Apologetics is a word that both attracts and repels: we are drawn to the idea that we would be able to give a decisively persuasive account of the beauty, truth, and goodness of the Christian life; yet we are also perplexed at a conversation that so often turns on intricate and obscure questions that have very little to do with why we believe or how we live the life of discipleship.
The more apologetics came to mean answering difficult philosophical questions about the faith, the more it became the province of the specialist. And yet more hearts were not turned, more ground was not gained by these philosophical nuances. Christianity is still viewed as illogical at best and spiteful at worst by those outside the faith.
This is because, in tackling the questions set to us by doubters rather than attending to the heart out of which those questions arose, we were deluding into missing the point and attacking straw men. The unbeliever who asks about Hell is not, in the first instance, concerned with the integrity of Christian doctrine, but with something more fundamental, elemental, and personal.
To hear and speak to these inner questions of the heart will require ears skilled at sympathetic listening, ears that are slow to judge and quick to comfort. This course will take you through the core principles of a new approach to apologetics, one whose only prerequisite is a heart touched by the grace of God. Along the way, we will touch upon some of the more commonly raised issues with the faith and consider ways to unearth what really lies behind those questions."
Class Structure:
Meets 2 hours once a week for 8 weeks over Zoom. (There's no outside reading) Zoom class meetings: Satursdays, 9:00 - 11:00 am CST
