Preface
PREFACE
Over the last forty years there has been an ongoing revolution in Anglo-American philosophy. As the old, antimetaphysical prejudices have waned, there has been a renaissance of Christian philosophy. One of the fruits of this renaissance is the Evangelical Philosophical Society, the largest society of Christian philosophers in the world and publisher of Philosophia Christi, the only professional journal devoted to philosophical inquiry from an evangelical perspective.
The EPS has as its mission influencing both the academy and the church. In an effort to bring the fruits of evangelical scholarship out of the ivory tower to the layman in the pew, the EPS began four years ago to hold apologetics conferences in local churches in conjunction with the EPS annual convention each November. Each conference features a stellar array of more than twenty evangelical scholars from different disciplines who, as their gift to the church, provide pro bono training in the defense of the Christian faith. For those fortunate enough to live near the city where the annual convention is being held, such an opportunity is truly unprecedented and unlikely to come again for many years.
The first such conference, entitled “Set Forth Your Case,” was held at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in suburban Atlanta. The following year the conference was held at Parkhills Baptist Church in San Antonio and called “To Everyone an Answer.” The third conference, “Reason for the Hope within,” was hosted by Branch Creek Community Church in Valley Forge. The conference in 2006, held at McLean Bible Church just outside Washington, D.C., “Loving God with All Your Mind,” drew the largest attendance yet with more than fifteen hundred participants. The testimony of people at these remarkable conferences is that they have been truly life changing for many participants, who for the first time in their lives have come to discover a part of the body of Christ—namely Christian scholars—that they did not even know existed. These gatherings uniquely feature scholars from different fields—history, philosophy, biblical studies, science, religious studies, theology, archaeology, ethics—who capably defend the Christian faith.
This volume is, we hope, the first of an ongoing series of cuttingedge, accessible essays in Christian apologetics taken from these conferences. May God use this book to encourage your faith, strengthen your mind, and embolden your witness!
Paul Copan
William Lane Craig