Monday, June 17, 2013

Philosophy, Worldview and Evangelism: Cultivating a Credible Cultural-Intellectual Context

"The gospel is never heard in isolation. It is always heard against the background of a worldview. A person raised in a cultural milieu in which Christianity is still seen as an intellectually viable option will display an openness to the gospel which a person with a naturalistic or postmodern worldview will not. One may as well tell her to believe in fairies or leprechauns as in Jesus Christ!

"One of the awesome tasks of thoughtful Christians in our day is to help turn the contemporary intellectual tide in such a way as to foster a worldview in which Christian faith can be regarded as an intellectually credible option for thinking men and women." ((Garrett J. DeWeese and J. P. Moreland, Philosophy Made Slightly Less Difficult: A Beginner's Guide to Life's Big Questions [Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2005], 157.)

Book Thoughts: Clifford Williams, Existential Reasons for Belief in God: A Defense of Desires and Emotions for Faith

One of my joys in the early part of this summer has been catching up on some personal reading. Last week, I was able to finish reading Existential Reasons for Belief in God, by Clifford Williams (a philosopher at Trinity College in Illinois). Existential Reasons is an appeal to allow satisfaction of human needs to play a crucial role in the construction and justification of faith in God. Accordingly, Williams fits into a contemporary scene marked by the feeling that purely rational apologetics (e.g., theistic proofs, historical proofs for the resurrection and/or reliability of the New Testament) are insufficient (and unpersuasive). Following the jump, I offer a brief outline and summary of Williams' work, along with a few thoughts and constructive criticisms.

Clifford Williams, Existential Reasons for Belief in God: A Defense of Desires & Emotions for Faith. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2011. 188 pp.

Brief Book Musings: J. Warner Wallace, Cold-Case Christianity

It has been a pleasure to have time for "my own" reading at the beginning of this summer. The past two years have been incredibly busy, and have not afforded me much time for reading of my own choice. Over the past couple of weeks I have managed to carve out some time to read books I've been interested in reading. Yesterday I posted a brief review of David Naugle's Philosophy: A Student's Guide. Today, I want to share, very briefly, some musings on J. Warner Wallace's Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels. I will not offer up a full summary and outline. Rather, I will just share some brief thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of Wallace's work.

J. Warner Wallace, Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels. Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2013. 288 pp.

Book Review: David Naugle, Philosophy: A Student's Guide (Crossway, 2012)

In what follows, I will share a brief (1700-word) review of David Naugle's 2012 book on the Christian practice of the philosophical discipline. I hope the review will give you a good summary of Naugle's intentions and content; but I hope moreover that it will spur you to read his book for yourself (it is a relatively quick read at only 114 pages) and to passionately engage in philosophical investigation to the glory of God.

Naugle, David K. Philosophy: A Student’s Guide. Reclaiming the Christian Intellectual Tradition (David S. Dockery, ed.). Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012. 125 pp.

David Naugle’s slim volume endeavors to challenge Christian philosophers to ensure that their philosophy is being done coram Deo – before the face of God (19). As part of a series geared toward identifying and building upon a faithful and intentional Christian scholarship, Naugle’s desire is that Jesus Christ be the Lord of his (and your) philosophy (101).

Contending for Easter, Part 8 of 8 - Why Canadians Still Need Easter (by Jojo Ruba)

Contending for Easter is an 8-part blog series published by the Canadian Apologetics Coalition, a group of Canadian bloggers interested in proclaiming and defending the truthfulness of Christianity. Part I (by Tim Barnett) established the centrality and testability of the resurrection within Christian faith. Part II (by me) argued that the New Testament documents are generally trustworthy historical documents. Part III (by Paul Buller) established the historical fact that Jesus of Nazareth died by crucifixion. Part IV (by Kelly Madland) provided the essential argument that after His crucifixion, Jesus was buried in a tomb by Joseph of Arimathea. Part V (by Justin Wishart) shared the historical data supporting the discovery of Jesus's empty tomb on the first Easter Sunday morning. Part VI (by Stephen Bedard) establishes the post-mortem appearances of Jesus to His disciples. Part VII (by David Haines) argued that the only reasonable conclusion from the rise of the disciples' belief in Jesus's resurrection is that Jesus was actually raised from the dead. Part VIII (by Jojo Ruba) emphasizes the importance of hearing the Easter narrative as more than a story - rather as His Story that transforms lives and worldviews. Enjoy this last contribution to what has been an excellent blog series!

Why Canadians Still Need Easter

It was the most memorable birthday party I’ve ever attended. That’s because it was literally a birth-day.

I was the only available family member when my cousin was going into her last contractions. She’d already been at the hospital for over 20 hours and family and friends did our best to be there the whole time.

Contending for Easter, Part 7 of 8 - How to Turn a Skeptic Into a Believer (David Haines)

Contending for Easter is an 8-part blog series published by the Canadian Apologetics Coalition, a group of Canadian bloggers interested in proclaiming and defending the truthfulness of Christianity. Part I (by Tim Barnett) established the centrality and testability of the resurrection within Christian faith. Part II (by me) argued that the New Testament documents are generally trustworthy historical documents. Part III (by Paul Buller) established the historical fact that Jesus of Nazareth died by crucifixion. Part IV (by Kelly Madland) provided the essential argument that after His crucifixion, Jesus was buried in a tomb by Joseph of Arimathea. Part V (by Justin Wishart) shared the historical data supporting the discovery of Jesus's empty tomb on the first Easter Sunday morning. Part VI (by Stephen Bedard) establishes the post-mortem appearances of Jesus to His disciples. Today's Part VII (by David Haines) argues that the only reasonable conclusion from the rise of the disciples' belief in Jesus's resurrection is that Jesus was actually raised from the dead. Enjoy!

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15, said that “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testify about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.”[1] Without a doubt, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the most important Christian doctrine. It should, therefore, come as no surprise that in the first Christian sermons and writings they were primarily interested in showing the truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. There are many arguments that can be brought forward to prove that Jesus rose from the dead, and these proofs are all interrelated, however, in this article, I would like to concentrate on one particular proof of the resurrection – the fact that the disciples actually believed that Jesus rose from the dead. That this is a proof of the resurrection may come as a surprise to some, however, it is one of the most interesting proofs of the resurrection.

Baptist Messenger: Defense of the Resurrection

In addition to the Canadian Apologetics Coalition series of blog articles, I also had the privilege of contributing an article to the Baptist Messenger Insight series of articles, published on March 26, 2013. The Baptist Messenger is the weekly newspaper of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma; the Insight comes out quarterly. This quarterly edition had a series of articles (found here) concerning the resurrection. The six articles in the series are:

(1) The Resurrection: The Foundation of the Faith - authored by Dr. Mark McClellan (my boss), dean of the Hobbs College of Theology and Ministry at Oklahoma Baptist University,

(2) The Day that Changed Everything! - authored by my colleague and friend Dr. Alan Bandy, Assistant Professor of New Testament at Oklahoma Baptist University.

(3) Historical Evidence for the Resurrection - authored by myself, Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Oklahoma Baptist University.

(4) Miracles and the Resurrection - authored by Robert Stewart, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Theology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

(5) The Resurrection and the Christian Life - authored by Josh McClellan, Pastor of Life Fellowship Church (Pryor, OK).

(6) Preaching and the Resurrection: A Pastoral View - authored by Andy Taylor, Pastor of First Baptist Church, Ponca City (OK).

Link to my article on WordSlingers is HERE. Full text follows:

Contending for Easter, Part 6 of 8 - Seeing Is Believing (by Stephen Bedard)

Contending for Easter is an 8-part blog series published by the Canadian Apologetics Coalition. Part I (by Tim Barnett) established the centrality and testability of the resurrection within Christian faith. Part II (by me) argued that the New Testament documents are generally trustworthy historical documents. Part III (by Paul Buller) established the historical fact that Jesus of Nazareth died by crucifixion. Part IV (by Kelly Madland) provided the essential argument that after His crucifixion, Jesus was buried in a tomb by Joseph of Arimathea. Part V (by Justin Wishart) shared the historical data supporting the discovery of Jesus's empty tomb on the first Easter Sunday morning. Today's Part VI (by Stephen Bedard) establishes the post-mortem appearances of Jesus to His disciples.

Seeing Is Believing: by Stephen J. Bedard

Post-Mortem Appearances of Jesus

A number of years ago, I had the privilege of being able to speak at a conference in Belgium on the resurrection. One of the speakers was Gerd Ludemann.i Although I knew I had some different opinions than Ludemann, I was eager to learn from such a well-known scholar.

Contending for Easter, Part 5 of 8 - Come, See Where He Lay (by Justin Wishart)

Contending for Easter is an 8-part blog series published by the Canadian Apologetics Coalition. Part I (by Tim Barnett) established the centrality and testability of the resurrection within Christian faith. Part II (by me) argued that the New Testament documents are generally trustworthy historical documents. Part III (by Paul Buller) established the historical fact that Jesus of Nazareth died by crucifixion. Part IV (by Kelly Madland) provided the essential argument that after His crucifixion, Jesus was buried in a tomb by Joseph of Arimathea. Today brings Part V (by Justin Wishart) - the historical data supporting the discovery of Jesus's empty tomb on the first Easter Sunday morning.

Contending for Easter, Part V of VIII: Come, See Where He Lay

By: Justin Wishart

As we approach Easter, many people will attend church to celebrate the central event in Christianity; Jesus’ Resurrection. Pulpits across the world will recount the story; Jesus was executed by crucifixion and buried in Jerusalem. As Passover ended, women went back to the tomb with spices to treat Jesus’ body as was customary for Jews during this time. When they arrived they were stunned to see that the tomb no longer contained the body of Jesus. Yet, many people doubt this story, and many people in the pews will be silently asking themselves; “Did this actually happen?”

Contending for Easter, Part 4 of 8 - The Unlikely Undertaker (by Kelly Madland)

Contending for Easter is an 8-part blog series published by the Canadian Apologetics Coalition. Part I (by Tim Barnett) established the centrality and testability of the resurrection within Christian faith. Part II (by me) argued that the New Testament documents are generally trustworthy historical documents. Part III (by Paul Buller) established the historical fact that Jesus of Nazareth died by crucifixion. Today brings Part IV (by Kelly Madland) - the essential argument that after His crucifixion, Jesus was buried in a tomb by Joseph of Arimathea.

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Contending for Easter, Part IV: The Unlikely Undertaker

Contending for Easter, Part III - They Sought to Kill Him, But Did They Succeed? (Paul Buller)

Contending for Easter is an 8-day (8-part) series of blog essays/articles published by members of the Canadian Apologetics Coalition. Each article makes a brief case for the truthfulness and historicity of Christian belief in Jesus' bodily resurrection. Tim Barnett's opening article established the centrality and testability of resurrection faith to Christianity. My article yesterday argued for the general historical reliability of the New Testament Gospels, from which we derive our most significant information regarding the post-mortem fate of Jesus. One pre-requisite to our knowledge that Jesus was raised from the dead is our confidence that the sources relating Jesus' resurrection are at least generally reliable. A second pre-requisite to our knowledge that Jesus was raised from the dead is Jesus's death. A living man cannot be resurrected.

Today's article, authored by Calgarian Paul Buller (www.whyjesus.ca), points out that a few scholars doubt or reject Jesus's death by crucifixion. Buller goes on to lay out precisely how and why we can be reasonably certain that Jesus truly died on a Roman cross. [Read the original article on Paul's blog here.)

They Sought to Kill Him, But Did They Succeed? - by Paul Buller

The Gospels in the New Testament all carry a narrative sub-plot that leads up to Jesus’ eventual execution. As John 5:18 reminds us, the authorities sought, “all the more to kill him.” History gives us very good reason to believe they succeeded, but there are skeptics out there. It is not uncommon to hear people offer a variety of revisionist historical accounts of what happened on that infamous Friday afternoon. Did Jesus really die?

Contending for Easter, Part II - The Gospel Truth: Or Is It?

Today's article (Monday, March 25, 2013) is authored by yours truly. I make a (very) brief case for the general historical reliability of the New Testament Gospels. If the Gospels are not trustworthy (in general) as historically-informative documents, then it will be difficult to ascertain anything noteworthy about the post-mortem fate of Jesus of Nazareth. I hope the article is helpful on some level, and that you continue to follow the entire series of essays.

Contending for Easter, Part II - The Gospel Truth: Or Is It?

Are the New Testament Gospels Historically Reliable?

In the 1980s, the Jesus Seminar argued that the vast majority of words attributed to Jesus in the Gospels do not actually originate in Jesus. They argue that the Gospels are unreliable, theologically-colored texts. If the Jesus Seminar is correct, it will be difficult to build a historical case for the resurrection of Jesus. After all, our knowledge about what happened to Jesus after His arrest stems primarily from the New Testament Gospels, as even the Jesus Seminar affirms. If our knowledge of Jesus’s fate derives from the Gospels, then it is certainly important to know whether we can trust what the Gospels say—whether the Gospels can and do contain accurate biographies of Jesus’ life and ministry. To that end, I am going to suggest five lines of evidence which give us strong reason to believe that the Gospels aim to and actually deliver an accurate historical record.

Contending for Easter, Part I - Putting It All On the Line (Tim Barnett)

Putting It All On the Line - Tim Barnett

As promised yesterday, today begins an 8-part series, Contending for Easter, being published by the Canadian Apologetics Coalition (of which I am a humble member). The first article is written by Tim Barnett, apologist and author in Ontario. You can view via the hyperlink above; I have posted the article below as well. Our hope and prayer is that you will be reminded through this series of the importance of affirming and embracing the reality of Jesus of Nazareth's atoning death and bodily resurrection - the very center of the Christian faith - as items of a reasonable faith.

In this opening article, Barnett argues that the Christian faith not only places the resurrection at the center of personal belief, but also allows for individual investigation into the truthfulness and historicity of the resurrection. Other religions place central doctrines beyond the realm of rational investigation: Christianity invites scrutiny and examination. Enjoy!

Every year without fail, right around Easter, the popular media comes out with some theory about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus that allegedly discredits or flat out refutes the central claim of Christianity: the bodily resurrection of Jesus.