A Very Brief Meditation on Apologetics
I have mixed feelings on the role of apologetics in the Christian faith. On the one hand, it can help us to clear away some conceptual clutter, to hone in on the ultimate questions that we're trying to answer. It also can help us to analyze why people believe (or don't believe) in God, the divinity of Jesus, the authority of the Bible, etc. However, apologetics is often based on setting up a stack of reasonable arguments — arguments that fall apart if one can pull out the card at the bottom of the stack. Such is the frailty of human thought.
A friend of mine recently expressed derision at those who spend their time poking holes in theological arguments, asserting that such people were merely smug, self-satisfied intellectuals, who felt that they had all of life's questions figured out within the confines of their narrow (sub-)discipline. While I empathize with my friend's annoyance at arrogant intellectuals, I replied that whether one is arrogant has nothing to do with the veracity of his/her argument. (After all, there are plenty of Christians who are smug, self-satisfied, and arrogant — I'm sure that some would say I'm one of them.) If an apologist endeavors to enter the fray of modern, Enlightenment-inspired debate, then he/she needs to be prepared to deal with the punches. Complaining that one's opponent is smug merely sidesteps the questions (and inadvertently makes the opponent's arguments sound stronger).
Apologetics can help to provide some of the structure behind faith, but it cannot (and should not) become the totality of one's faith. While faith doesn't have to be blind, it is not based on modern, empirical notions of evidence. By definition (Heb 11:1), faith demands adherence apart from worldly notions of absolute proof.
Unfortunately (for those who want their spiritual lives wrapped up neatly in a pretty bow), our faith is influenced by intellectual study, relationships with other believers, and the work of the Holy Spirit. If we conducted an honest excavation of faith, then we would realize that it is a far more holistic (messy?) experience than a single apologetic can explain.
posted by Kevin O'Donovan @ 22:39
1 comments
1 Comments:
I think that apologetics is a blind alley. It is primarily consumed not by people of other faiths, to whom it is ostensibly directed, but internally by Christians who like to argue with their friends and relatives. It doesn't work very well because it presumes what does not exist, namely a univerasl, commensurate discourse of shared principles and presuppositions. If we all shared that world then it might be helpful because one could by logic make one's case. But if the person you are arguing with has a compleletely different set of presuppostions about reality than you do, you first have to convince that person that his or her understanding of reality is wrong. But that is usually impossible to do because for most people, reality simply IS and is not susceptible to anything other than minor modifications, in much the same way as it is very difficult to become fluent in another language once one attains adulthood (for language is a primary shaper of reality). So I have little use for apologetics myself.
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