A New Kind of Apologist
Sean McDowell, General Editor
(C) 2016
Harvest House Publishers
Completed June 2020
Summary:
If you’ve been paying attention over the last several years, you realize that the culture worldwide has significantly changed. It used to be that you could be fairly confident that almost everyone in the United States had a foundational understanding of Christianity. This was true regardless of social status, education level, color of skin, or geographical location. But that has changed. Instead of that base assumption, people have moved away from having life philosophies based in a Christian perspective. This book helps us to shift the way we talk about Christianity and Jesus Christ in a culture that no longer has that base assumption. It is written for anyone who wants to be able to “defend their faith” in a modern setting.
The book is structured around three main sections –
1. A New Approach to Apologetics
2. New Methods in Apologetics
3. New Issues in Apologetics
Each section has chapters that are written by a variety of individuals, all of whom hold to a faith in Jesus Christ and belief in God.
In the first section, I was particularly impacted by the very first chapter “Christians in the Argument Culture: Apologetics as Conversation”. In this chapter, Tim Muehlhoff tries to help us understand that we are not trying to win an argument, but rather we should strive to have a conversation and preserve the relationship so that the next conversation can take place. Muehlhoff encourages us to use a framework based on questions for all interactions. That framework is this:
1. What does this person believe?
2. Why does this person believe this?
3. Where do we agree?
4. Based on this knowledge, how should I proceed? Or, with this person at this time, under these circumstances, what is the one thing I should say? (Not the next 3 or 4 things to say!)
This seems like a pretty reasonable approach to any discussion where there are obviously differences. I’ve been trying to apply this system to those types of conversations.
The second section talks about methods in apologetics. You need to read this book, buy I was particularly influenced by the chapter on “Using Hollywood Blockbusters to Share Your Faith”. I won’t spoil this for you, but there are many ways to use the themes found in movies to introduce and discuss spiritual ideas.
The last section addresses issues that were not an issue 40 years ago. Politics, economics, sex, LGBT, liberty, and world religions are all introduced and need to not be shy-ed away from in our conversations.
There’s a lot packed into this 280-page book. It is well worth the read.