any more than the others did. Thus, when a preacher said ‘believe this, it is true,’ his listeners concluded within themselves, ‘the opposite is therefore false.’ Such an a priori was obvious to all. And it should not be forgotten that historical Christianity is based on this conception, which illuminates its whole approach… A kind of temporal dividing line – which I call the ‘line of despair’ – runs through history and is situated around 1890 in Europe and around 1935 in the United States. Before this line, men have absolutes, but without sufficient logical foundations. After it, everything changes. The notion of truth is perceived differently; thus, more than ever, an apologetic that takes into account presuppositions is indispensable. » 1. Later, he said that pre-evangelization is fundamental in order to be able to express oneself intelligibly to our society. That is to say, before a person can accept the 4 points of the gospel presented above, they must first be able to answer questions about the existence of God, truth, evil, their human condition, etc. In our society, for example, ethical questions and absolute truth will be points that need to be explained. We must respond to each person based on where they are at. This is what the Bible does, in fact. When the prophets, like Elijah (1 Kings 18:20-46), find themselves in a polytheistic situation, they demonstrate the omnipotence of God and the falsehood of foreign gods. On the other hand, when the apostles speak to the Jews, they rely on their knowledge of the Holy Scriptures and try to show them why Jesus is indeed the Messiah who was to come (Acts 2:14-41). Our approach must be personalized.

Presuppositions

But on what basis should this approach be personalized? This is where Nancy Pearcey’s approach becomes interesting. She develops this idea, which she derives from Romans 1, that since we were created for God, we must live for something or someone. Those who do not live for God therefore have idols. That is, they take something finite, something created, and attribute divine qualities to it, such as omniscience, omnipresence, immortality, etc. One example that Pearcey often refers to is that of matter. By rejecting God, modern man has had to find a substitute: matter. It has thus become immortal and omnipresent, as it is described as the only thing that exists in the world. No one can explain the reason or cause of its existence, it is self-sufficient. Pearcey explains that « according to Romans 1, those who reject the Creator will create an idol. They will absolutize certain powers or elements immanent in the cosmos, elevating them to the rank of an absolute principle [that defines everything] – a false absolute. » [2] From this, or these presuppositions, man constructs a worldview, a map to help him understand and live in our universe. But this implies that every worldview begins with an unquestionable and unquestioned aspect. Every worldview must therefore start with a step of faith. When we construct a deductive argument of the type « if A and B are true, then C is also true, » we must first accept A and B. A few pages later, Pearcey says:

« It is impossible to think without having a starting point. If we do not start with God, we must start elsewhere. We must propose something else that is ultimate, eternal, an uncreated reality that is the cause and source of all other things… Secularized people often accuse Christians of having ‘faith,’ proclaiming that they base their convictions solely on facts and reason. Not really. If you push any set of ideas far enough, you will eventually arrive at an ultimate point – something that is taken as a self-sufficient [self-existing] reality on which everything depends. This starting assumption cannot be based on reason, because if it were, you could ask where this reason begins – and so on… At some point, any system of thinking must say, this is my starting point. It has no reason for its existence. It simply ‘is’ » [3].

We understand well here this idea of idols and the substitution of the living God by something lesser. Every worldview has an unquestioned starting point. It is this idol (or idols) that must be identified in order to evangelize by understanding the people in front of us.

1 SCHAEFFER Francis, Dieu, illusion ou réalité ?, Éditions Kerygma Aix-en-Provence, FRANCE, 1989, p. 7, translated via internet.

2 PEARCEY Nancy, Finding Truth, 5 Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism, and Other God Substitutes, David C. Cook, Colorado Springs, USA, 2015, p. 60-61, translated via internet.

3 PEARCEY Nancy, Finding Truth, 5 Principles for Unmasking Atheism, Secularism, and Other God Substitutes, David C. Cook, Colorado Springs, USA, 2015, p. 62-63, translated via internet.