Christian Apologetics in the Postmodern World

Jacket Description/Back: Evangelicals are beginning to provide analyses of our postmodern society, but little has been done to suggest an effective apologetic strategy for reaching a culture that is pluralistic, consumer-oriented, and infatuated with managerial and therapeutic approaches to life. This, then, is the first book to address that vital task. In these pages, some of evangelicalism's most stimulating thinkers consider three possible apologetic responses to postmodernity. William Lane Craig argues that traditional evidentialist apologetics remains viable and preferable. Roger Lundin, Nicola Creegan and James Sire find the postmodern critique of Christianity and Western culture more challenging, but reject central features of it. Philip Kenneson, Brian Walsh and J. Richard Middleton, on the other hand, argue that key aspects of postmodernity can be appropriated to defend orthodox Chnstianity. An essential feature is trenchant chapters by Douglas Webster, Ron Potter and Dennis Hollinger considering issues facing the local church in the light of postmodernity. The volume's editors and John Stackhouse add important introductory essays that orient the reader to postmodernity and various apologetic strategies. All this makes for a book indispensable for theologians, a wide range of students and reflective pastors. Brief Description: A group of evangelicalism's most stimulating thinkers consider possible apologetic responses to the challenges of postmodernity. Brief Description: A group of evangelicalism's most stimulating thinkers consider possible apologetic responses to the challenges of postmodernity. Edited by Timothy R. Phillips and Dennis L. Okholm. Table of Contents: Part I Definitions: Apologetics and Postmodernity 1. Introduction Timothy R. Phillips and Dennis Okholm 2. The Pragmatics of Postmodernity Roger Lundin 3. From Architecture to Argument: Historic Resources for Christian Apologetics John G. Stackhouse Jr. Part II The Apologetics of Modernity 4. Schleiermacher as Apologist: Reclaiming the Father of Modern Theology Nicola Hoggard Creegan 5. Politically Incorrect Salvation William Lane Craig Part III Apologetics Between Modernity and Postmodernity 6. On Being a Fool for Christ and an Idiot for Nobody: Logocentricity and Postmodernity James W. Sire Part IV The Apologetics of Postmodernity 7. Facing the Postmodern Scalpel: Can the Christian Faith Withstand Deconstruction? J. Richard Middleton and Brian J. Walsh 8. There's No Such Thing as Objective Truth, and It's a Good Thing, Too Philip D. Kenneson Part V The Church in a Postmodern Setting 9. Christian Apologetics in the African-American Grain Ronald Potter 10. The Church as Apologetic: A Sociology of Knowledge Perspective Dennis Hollinger 11. Evangelizing the Church Douglas Webster Notes Bibliography Name Index Subject Index List of ContributorsPublisher Marketing: Evangelicals are beginning to provide analyses of our postmodern society, but little has been done to suggest an effective apologetic strategy for reaching a culture that is pluralistic, consumer-oriented, and infatuated with managerial and therapeutic approaches to life. This, then, is the first book to address that vital task. In these pages some of evangelicalism's most stimulating thinkers consider three possible apologetic responses to postmodernity. William Lane Craig argues that traditional evidentialist apologetics remains viable and preferable. Roger Lundin, Nicola Creegan and James Sire find the postmodern critique of Christianity and Western culture more challenging, but reject central features of it. Philip Kenneson, Brian Walsh and J. Richard Middleton, on the other hand, argue that key aspects of postmodernity can be appropriated to defend orthodox Christianity. An essential feature are trenchent chapters by Ronald Clifton Potter, Dennis Hollinger and Douglas Webster considering issues facing the local church in light of postmodernity. The volumes editors and John Stackhouse also add important introductory essays that orient the reader to postmodernity and various apologetic strategies. All this makes for a book indispensable for theologians, a wide range of students and reflective pastors.

Contributor Bio:  Phillips, Timothy R Until his death in 2000, Phillips (Ph. D., Vanderbilt University) was associate professor of historical and systematic theology at Wheaton College, where he was instrumental in starting and organizing the annual Wheaton College Theology Conference. Besides coediting several scholarly books, he was coauthor (with Dennis L. Okholm) of Welcome to the Family: An Introduction to Evangelical Christianity. Contributor Bio:  Okholm, Dennis L Okholm (Ph. D., Princeton Theological Seminary) teaches in the department of theology and philosophy at Haggard School of Theology, Azusa Pacific University. Previously he was associate professor of theology at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. He is also an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), and an oblate of a Benedictine monastery (Blue Cloud Abbey, SD). He has coauthored and coedited several books, including two collections of papers presented at the annual Wheaton Theology Conference andWelcome to the Family: An Introduction to Evangelical Christianity (all in partnership with Timothy R. Phillips).