What Place, then, for Rational Apologetics?

In Paul Gould & Richard Brian Davis (eds.), Loving God with Your Mind: Essays in Honor of J. P. Moreland. Chicago: Moody Publishers. pp. 127–140 (2014)
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Abstract

In this chapter, we attempt to show that J.P. Moreland's understanding of apologetics is beautifully positioned to counter resistance to a rationally defensible Christianity—resistance arising from the mistaken idea that any rational defense will fail to support or even undermine relationship. We look first at Paul Moser's complaint that since rational apologetics doesn’t prove the God of Christianity, it falls short of delivering what matters most—a personal agent worthy of worship and relationship. We then consider John Wilkinson's charge that the use of reason and argument in evangelistic contexts is relationally futile. Since people aren’t looking for arguments, and logic is an arbitrary human invention, we should present Christianity to others as an irrational faith story.

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W. Paul Franks
Tyndale University

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References found in this work

Warranted Christian Belief.Alvin Plantinga - 2000 - New York, US: Oxford University Press USA.
The Last Word.Thomas Nagel - 1997 - Oxford: Oxford University Press.
The abolition of man.C. S. Lewis - 1943 - New York,: The Macmillan company.
The evidence for God: religious knowledge reexamined.Paul K. Moser - 2009 - New York: Cambridge University Press.

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