You Don’t Need a Degree to be an Apologist (But You Do Need to be a Reader)
by Greg West
You don’t need a degree to be an apologist but you do need to be a reader. The first apologetics book I ever read was Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ, and I was blown away about the amount of evidence for the truth claims of Christianity. Not only that, but it introduced me to a host of other apologists and apologetics resources.
Every Christian is called to be an apologist (1 Peter 3:15) and reading apologetics books is one of the best ways to learn apologetics, along with listening to lectures and debates. For the latter, Apologetics 315 is hands down the best resource on the internet, and as for the former, I’ve provided a list of over 100 books (and a handful of videos) from some of the best Christian thinkers past and present. Most of these I have in my own library as well as keeping extra copies of some of them to give away to unbelieving friends or Christian friends who are struggling with doubt.
The aspiring apologist should start with introductory level books (Lee Strobel’s “Case for…” series is a great place to start; click here for a broader list) and work your way up to higher level books (Reasonable Faith comes to mind) as you begin to become more familiar with some of the basic arguments for Christianity.
Visiting apologetics blogs and websites is another helpful way to learn apologetics and we have quite a few listed in our links directory. and more are always being added.
Once you become a more seasoned apologist, share your knowledge by volunteering to lead an apologetics small group or Sunday School class at your church. You might also consider becoming a certified apologist (relatively inexpensive) and becoming a Ratio Christi chapter director at a local college. Ratio Christi even has a program that enables you to become a supported apologetics missionary—so even if you don’t have a degree, you can still potentially earn a living as an apologist.
One thing that we must always keep in mind is that we don’t study and learn apologetics to be able to win arguments or to show how smart we are—we learn and study apologetics to be better disciples of Christ, better evangelists, and Christians that are better equipped and prepared to engage culture instead of disengaging from it.
GREG’S TOP 100+ RECOMMENDED APOLOGETICS RESOURCES:
Great list! But where are the books we need to address today’s most pressing issues, which have more to do with story and Story then with questions and Answers, and have more to do with relationship and Relationship than with more questions and more Answers. On USAToday.com yesterday (http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2012/10/18/christianity-christians-pew-research/1642315) I commented on why people are leaving Christianity by the millions. After 12 years of qualitative research, I presented the 9 reasons in “If God Disappears” (Tyndale House Publishers). Of course, that was only after listening to all the stories. Typically, any one individual’s story includes a mixture of two or more reasons. Any given person doesn’t wake up and think, “I have three reasons I’m walking away from God, the Church, and Christianity.” Instead, they have a long story. Sadly, they’re more brokenhearted than most pastors. I say that only because I am a pastor. My most important job in that role? Let people tell me their stories, without judgment, and then promise to walk with them as long as it takes…
I had a similar experience with Strobel’s Case For Christ. One bit of advice for budding apologists: don’t get your science from apologetics books. Get your science from science books, written by experts in whatever field you are studying. When I did this, I noticed that most claims made by apologists about what science tells us were quite wrong. For example, don’t get your cosmology from William Lane Craig. While a smart man with knowledge about science, he is not a cosmologist, and it shows. Be intellectually honest at all times, and us non believers will actually begin to think about the arguments that are being made.
Great comment David. I agree wholeheartedly, which is why I’m looking more and more to story and the arts as ways to connect. OUr culture is now much more narrative-oriented as opposed to propositionally-oriented. There is some stuff out there. Alister McGrath wrote on Imaginative Apologetics in his recent book, where he talks about marrying imagination and reason to persuade. Holly Ordway is also doing work in that area.
As a church we need more storytellers like Andrew Stanton, who tells a story about a father who swims the deepest oceans to rescue his son, and gets every family to take their kids to the movies to see it.
A model I have used is “Your story, my story, God’s story”, where you listen to their story, share your story, and connect them both to God’s story.
You don’t need a degree to be an apologist but you do need to be a reader. The first apologetics book I ever read was Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ, and I was blown away about the amount of evidence for the truth claims of Christianity. Not only that, but it introduced me to a host of other apologists and apologetics resources.
The 10 Most Common Objections to Christianity
Great list! But where are the books we need to address today’s most pressing issues, which have more to do with story and Story then with questions and Answers, and have more to do with relationship and Relationship than with more questions and more Answers. On USAToday.com yesterday (http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2012/10/18/christianity-christians-pew-research/1642315) I commented on why people are leaving Christianity by the millions. After 12 years of qualitative research, I presented the 9 reasons in “If God Disappears” (Tyndale House Publishers). Of course, that was only after listening to all the stories. Typically, any one individual’s story includes a mixture of two or more reasons. Any given person doesn’t wake up and think, “I have three reasons I’m walking away from God, the Church, and Christianity.” Instead, they have a long story. Sadly, they’re more brokenhearted than most pastors. I say that only because I am a pastor. My most important job in that role? Let people tell me their stories, without judgment, and then promise to walk with them as long as it takes…
I had a similar experience with Strobel’s Case For Christ. One bit of advice for budding apologists: don’t get your science from apologetics books. Get your science from science books, written by experts in whatever field you are studying. When I did this, I noticed that most claims made by apologists about what science tells us were quite wrong. For example, don’t get your cosmology from William Lane Craig. While a smart man with knowledge about science, he is not a cosmologist, and it shows. Be intellectually honest at all times, and us non believers will actually begin to think about the arguments that are being made.
Great comment David. I agree wholeheartedly, which is why I’m looking more and more to story and the arts as ways to connect. OUr culture is now much more narrative-oriented as opposed to propositionally-oriented. There is some stuff out there. Alister McGrath wrote on Imaginative Apologetics in his recent book, where he talks about marrying imagination and reason to persuade. Holly Ordway is also doing work in that area.
As a church we need more storytellers like Andrew Stanton, who tells a story about a father who swims the deepest oceans to rescue his son, and gets every family to take their kids to the movies to see it.
A model I have used is “Your story, my story, God’s story”, where you listen to their story, share your story, and connect them both to God’s story.