Apologetics

Scripture focus

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.

1 Peter 3:15 KJV

At a glance

Summary of the chapter

The eighteenth century, McClymond and McDermott note, was the first era since antiquity in which Christianity's basic truthfulness could no longer be assumed; English deism had begun eroding belief in the Trinity, miracles, biblical prophecy, and Christ's atoning death. Edwards, like most orthodox thinkers of his generation, took up the defense of the faith, yet he is remembered chiefly as a defender of Calvinist doctrines rather than as an apologist in general, largely because he died before completing the synthetic works he intended.

Edwards's early ambition, dating to his student years, was to write a comprehensive rational defense of Christianity against every objection. By the 1730s this had matured into a conviction that the "history of the work of redemption," rather than abstract philosophical proofs alone, was Christianity's strongest line of defense — truth demonstrated through the interconnected sweep of God's dealings across time rather than through isolated arguments.

His approach was therefore often implicit rather than direct: he showed Christian doctrines to be true by showing their necessary connection to other accepted truths, so that the "admirable contexture and harmony" of the whole confirmed each part. Two planned masterworks, a Harmony of the Old and New Testaments and a History of the Work of Redemption, were meant to carry out this vision but remained unfinished at his death.

Key points

• The 1700s were the first era since antiquity when Christianity's truth could not simply be assumed, as English deism challenged the Trinity, miracles, and the atonement.
• Edwards never published a dedicated apologetics treatise; his defenses of the faith are scattered through the Miscellanies notebooks and other manuscripts.
• By the 1730s Edwards concluded that salvation history, rather than isolated rational proofs, was Christianity's strongest defense against deist attack.
• He favored an implicit apologetic method, showing doctrines true by their interconnection with other truths rather than arguing each point alone.
• His planned masterworks, the Harmony of the Old and New Testaments and the History of the Work of Redemption, aimed to fulfill his earliest ambition but were left incomplete at his death.

A line worth remembering

Truth, for Edwards, was an interconnected whole and not a matter of isolated statements.

McClymond & McDermott The Theology of Jonathan Edwards, ch. 10

Related Scripture

• Acts 17:22-31
• 2 Corinthians 10:5
• Titus 1:9
• Jude 1:3

For reflection and discussion

1. What would it mean to defend your faith through the 'harmony' of a whole life and worldview rather than through a single clever argument?
2. How do you respond, personally, when a belief you hold is publicly challenged, the way deism challenged Christianity in Edwards's day?
3. Why might a historical argument — tracing God's acts through time — persuade someone that abstract logic alone could not?