Abstract

This dissertation deals with apologetic method in the evangelical tradition. I am attempting to reconceptualize the apologetic task in terms of postcritical epistemology, rather than in terms of critical epistemology. The apologetic method of Edward John Carnell serves as the warrant and the starting point for such a reconceptualization. ;Chapter one tells the story of my own struggles with evangelical apologetic method, then moves to an overview of Carnell's apologetic work. I provide a brief overview of the development of evangelicalism, followed by a discussion of Carnell's background as an evangelical apologist, and a survey of his apologetic works. In chapters two and three, I survey Carnell's approach to apologetics, structured around what he calls the "three loci of truth." ;Chapter four develops the idea of critical epistemology. Using Nancey Murphy's and James McClendon's conceptualization of modern and postmodern philosophy as centered around fundamental commitments regarding epistemology and philosophy of language, I develop a notion of critical philosophy as one committed to epistemological foundationalism and a referential theory of meaning. After developing certain tendencies associated with these commitments, I show ways in which Carnell's project was formed by his commitment to this epistemological tradition. ;Chapter five develops the idea of postcritical philosophy. Drawing on the work of Willard Quine and Michael Polanyi, I describe a non-foundationalist epistemology committed to "epistemological holism" and the "participatory" nature of knowledge. Ludwig Wittgenstein and J. L. Austin provide a postcritical philosophy of language that accounts for meaning in terms of "performance" or "use." I then show ways in which Carnell's apologetic draws on and anticipates some of the tendencies associated with these philosophical commitments. ;In chapter six I suggest that some of the tensions within Carnell's apologetic are caused by his competing critical and postcritical tendencies. I suggest that these tensions could be eased if one were to embrace more fully the postcritical framework. The later part of chapter six is a discussion of what an apologetic might look like if it were more thoroughly postcritical