Many of us have not noticed it. It snuck up on us. The fact is that we are now living in a post-Christian age and in a post-Christian culture. No longer can we assume that people we talk to know anything about the Bible. Neither can we assume that they know anything at all about God.
Many or most of those we attempt to share our faith with have been bombarded with negative, characterized, stereotyped ideas about religion coming from the mass media. How can we share our faith in Jesus with a person who has no basis at all for belief that God exists? How can we establish the inspiration of the Bible for people who do not even understand the concept of authority? How are we going to explain Christian faith in a postmodern world which has abandoned the idea of truth? How will we point out the fallacy of New Age thinking in a way which points toward Jesus Christ?
Clearly, the solution is not simply to read a passage of scripture and let it do its work. We need to understand the world view of the unreligious and those of other faiths. We need to explain Christianity in ways that connect with the modern mind. We need to repair the defensive posture of the Christian world toward the findings of modern science. Paul modeled this behavior when he gave his apologetic argument to the Greeks in Athens. In Acts 17 we find Paul discoursing with the Greek philosophers taking illustrations from the Stoics and the Epicureans and applying it to belief in the one true God. We need people trained to do the same thing in our own modern versions of the Areopagus. Actually, what we need is a certificate program in Christian Apologetics.
Well, God has found a way to meet this need! We at Apologetics Research Society are excited to announce the production of an educational program toward a certificate in Christian Apologetics. Participants in the program will receive a thorough introduction into all important aspects of defending the faith and explaining reasons for belief in the Bible and in Jesus Christ. The topics chosen and the information used will be appropriate to the cultures in which we minister. The program will not be for the faint-hearted. It will require a lot of work.
There is more than one kind of person who will benefit greatly from taking any number of the classes or, hopefully, completing the entire program. One is paid and unpaid youth and campus leaders. We are kidding ourselves if we think we can ignore Christian Apologetics and have a thriving youth ministry. Apologetics is essential to support the faith of our youth and campus and perhaps even more vital to bringing faith to the “un-churched.”
Hopefully in the near future the resume of many of those who hope to do campus ministry will include apologetic training. Another group who will be very interested in taking these courses are those whose gift is teaching. Everywhere I travel to visit churches around the world, I find individuals, both men and women, who are passionate about teaching the gospel. They love learning and they are zealous about creating faith in non-believers and building up the faith of those who already believe. Where can they get training? We are offering a means to do so right where these people live. A third group who will love these classes is that group out there—you know who you are—the nerds and geeks who can never get enough of this stuff. You already read books here and there and are always looking for someone to talk to about science, philosophy, history, archaeology and the like. What you need is a systematic approach to broadening your knowledge, coming from sources you can trust not to undermine your faith.
The curriculum of courses for the program is included below. Each class will be taught by a DVD which will be purchased from ARS. The quality of these DVDs will be professional, with multiple camera angles and high quality digital recording. The course work includes mandatory reading, optional reading, quizzes, exams and a paper. All work will be submitted to and graded by us at ARS. The DVDs will be recordings of live classes taught by the instructors all of who are experts in the relevant fields. Our intention is to launch the program January, 2010.
Classes to be offered:
1. Intro to Christian Apologetics/ The Existence of God/Philosophical Basis 10 hrs
a. The need for Christian Apologetics
b. Apologetics and Evangelism
c. Monotheism.
d. Philosophical arguments.
e. Moral argument.
f. Teleological argument.
Instructors: Douglas Jacoby, John Oakes
2. Inspiration of the Bible I/Authority 10 hrs
a. Inspiration, Inerrancy, Definitions and defense.
b. Defense of Christian theology (very basic, see class #10 below).
c. Supposed contradictions of fact and doctrine.
d. Consistency and unity of the Bible as a whole.
f. The Bible is the greatest book of….
g. How We Got the Bible, Canon of OT, NT
Instructor: John Oakes
3. Inspiration of Bible II The Bible and Textual Criticism 10 hrs
a. History of Biblical Criticism
b. Textual Criticism, Form Criticism, etc…
c. Response and defense of the unity and inspiration of the Bible.
Instructor: Glenn Giles
4. Science and God/Science and the Bible. 10 hrs.
a. Age of earth/universe.
b. Creation of life.
c. Anthropic Principle/Intelligent Design
d. Biological and human evolution.
e. The flood and “flood geology.”
f. Science and the Bible.
g. Science and other religions.
Instructor: John Oakes
5. Prophecy. 10 hrs.
a. Messianic
b. Kingdom of God
c. Other (especially Daniel)
d. Types, foreshadows and prefigures
Instructor: John Oakes
6. World View and World Religions. 10 hrs
a. Greek and other ancient ideas.
b. Eastern religions.
c. Islam.
d. Scientific Materialism and Postmodernism.
d. Christian worldview.
Instructor: Bob Kurka
7. History, Archaeology and the Bible. 10 hrs
a. World History and the Old Testament.
b. Old Testament archaeology.
c. New Testament archaeology.
Proposed instructor: John Wilson
8. Jesus and Christian Apologetics/Miracles 10 hrs
a. The deity of Jesus.
b. Liar, Lord, Lunatic, Legend.
c. Claims of Jesus.
d. The historical Jesus
e. Science and miracles.
f. OT miracles
g. The miracles of Jesus
h. Incarnation, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus
Proposed instructor: John Oakes (guest lecturer: Foster Stanback)
9. World Religions. 10 hours
a. Scope of the topic.
b. Greek and other classical religious concepts.
c. Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikkhism, Jaina, Eastern Religion
d. New Age.
e. Islam
10. Defense of Biblical Theology vs. Atheists.
a. Problem of Pain and Suffering.
b. Trinity
c. Predestination/Free Will/Doctrine of Salvation
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More information can be found at http://www.evidenceforchristianity.org/index.php?option=com_custom_content&task=view&id=5020, or Contact John Oakes at john.oakes@gcccd.edu
