THE GREATEST APOLOGIST OF ALL TIME

[choir loft]

APOLOGIST - (def.) "one who speaks or writes in defense of something or someone." (Merriam-Webster)

It has been argued by some, Hillsdale College in particular, that C.S. Lewis was the greatest apologist of all time.  The statement was probably made to encourage onLine students to take their free course on C.S. Lewis.  The caveat to Hillsdale's course on Lewis is that none of the lecturers ever mention the principles, dynamics or mechanics of apologetics.   Was C.S. Lewis the greatest apologist of the modern era?

I confess to being a fan of C.S. Lewis' writing, but believe he was the product of his time and his time only.  When he died on November 22, 1963 (the same day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated), Lewis' legacy was cemented in the history of his generation.  As most of us know, that was a long time ago.  America was a different country then as was the church and pretty much everything else society deems important.  

What about apologists such as Francis Schaeffer, Deterich Bonhoeffer, Reinhold Niebuhr, Karl Barth, Ravi Zacharias (*) & Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. to name a few?

Is the church of the 21st century in a different situation with regard to DEFENSE of the gospel than previous centuries?

Have the Culture Wars of America affected the relevance of the gospel?  Has the perception of the gospel changed because of it?   

Who do you believe to be the foremost Christian apologist of all time and why?

Who do you believe to be the best LIVING Christian apologist and why?

that's me, hollering from the choir loft....

(*) Prior to his 'dabbling in forbidden fruit', Mr. Zacharias was considered one of the most popular apologists of his day despite the fact he never actually defended the gospel.  He defended Christian theology, which is an entirely different subject.

Edited July 17, 2022 by choir loft
punctuation corrections

[teddyv]

Did you mean "modern" apologist, or all time?

I have a soft spot for Bonhoeffer, but I don't know the other's apologetics well enough to really make solid opinion.

[Alive]

Various men have been used of the Lord for various tasks affecting various people and influencing various errors and issues. The Gospel itself in relevant always. Christianity answers all of the questions men have struggled with….no other system has done that. Schaeffer does a great job of explaining some of these things relative to modernism.

[Deadworm]

When I went to seminary, I wanted to be an apologist.  I quickly realized that the best apologists are half-baked in modern biblical scholarship.  So I got an MDiv (Princeton) and a doctorate in New Testament and Judaism from Harvard.  The case for and against Christianity stands or falls with the fine points of biblical exegesis, the relevance of higher criticism, and knowledge of Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and the Jewish and Gentile cultural and historical background of biblical studies.

C. S. Lewis is a lightweight as an apologist, but an excellent writer.  I would highly recommend his books for a new Christian.  btw, did you know that he believed in Purgatory?  

 

 

[Who me]

The greatest apologist of all time is an irrelevant question if churches do not use apologetics in there ministry.

If they do not teach there members how to use apologetics.

 

 

 

[choir loft]

7 hours ago, Who me said:

The greatest apologist of all time is an irrelevant question if churches do not use apologetics in there ministry.

If they do not teach there members how to use apologetics.

 

 

 

I tend to agree with DeadWorm in his estimation that Apologetics stands or falls based upon Biblical exegesis.  

Unfortunately the majority of church folks, as well as their leadership, define their doctrine by dabbling in eisegesis rather than dedicated study to glean the facts out of scripture.  Most develop a doctrine and then use snippets of scripture to justify their erroneous dogma - the tail wagging the dog so to speak.

Far too many babble religious slogans and buzz words in the false assumption it means something to the rest of society.   It doesn't.

If asking for the greatest apologist of all time is irrelevant then perhaps one might ask for a favorite religious celebrity.   God knows there are lots of those characters running around spewing their pseudo-Christian message.  However, it would be preferable to restrict the discussion to those of legitimate scholarship rather than the snake-oil salesman variety.

that's me, hollering from the choir loft...

 

 

 

 

[Who me]

On 7/20/2022 at 7:59 PM, choir loft said:

Far too many babble religious slogans and buzz words in the false assumption it means something to the rest of society.   It doesn't.

Which makes my point.

Any church using apologetics ios also going to be teaching its members about Christianity, not just 'shouting come to Jesus'.

 

One has to understand what one is trying to explain, prove or defend.

 

The whole point of Christianity being a historically fact based belief is that one can know these facts and give a reason for ones belief.