Mark Tedford's Apologetics

Beilby, James. Thinking about Christian apologetics: what is is and why we do it. Downers Gove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2011.

In Carr’s argument he discusses that he has recently found something is wrong with his brain, and that is most noticeable while he is reading. He identified that he now has a difficulty concentrating, which he never experienced in the past. Next, Carr quickly switches topics and determines that the reason for his brain issue, is because he has spent an immense amount of time online, and does not give any other implications that something else could of caused this. In this instance, Carr is demonstrating the frame breaking strategy. This strategy goal is to shift focus from the object of attention to the context that object is in and vice versa. One type of strategy that Carr utilizes is Cause to effect. Pullman defines this strategy as when something bad happens, people will go straight to reassigning blame. When it might be a better idea to solve the problem regardless of the cause. Carr failed to mention any other type of probable causes to his brain problem which ultimately weakened his argument.

In 1676, Robert Barclay wrote the Apology for the True Christian Divinity in response to the reiglious and political persecution that the Quakers were receiving from non-Quakers.1 In the apology, Barclay seeks to explain fifteen propositions that make up the Quaker faith in hopes that King Charles II and his people will see that the Quakers do not deserve the persecution they are receiving because of their beliefs. He also explains how their beliefs were sound and could be explained with scripture.2 Even though some of the Quaker beliefs may go against the other Christian denominations that were present or were forming at the time, Barclay’s apology was well received by its audience, and becomes a classic that both Quakers and non-Quakers can use as a reliable source that summarizes helps to better understand the Quaker faith.3

theology, but if we rely, as we should, on its testimony rather than on the

Theodicy directly translates from Greek to the justification of God. Theodicy exhibits just, to justify a situation or dilemma. This defends God's goodness and justice in the face of the existence of evil .To give a defense is to build a story to which both God and evil exist and to attempt to show that this story is logical. The purpose of giving a theodicy is to justify the ways of God to men. The purpose of giving a defense is, to show that the co-existence of God and evil is a real possibility.

In Doubt: A Parable by John Patrick Shanley, There is a battle between morality and progression into a new political and spiritual place. In this detailed book, Sister Aloysius and Father Flynn are in a full-blown, doubtful battle to discover the truth about if Father Flynn is paying too much attention to the school’s only black student.

Theology of Christianity appears in many forms. It is a concentration of the study of both the old and new testaments, as well as Christian traditions. Such theologies discussed by the author are: biblical criticism, systematic theology, historical theology, moral theology, pastoral theology, liberation theology, natural theology, liturgical studies and sacramenta theology, and mystical

Dr. David Feddes revealed Unapologetic apologetics has at least four elements that I want to highlight: dialogue, defense, clarification, and making a positive case. Dialogue includes talking together, reasoning together, listening and learning to talk another person’s language. Part of communicating the gospel is speaking in the language, and in the figures of speech, and with the examples that other people can understand and relate to. In order to relate to other people, you need conversation with them. You need to understand how they think in order to communicate how you think. Dialogue, talking back and forth in an effort to understand each other, is a big part of apologetics.

In the book Simply Jesus, N.T. Wright makes three different claims throughout. N.T. Wright's first claim is about the “perfect storm”. The “perfect storm” takes up a large section of the first few chapters, and in those chapters N.T. Wright writes about that to enter the “perfect storm” you must step out of your own storm that is happening in your life, you must jump back into the “perfect storm” just as Jesus did in his own life. N.T. Wright fails to fully support the idea of the “perfect storm” throughout the book. Wright writes about the two myths that create the “storms”, the first is “… the high-pressure system of conservative Christianity” and the second is “... the new classic modernist myth…”. N.T. Wright loses his credibility to his claims by never giving evidence that disproves they myths. N.T. Wright states that the stories in the bible “...’really did happen’. And there the matter ends…. Facts or no facts”. N.T. Wrights claims are never fully

Faith operates in a unique way by providing the average, the noble, or the distasteful with a means to understand the world we inhabit. However, our worldly experiences also operate as a means to understanding the complexities of our faith. For St. Augustine, faith provides more questions than answers, but consequently leads to his life as a bishop and eventually sainthood. For some, however, the Bible provides the answers to all the questions that go unanswered by common sense. In St. Augustine’s Confessions, Augustine is able to further understand himself and his faith in Christ by reflecting on anecdotes of his past. Conversely, the Bible’s use of etiology provides spiritual justification for physical realities.

During a time where Gnostic ideology was one of the heresies gaining momentum, Tertullian and Irenaeus were two of the individuals that brilliantly defended the faith. They saw Gnosticism through the same lens as many other Church Fathers, as nothing else but a heresy. In their time this was a real threat to the true faith that was laid out for them through the Scriptures and through the oral tradition passed down by the apostles. Like many heresies, Gnosticism started off within a Christian foundation. However, what makes it more interesting is that Gnosticism as philosophy or the ideology as a whole may have predated Christianity since we see some epistles arguing against some of the Gnostic principles (Kelly 23). To further refute the heresy, Irenaeus and Tertullian had a tremendous contribution in the development of Christian apologetics. While similar, many have credited Irenaeus to his ecclesiological development and Tertullian to his Christological development in the early Church.

Next, McMinn (2007) acknowledges the Christian Theology perspective on confession. According to the author (2007), there are two kinds of relations to confession and Christian Theology, which are confession and the sacrament of penance and confession and Scripture. McMinn (2007) points out that the Christian church has constantly been engrossed in confession, but the way of confession has altered during the past two millennia (p 221). According to the author (2007), numerous Spiritual leaders, such as Saint Augustine and Saint Patrick writing of their confessions of faith and sin have severed as a partial foundation for scholasticism, which is a crusade that attempted to examine faith academically (211-212). As scholasticism grew thought out time it birth the doctrine and sacrament

John Wesley’s discourse, “The Means of Grace,” expresses the expedient of grace as, “outward signs, language, or actions ordained of God, and appointed for this end— to be the ordinary channels whereby he might impart to men preventing, justifying, or sanctifying grace.” Acknowledging his need and proceeding in his evangelization, Wesley could obtain the grace he needed to have both the potency and placidity that was eluding from his religion. God utilized his perpetuated participation in the ministry of Scripture to proclaim faith in Christ into Wesley’s philosophy.

In the quadripartite model of sexual aggression against adults by Hall and Hirschman, the explanation of the reason why “men sexually assault women” involves four factors (Wong, 2016, p. 287). All four factors apply to why Ted Bundy became a serial rapist. The four factors being “physiological sexual arousal, cognitions that justify sexual aggression, affective dyscontrol and personality problems” (Wong, 2016, p.287). Being a straight sexualized male, Ted Bundy had physiological sexual arousal towards women. Growing up and being sexualized by violent pornography, Ted had “cognitions that justified (his) sexual aggression” such as the reason he gave a reporter stating that he believed it was the violence towards women in porn that made him sexually

As Christians we often believe certain things simply because it’s what our parents and the people around us believe. We often go about our Christian walk without ever giving thought or reason to why we believe what we do. The world of Christian Theology is a place where Christians can find answer to the ‘what and why’ of Christianity. If we are able to begin comprehending Christian Theology and the rudimental knowledge of it, then we can take it with us into more in depth books and discussions about theology, know the importance of it and how vital it is for Christians