Mapping Apologetics – Comparing Contemporary Approaches

Everyone believes something. But how and why do people believe? What counts as evidence? How much can be assumed or believed by faith alone? When it comes to religious faith, the questions become at once more difficult and more important. Over the centuries, Christians have offered different approaches to explaining or defending the Christian faith, a discipline known as apologetics. But it has not always been clear how different apologetic methods work, or what each approach has to offer.In this comprehensive survey, Brian Morley provides an overview of Christian apologetic approaches and how they differ. He explores the historical and philosophical underpinnings of key figures and major schools of thought, from the presuppositionalism of Cornelius Van Til to the evidentialism of Gary Habermas. Moving beyond theory, Morley also covers apologetic application, demonstrating how each view works out in practical terms. This guide covers the complexities of apologetics in a way that is accessible to the nonspecialist. Even-handed and respectful of each apologist and their contribution, this book provides the reader with a formidable array of defenses for the faith.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Chart Part I: Foundational Issues 1. Apologetics in the Bible 2. Apologetics in History: A Survey Part II: Apologetic Methodologies Presuppositionalism 3. Cornelius Van Til: Christianity Is an Intellectual Commitment We Cannot Do Without 4. John Frame: We See Ultimate Truth from More Than One Perspective Reformed Epistemology 5. Alvin Plantinga: Belief in God Is an Immediate Awareness, and Belief in Christianity Is a Gift of God Combinationalism 6. E. J. Carnell, Gordon Lewis and Francis Schaeffer: Christianity Is Logical, Factual and Viable Classical Apologetics 7. Introduction to Classical Apologetics 8. Richard Swinburne: Theism and Christianity Are Highly Probable 9. William Lane Craig: God Is Proved by Theistic Arguments, and Christianity by Evidences 10. Norman Geisler: Theism Is Proved by What Is Undeniable, and Christianity Is Known from Evidences Evidentialism 11. John Warwick Montgomery 12. Gary Habermas Conclusion Author Index Subject Index Scripture Index

About the Author :
Brian Morley (PhD, Claremont) is professor of philosophy and apologetics at The Master?s College in Santa Clarita, California. He is the author of God in the Shadows: Evil in God?s World. He is also the cofounder of Faith and Reason Forum and can be found online at www.FaithandReasonForum.com.

Review :
"In his book Mapping Apologetics, Brian Morley aims to give us a remarkably readable survey of the most influential apologetic approaches current and has remarkably achieved that aim. His analysis lays bare the main lines of each representative apologist's thought. Methods are both described and critiqued. But Brian bends over backwards in his attempt to be fair and accurate with each one. His evaluations are both to the point and irenic. The book strives to keep the technical jargon to a minimum and largely succeeds. When technical language is necessary, the terms are carefully explained both in the text and at the end of each chapter. The book will serve well undergraduate and graduate students seeking to understand diverse apologetic approaches extant today." "Dr. Morley is a careful scholar who does assiduous research and painstaking analysis. His long teaching experience of apologetics shines through in this much-needed volume in a day when the diverse approaches to defending the Christian faith are often misunderstood and misrepresented. Morley has conscientiously checked the primary sources and, when possible, he has directly confirmed the accuracy of his accounts by consulting with the apologists whose views he describes. This volume will prove to be an invaluable resource for teachers, students and all Christians who want to enhance their understanding of recent developments in the field of apologetics." "Mapping Apologetics provides the most complete and best analysis to date of my overall apologetic approach."  "Brian Morley shows mastery of the details of my approach, including the qualifications and nuances." "Throughout the book, Morley's tone is fair, professional, and objective. While he does not hesitate to point out the methods' respective weaknesses, neither does he take sides in the debate. This results in a very evenhanded treatment that apologists of all stripes will find helpful. I am delighted to recommend this book to all Christians with a serious interest in and facility with apologetics and philosophy." "If you are new to apologetics, Mapping Apologetics will help you understand the many ways Christians are defending the faith around the world today. . . . If you have been involved in apologetics for many years, Mapping Apologetics will help you dive deeper into your particular apologetic methodology. Dr. Morley does a great job pointing to many books and other references that will help you understand how to use your gifts in even greater ways to reach people for Christ and bring glory to God.If you are interested in Christian apologetics, Mapping Apologetics is definitely a must-have book for your library." "If you are interested in Christian apologetics, Mapping Apologetics is definitely a must-have book for your library." "In the volume Mapping Apologetics, Brian Morley treats the reader to an overview and examination of several very useful apologetic methods for defending the Christian faith. At several points, what impressed me were the careful nuances that Brian made time and again when he could have settled simply for repeating other commonly stated reports, but which would have been quite inaccurate. His careful avoidance of such common pitfalls helped to produce some of my appreciation for his treatment." "Many works on Christian apologetics make the mistake of disconnecting arguments for the Christian faith from the specific assumptions, perspectives and theology of the person advancing those arguments. As an antidote to this disconnection, Brian Morley discusses a helpful range of Christian apologetic perspectives and uncovers how and why each perspective shapes their arguments as they do. Not only do we learn about various important Christian apologists—a worthwhile task in its own right!—we see powerful and tangible examples of how the roots of our theology connect to and feed the various branches of our apologetic arguments. Anyone who considers themselves a Christian apologist should read and benefit from Morley's important volume." "Brian Morley has produced a remarkable volume on Christian apologetics that begins with an insightful schema of the foundational tenets of ten distinct approaches to apologetics, followed by chapters detailing the principles and primary proponents of a good number of them. As if this were not enough, Morley treats us in the beginning to a rich chapter on the history of apologetics, beginning in the first century and concluding in the present, as well as an introduction to apologetics in the Bible revealing that the call for us to 'be always ready' existed from the very beginning when God first created apologetics."