Theological Term of the Week

Tuesday, July 6, 2010 at 8:44PM
rebecca in theological terms

classical apologetics
An approach to apologetics that first uses rational arguments to make the case for the existence of one God, and then uses evidence for the reliability of Scripture, the deity of Christ, etc. to show that Christianity is better than all other forms of theism.

• An example of a classical argument for the existence of God:

  II. Teleological or Design Argument

  A. Explained

  Argues that the presence of order in the universe requires the existence of an orderer.

  A typical formulation of the argument.

  1. The universe manifests evidence of design.
  2. All design demands a designer (which entails x,y,and z characteristics).
  3. Therefore, the universe must have a designer.
  4. This designer is the God of the Bible.

• From Apologetics and the Limits of Reason:

  Classical apologetics has the most positive view of philosophy in general, and even of non-Christian philosophy, of the four approaches to apologetics. The classical apologist views the apologetic task as articulating the Christian position in a way that communicates that position clearly and faithfully in terms that people of non-Christian worldviews and religions can understand. This does not mean that non-Christian philosophies are accepted without qualification, but that the Christian thinker uses the categories and insights of non-Christian systems of thought in order to make Christian thought intelligible to the non-Christian. Classical apologists tend to see a great deal of overlap in subject matter and method between apologetics and philosophy.

Learn more:

1. GotQuestions.org: What is classical apologetics?
2. Christian Apologetics and Research Ministries: Classical Apologetics
3. Bible.org: Classical Apologetics: It Stands to Reason, Classical Apologetics: A Reasonable Faith, The Rationality of the Christian Worldview, Apologetics and the Limits of Reason.

Related terms:

• presuppositional apologetics
• evidential apologetics
• cosmological argument
• moral argument
• ontological argument
• teleological argument

Do you have a a theological term you’d like to see featured here as a Theological Term of the Week? If you email it to me, I’ll seriously consider using it.

I’m also interested in any suggestions you have for tweaking my definitions or for additional (or better) articles or sermons/lectures for linking. I’ll give you credit and a link back to your blog if I use your suggestion.

Clicking on the Theological Term graphic at the top of this post will take you to a list of all the previous theological terms organized in alphabetical order or by topic.

Article originally appeared on Rebecca Writes (http://rebecca-writes.com/).