Reasons for Faith

Christian apologetics seems to be enjoying something of a renaissance, at least if the rate of books published on the subject is any indication. "Reasons for Faith," a new offering from Crossway, stands out from the crowd in two ways: first, in its length (24 chapters running to over 400 pages); and second, in its dedication to the late Bob Passantino (along with his wife, Gretchen, who continues to head up Answers in Action, the apologetics ministry they founded together nearly 30 years ago).

I confess that I knew little about Bob Passantino before reading this book, although I’d heard of Answers in Action and seen Bob’s ministry referenced many times in the context of counter-cult apologetics. Reasons for Faith surely accomplishes one of its stated aims: to honor the Passantinos and their legacy. The list of contributors includes some of the brightest stars of evangelical apologetics: Josh McDowell, John Warwick Montgomery, Norman Geisler, J. P. Moreland, Francis Beckwith, Winfried Corduan, Gary Habermas, Richard Howe, Douglas Groothuis.

The book is presented in four parts. Part One addresses the question, “What is apologetics and why do we need it?” In the opening chapter, ‘An Apologetic for Apologetics’, Mark Mittleberg shares several personal testimonies to illustrate the importance of apologetics for evangelism in today’s culture. Josh McDowell argues with passion that we need to train our children in apologetics and communicate its relevance to them, so as to inoculate them against the many strains of unbelief they will encounter in life. John Warwick Montgomery, in an essay that manages to be both insightful and infuriating, sets out what he believes to be the way forward for evangelical apologetics: a path that avoids both the errors of “the liberals” and “the conservatives” (for which read: evangelicals who aren’t hard-core evidentialists like Montgomery). Wayne House’s essay ‘A Biblical Argument for Balanced Apologetics’ tries to synthesize what he takes to be the positive elements of the classical, evidentialist, and presuppositionalist methods in apologetics. Calvin Beisner’s ‘The Character of a Good Apologist’ is a touching testimony to Bob Passantino; the lessons he draws out should be taken to heart by every Christian apologist.

The essays in Part Two deal with various cultural and theological issues in apologetics. Norman Geisler considers the important question of which doctrines should be considered essential to the Christian faith. (Geisler comes up with a list of fourteen doctrines that he considers to be “soteriologically essential” — you’ll have to read the book to find out what they are!) J. P. Moreland provides a compact but effective defense of the correspondence theory of truth in the face of postmodern confusion and skepticism; in his conclusion, he levels the provocative charge that postmodernism is not merely misguided but downright immoral. Francis Beckwith’s scholarly discussion of the separation of church and state (an adapted journal article) is fascinating but seems out of place in a volume of this kind. Louis Markos draws some stimulating lessons from C. S. Lewis about engaging and rehabilitating the post-Christendom culture around us. Scott Klusendorf issues an urgent wake-up call to pro-lifers regarding the push toward human cloning and “fetus farming”. Alan Gomes argues that effective apologists need to be conversant with historical theology, citing The Da Vinci Code and a 1991 Christian-Mormon debate (in which Bob Passantino participated) as cases in point. Part Two closes with (what I regard as) a rather flimsy refutation of Open Theism by co-editor Chad Meister.

Part Three consists of six chapters defending different elements of Christian theism. Winfried Corduan does an admirable job of explaining his Thomistic version of the cosmological argument, but I suspect that most lay apologists will still prefer to take their chances with the more intuitive Kalam version. Miguel Angel Endara offers an updated argument from design, using the bombardier beetle’s remarkable self-defense mechanism as an illustration. Sean Choi’s essay comes as something of a surprise: an evaluation of the “transcendental argument for God’s existence” championed by Cornelius Van Til and Greg Bahnsen. Presuppositionalists shouldn’t get too excited, though — the essay is well written but mostly critical in orientation. (Neither should they be too surprised; the methodological bias in the book bears witness to Geisler’s editorial influence.) Douglas Geivett provides an excellent summary of contemporary responses by Christian philosophers to the problem of evil, culminating in an argument from evil for the existence of God. Richard Howe’s essay clinically dispatches four key claims made in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. Gary Habermas lives up to his reputation as the world’s leading defender of the historicity of the Resurrection, rounding off Part Three with a critical assessment of the recent trend among unbelieving scholars toward agnosticism (i.e., “I can’t really explain what happened that Easter Sunday, given the available evidence, but then neither can anyone else”).

Finally, Part Four offers Christian responses to a number of world religions or religious movements. Kurt Van Gorden gives an overview of apologetic approaches to Mormonism and summarizes the arguments he and Bob Passantino employed in their 1991 debate at Biola University. Jim Valentine and Eric Pement discuss the two “classes” of the redeemed taught by the Watchtower Society and show how the flaws in its soteriology can be respectfully pressed against Jehovah’s Witnesses to reach them with the true gospel of Christ. Interestingly, the authors maintain that this approach tends to be more fruitful than focusing on the doctrines of the Trinity and the deity of Christ, given the way that cult members are conditioned to react to those doctrines. Ron Rhodes’ no-nonsense essay provides succinct responses to the arguments of Oneness Pentecostals against the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity. Richard Howe gives an overview of modern witchcraft as both a religion and a worldview, exhorting Christians to become better informed about this increasingly prominent religion and its major points of difference with Christianity. This chapter is certainly informative, but contains little by way of apologetic critique. Jon Trott on Satanism brings another surprise for the reader: Trott’s concern is not to refute Satanism (whose true advocates are relatively thin on the ground) but rather to expose the evangelical myth of Satanism. David Hesselgrave closes Part Four with a review of the strengths and weaknesses of evangelical responses to Eastern religions (particularly Hinduism and Buddhism).

The eight-page postscript written by Douglas Groothuis is an absolute gem: ‘A Manifesto for Christian Apologetics: Nineteen Theses to Shake the World with the Truth’. His stated purpose is “to ignite the holy fire of apologetic passion and action”. With admirable clarity and conciseness, Groothuis explains what apologetics is, why it is biblical, how it should (and shouldn’t) be done, why it is so important, and how it can be practiced and promoted by every Christian. If I had the time and the money, I would send a copy of his ‘Manifesto’ to every pastor and every seminary president whose address I could track down.

Perhaps I can summarize my thoughts on this book with a slightly off-the-wall comparison. My mother-in-law is a member of a chocolate club and every month she receives a ‘taster box’ of a dozen or so varieties of chocolate sweets. Some of them are simple but satisfying, while others are exotic and challenging. Some are delicious and make you salivate for more, while others leave an odd taste in the mouth. A few even catch you by surprise. Reasons for Faith is rather like one of these taster boxes. It certainly doesn’t amount to a comprehensive (or even introductory) handbook on apologetics, despite what Chuck Colson claims in his commendatory blurb. For example, there are no treatments of the moral argument for God, the flaws of Darwinism, or the rising challenge of Islam.

But even with these omissions the volume serves as a nice ‘taster box’ for contemporary issues in apologetics. Some of the chapters are simple but satisfying (e.g., Mittleberg and McDowell), while others are exotic and challenging (e.g., Corduan). Some are delicious and make you salivate for more (e.g., Moreland and Groothuis), while others leave an odd taste in the mouth (e.g., Montgomery). A few even catch you by surprise (e.g., Trott). Just as I’d recommend the aforementioned club to a chocolate aficionado, so I would certainly recommend Reasons for Faith to an apologetics aficionado. It makes for stimulating reading and many of the essays offer timely responses to contemporary challenges. But those looking for a handbook on Christian apologetics I’d have to direct elsewhere.