9. Conclusion
9
Conclusion
Developing Your Own Apologetic Approach
Where do you go from here? This book has set out to help you develop your own approach to apologetics. Rather than giving you formulaic answers to all the big questions of faith, I have tried to help you develop your own approach. You need to use approaches and give answers you find satisfying. Otherwise, how can you hope to persuade and inform others? My concern throughout this work has been to help you and encourage you to develop an apologetic method, rather than simply presenting you with a list of apologetic answers. It is appropriate to end with some suggestions about how you can further develop your own distinctive approach.
Know Yourself
God made each of us the way we are, and we’ve got to learn to live with this. We need to appreciate both our weaknesses and our strengths, and work out how to make the best of both. Apologetics is best done in four ways:
Most apologists develop ministries that are based on public speaking, distributed by audio or video recordings. Try to work out what you do best, and work at developing your own distinct approach and voice. Above all, discover the importance of “critical friends” who will help you identify weaknesses and build on your strengths.
You also need to appreciate that doing apologetics can be intellectually and spiritually draining—not because the case for Christianity is weak, but because of the emotional energy we expend in defending and commending it, and our awareness of the importance of this responsibility. C. S. Lewis was acutely aware of this problem, and commented on it:
I have found that nothing is more dangerous to one’s own faith than the work of an apologist. No doctrine of that Faith seems to me so spectral, so unreal as one that I have just successfully defended in a public debate.
Apologists need support if they are to do their work well. You will need fellowship and company. The lone apologist becomes exhausted and weary, partly because of the responsibility of the task. That responsibility is best shared, just as the quality of one’s writing and speaking is deepened in dialogue with critical friends—a point to which we now turn.
Learn from Others
It is essential to learn from other apologists. The internet makes available audio presentations from masters of the art, such as leading contemporary American apologists William Lane Craig, Tim Keller, Peter Kreeft, and Ravi Zacharias. Try listening to recordings of their lectures, or reading their books, and analyze their approaches. Some apologists, like Lewis and Tolkien, use novels to develop their apologetics. For example, Marilynne Robinson’s novel Gilead (2004), which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, is a superb exploration of theological themes.
Try to work out how these apologists engage their audiences. What stories do they tell? What illustrations do they use? How do they develop their arguments? How could you develop and adapt their approaches? Understanding their ideas is one thing; being able to adapt and apply them for your own purposes is something quite different.
The idea of “reverse engineering” is helpful here. It refers to the process of examining a product—such as an automobile engine or microchip—with a view to working out how it was designed. Why did the designers choose to do it that way, rather than this way? Can the design be improved? Try reverse engineering an apologetic talk given by an acknowledged expert. See if you can work out what led him to make the various decisions that had to be made in writing that talk. For example, why did he open the talk in that way? What is the implied audience? What factors seem to have shaped his choice of topics? Why did he end the talk as he did? And, most importantly of all: How would you do it?
The important thing is that you develop your own apologetic method, adapted to your own gifts on the one hand and your audiences on the other. Reading other apologists is essential to this task. But in the end you will need to create your own answers to questions about faith. Nobody can live on borrowed answers. You will need to develop your own—ones you yourself are happy with. While you can use other people’s answers, the best answers are always going to be your own. Why? Because you will have worked them through, fine-tuning them until you are satisfied with them. I have never felt comfortable when using an apologetic approach or giving an apologetic answer I’m not happy with myself, even when I find it used in the writings of leading apologists.
Practice
Finally, remember that apologetics is both a science and an art. It’s all about developing a good understanding of the Christian faith and working out how best to connect this with the audience you’re engaging. So how do you know how well you’re connecting? You need feedback—an assessment both honest and affirming, helping you to improve.
At the Oxford Center for Christian Apologetics, students are taught both the theory and practice of apologetics. Knowing the theory makes for a great start, but it’s not enough. You need to figure out how to use the ideas you’ve been exploring. And that means writing short talks and engaging with people’s questions—and getting feedback on how you’re doing. Our students present their approaches to their peers, who evaluate them and help them craft something even better. It’s done in a mutually respectful and supportive manner, which enables students to identify their weaknesses without feeling ashamed and work to minimize them. More importantly, it helps them work out their strengths, and build on them.
What are your strengths? Let’s look at some obvious examples. In my own case, I have two particular strengths. First, I used to be an atheist myself. I don’t need to be told what it’s like; I’ve been there. I can easily relate to the aggressive atheism of writers such as Richard Dawkins. I know why I left this behind, and can explain this to others. Second, I began my academic life in the natural sciences, both physical and biological, and have kept up-to-date in my reading, including the history and philosophy of science. It means I can have informed and positive conversations with natural scientists who are interested in exploring those important questions of life that lie beyond the scientific method.
We each need to identify our strengths and work out how to use them to our best advantage. For example, Lee Strobel (b. 1952) was a journalist for the Chicago Tribune. After his conversion to Christianity, he turned his writing and analytical skills to powerful popular defenses of the Christian faith, including The Case for Christ (1998) and The Case for Faith (2000). We need to ask what we are good at and how we can use this. After all, remember that Jesus of Nazareth called fishermen by the shores of the Sea of Galilee (Mark 1:16–20) and gave them a new mission—to “fish for people.” Their old skills were put to a new and godly use!
In the end, good apologetics is all about practice—both in the sense of doing something (as opposed to just thinking about it) and doing it regularly (so you get better at it). You can’t learn apologetics by reading books or attending classes. It’s a skill, not just a matter of acquiring information. The only way to learn to construct and deliver apologetic addresses is to construct and deliver apologetic addresses—and get feedback from your peers. If you’re not attending a course that incorporates this as part of your preparation, you need to get together with some friends and help each other develop your approaches in this way.
Remember the Inklings? This was a group of writers—including C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien—who met regularly in Oxford in the 1930s and 1940s to listen to each other’s writing projects and offer constructive criticism. Both The Lord of the Rings and The Problem of Pain were crafted in this way. Find or form a small circle who want to hone their speaking and writing skills and use them apologetically. There are plenty of people who want to do this, especially at American seminaries and colleges.
And Finally . . .
This short book can never hope to teach you everything about the science and art of apologetics. It can only get you started. Yet hopefully it will have gotten you interested in this field, and helped you to appreciate why apologetics is so stimulating and important. Don’t be discouraged if you have found the ideas difficult to master or apply. This book simply maps out the territory. Now it’s up to you to explore it in depth and in detail—something that is both fascinating and worthwhile. And how many things in this life are like that?