By: Brian G. Chilton | December 16, 2019
I noticed that two notable apologists asked similar questions online. They asked if people had noticed that the apologetic community seems to be dividing into cliques and, thereby, becoming segmented. It is fascinating because I had been noticing a similar trend.
Human beings have the innate ability to communicate in a plethora of fashions, including this very article in which you are reading. Human nature is such where we desire to be with those who are most like us. People feel safe when they associate with individuals who dress, believe, and look like themselves. The danger in such practice is that it gravitates towards an echo chamber, a place where people simply reverberate what they hold without being challenged to think or to work through their assessments.
Echo chambers do not permit a person to grow intellectually, emotionally, or even spiritually. In order to grow, a person must be challenged. A person cannot be challenged if he or she does not associate or think through the tests that others pose to them. Yet, this seems to be where the apologetic community is heading. Apologists frequently clamor to their chosen superstar. If another apologist disagrees with something that their hero proclaims, then it’s off to a verbal shouting match between the two. However, arguments often cause the superstar to claim things that he or she never said. For instance, I thought that William Lane Craig was opposed to reformed epistemology seeing that he is a non-Calvinist. However, I didn’t realize at the time that Craig advocated for much of Plantinga’s work as revealed in Plantinga’s reformed epistemological method, particularly his views on God’s existence being a warranted belief.
Three areas especially seem to bring division among modern apologists. First, the area of biblical inerrancy has caused massive rifts in the apologetic community. Granted, I am more likely to be drawn into this debate because I hold such a high view of Scripture. Nevertheless, are we to part ways with a Christian who holds the same views of major biblical doctrines while at the same time holds different approaches to the way Scripture is approached? This was certainly a question the Antiochenes and Alexandrians had to ask themselves during the Patristic era.
Second, the issue of apologetic methodologies seems to cause division among modern apologists. Personally, I do not think this issue is as much apologetically driven as it is theologically motivated. Calvinists tend to lean toward presuppositional apologetics, whereas non-Calvinists normally hold to either classical or evidential apologetic methodologies. Yet, some apologists will tear into those who hold differing methodologies rather than use their apologetic methods to win the lost to Christ. In such a case, the direction of the apologist is misguided.
Third, politics has caused many apologists to come to blows. I believe that a Christian is to be involved in politics. However, politics should not become the motivating factor for a child of God. Why? Because our kingdom is not of this world. Stephen Carter said, “Religions … will almost always lose their best, most spiritual selves when they choose to be involved in the partisan, electoral side of American politics … If history has taught us anything, it is that religions that fall too deeply in love with the art of politics lose their souls—very fast” (Carter, God’s Name in Vain, 1, 18). Are we not in danger of the same threat? Could the apologetic community lose its soul at the altar of partisan politics?
So, how do we regain our unity in the apologetic community? I suggest three ways.
1. Major on the Essentials. Here, I am not saying that we should not interact with competing viewpoints. We should. But if we cannot work our way through arguments without attacking the person, then we most certainly should not engage people until we learn how to debate. Our problem is not knowing how to get along. Our problem is that we do not know how to disagree well. When we become entrenched in a dispute, we must ask ourselves whether this is something worth dying for? Is this a hill on which we are willing to die? Yes, we should grow and develop. But we must keep things civil. Otherwise, we lose our testimony to the world. What message do we send to an unbelieving world when we disparage other apologists or theologians who disagree with us? Is that a sign of maturity?
2. Remember our Central Command. Jesus notes that the two great commandments are to love God and to love one another (Matt. 22:36–40). Paul states that even if we have the gift to speak with excellent human or angelic tongues, we merely become a clanging cymbal if we don’t have love (1 Cor. 13:1). Do we love the lost? Conservative evangelical, do you love the liberal? Progressive Christian, do you love the conservative? Remember, Jesus associated with even the worst of society to demonstrate the love of God to all socioeconomic statuses of people. Are you willing to pray for the abortionists, those in the LGBTQ culture, and socialists? Are you willing to pray for those you deem bigots and chauvinists? You say, “They are my enemies!” But wasn’t it Jesus who said to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (Matt. 5:44)? I am not saying that a person should never become disturbed by modern trends, nor am I claiming that apologists should not stand up for their convictions. My concern, however, is that we are losing our witness of love amid an avalanche of political hate.
3. Focus on the Mission. Why do we do apologetics in the first place? In my book The Layman’s Manual on Christian Apologetics, I noted that the purpose of apologetics is for the apologist to “give a defense for Christ and not for oneself. Apologetics is not to show off your intellectual prowess … Apologetics should point a person to Jesus” (Chilton, LMOCA, 5). Our mission as apologists is to win souls for Christ and to strengthen the faith of believers.
The apologetic community is intelligent and ardent enough to make it through the storms of division. I lay the blame for much of these hostilities at the door of our current political environment. People from both sides of the political aisle are causing a rift in the fabric of America. This is trickling down into the church and even into the apologetic community at large. I close with this insight from the last Sunday school lesson I taught. It comes from Jesus as he stood before Pontius Pilate. Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you a king?” Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). Again, I repeat, I do believe we should be involved in politics to fulfill our status as good citizens. But at the end of the day, is our primary focus on a kingdom of the world or the kingdom of God? Is our primary focus on apologetic methodologies or using apologetics to reach the lost? Are we focused on differences in the way we interpret the Bible more than rightly interpreting Scripture? Our answer as apologists will determine the future state of our marvelous apologetic community—a community of which I am proud to take part.
Sources Cited
Carter, Stephen L. God’s Name in Vain. New York: Basic, 2000.
Chilton, Brian G. The Layman’s Manual on Christian Apologetics: Bridging the Essentials of Apologetics from the Ivory Tower to the Everyday Christian. Eugene, OR: Resource, 2019.
Clark, David K. To Know and Love God: Method for Theology. Foundations of Evangelical Theology. Wheaton: Crossway, 2003.
About the Author
Brian G. Chilton is the founder of BellatorChristi.com, the host of The Bellator Christi Podcast, and the author of the Layman’s Manual on Christian Apologetics. He received his Master of Divinity in Theology from Liberty University (with high distinction); his Bachelor of Science in Religious Studies and Philosophy from Gardner-Webb University (with honors); and received certification in Christian Apologetics from Biola University. Brian is enrolled in the Ph.D. program in Theology and Apologetics at Liberty University and is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society and the Evangelical Philosophical Society. Brian has been in the ministry for nearly 20 years and serves as the Senior Pastor of Westfield Baptist Church in northwestern North Carolina.
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