As part of my exploration of new approaches to apologetics, I’ve been reading through Clifford Williams’ book Existential Reasons for Belief in God. So far, the hardest thing about understanding Williams’ thesis has been getting my head around the difference between an evidential argument for faith that uses needs as evidence of God and the existential argument for faith which … [Read more...]
Sho Baraka, The Gospel, And N**** Island
I wrote in my review of Sho Baraka's Talented 10th about the song "Chapter 9: Jim Crow", a song that featured several unedited use of the word "n*****". A few months have passed since the album dropped but now Sho Baraka is starting to get some heat for this controversial stance. Several bloggers have weighed in with their opinions about the controversial song, some supporting … [Read more...]
Deconstructing Isaiah: Jonathan Cahn's Harbinger
According to amazon.com, Jonathan Cahn's Harbinger is currently #5 in Religion/Mystery, #7 in Theology, and #30 in Religion/Spirituality. If you have not read it, think of The Bible Code or The Da Vinci Code without any cool Hebrew language grids, chase scenes or exotic locations. The narrator meets a mysterious guy who walks him through “harbingers,’ impending signs of doom … [Read more...]
Why Should the Devil Have All the Geek Culture?
To all of you geeks and nerds out there, a round of congratulations is in order. The ridicule and hardship faced in grade school has finally paid off and your culture is now a mainstream phenomenon. Shows like The Big Bang Theory have made it possible for people to not only laugh with but relate to the main nerdy characters. The current video game console generation sells … [Read more...]
The Bible Series: Viewer Discretion Advised
*Spoiler Alert. Even if you've read the Bible, this post contains spoilers, discussing elements found in the TV series that are not found in the Bible. Over the past weeks I’ve turned on the History Channel with over 68 million viewers to watch The Bible, which culminates on Easter Sunday with the death, resurrection, and New Testament era. The mini-series produced by Mark … [Read more...]
Life of Pi: Believing in Everything
"Why not believe in whatever?" - Yann Martel Life of Pi recounts the story of Piscine Molitor Patel, mercifully known as Pi. As a boy, Pi’s mother raises him as a Hindu. When he is fourteen, he begins to follow the teachings of Christianity and then of Islam, believing them all capable of teaching him something important about God. So, Hindu/Christian/Muslim. His father, a … [Read more...]
Step One of Using Pop Culture as a Community Apologist: The "Aha!" Moment
I am convinced that one of the easiest things to do as a Community Apologist is to use pop culture to demonstrate that everyone, everywhere (with the exception of the odd sociopath) has a moral intuition. And once people agree that this intuition exists, the conversation can then turn to why it exists and where it comes from. One of the commenters on my last post asked if I … [Read more...]
Deconstructing Humans
The horror genre has a long history of terrifying us with distortions of humanity. Some of the monsters are inhuman ("Silence of the Lambs," "Saw," "Hostel"). Some are superhuman ("Nightmare on Elm Street," "Halloween"). Others are subhuman ("The Descent," "The Walking Dead"). The subhuman zombies of AMC’s "The Walking Dead" have reanimated a hot philosophical topic: What does … [Read more...]
Renaissance 2.0
A Review of Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, and Meaning, by Nancy Pearcey Nancy Pearcey knows the captivating power of secular ideas because she used to hold them herself. As a teenager, she rejected the religion of her childhood and embraced a host of “ism’s” from moral relativism to scientific determinism to New Age spiritualism. But … [Read more...]
Literary Apologetics: Planet Narnia and The Narnia Code by Michael Ward
It might seem odd to put Planet Narnia (Oxford University Press, 2008) on my list of recommended “literary apologetics” books, since it’s a study of CS Lewis’s use of medieval planetary imagery in the Chronicles of Narnia — not a specifically apologetic work. However, anyone who’s serious about understanding how a story can show forth the truth of the Christian faith would do … [Read more...]