Brian Auten over at Apologetics315 has put together an essay series called Is Christianity True? together into a free e-book. It includes and essay that I wrote looking at the uniqueness of Christianity among the […]
Category: Christian Apologetics Blog
I have actually been involved in Christian apologetics longer than I have been a follower of Jesus. After a period of being an atheist, but before committing to follow Jesus, I would present the evidence for God to other skeptics.
Since becoming a Christian, apologetics has been very important to me. My first book was in the area of apologetics. Even though my full-time job is as the pastor of a local church, I integrate Christian apologetics into my pastoral ministry.
I believe that apologetics is important both for seekers who are considering Jesus and for Christians who seek to be more confident in their faith. This blog focuses on Christian apologetics and I hope that you will find my posts helpful.
Clay Jones on the Jesus Myth Theory
Clay Jones on his blog recently addressed the Jesus myth, which argues that Jesus never existed and that the story was based on pagan myths. Since that is of interest to me, I thought I […]
Case For the Trinity
The AnsweringIslam web-site has a nice article on the development of the doctrine of the Trinity by K. Dayton Hartman. While the web-site is aimed as responding to Muslims, this article is useful for anyone […]
Review of the Theology of John’s Gospels and Letters
My review of Andreas Kostenberger’s Theology of John’s Gospels and Letters is now up at the Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism. You can find the review here.
Is Christianity True? Podcast
A while back, Brian Auten and Apologetics 315 sponsored a series entitled Is Christianity True? I participated in this series with an essay on a comparison of Christianity with other ancient religions. This series has […]
Was Jesus Really Crucified?
There is an article on the CNN Belief blog calling into question whether or not Jesus was really crucified. You can read the post here. What is different about this is that the scholar identifies […]
Surprised By Hope
N.T. Wright‘s Surprised By Hope is one of the best books that I have read in a long time. I had read his Resurrection of the Son of God, which is much more scholarly, but […]
Bible and Archaeology
I enjoyed this article from Time about Bible and Archaeology. Most conservative Christians would love to see archaeology prove every verse of the Bible to be true. Many skeptics would love to see archaeology disprove […]
Why Doesn’t God Do Something?
We just had a Bible study at church that led to a common conversation: There is so much suffering in the world, so why doesn’t God do something? This is a frequent criticism of Christianity. […]
The Devil’s Delusion
I recently finished David Berlinski’s The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions. This is not your typical evangelical Christian response to the new atheism. David Berlinski is a secular Jew who writes as a […]
Apologetic Value of N.T. Wright
I happen to quite like the work of N.T. Wright and even considered at one point looking at the work of N.T. Wright as the subject of my doctoral dissertation. I find his work inspiring […]
Review of Cicero: On Divination
My first review for the Review of Biblical Literature has just come online. I reviewed Cicero’s On Divination Book One. I found this to be a very helpful book in understanding Roman religion around the […]
Good New Testament Podcast
I have been listening lately to a very good New Testament podcast. It is by biblical scholar Mark Goodacre. I do not necessarily agree with everything he teaches but he has some great things to […]
Mormons and the Great Apostasy
Our next section looks at the concept of the Great Apostasy. According to Mormons, soon after the death of Jesus, the church fell into a great apostasy. Reformers such as Luther and Calvin knew there […]
Mormons and the Blessing of Families
Mormons stress the importance of families as seen in their comments about the Gospel That Blesses Families. This is one of the areas in which Mormons are strong. Even if people have theological questions about […]
Mormons and the Heavenly Father
Mormons proclaim that God is your loving Heavenly Father. No Christian would disagree with that statement. While there is something suspicious with the reasoning that God is Father because he is father of our spirits, […]
The Bacchae
I just finished reading Euripides play The Bacchae. This is a very important ancient writing as it is one of our best texts for understanding the Dionysus cult. This is of importance to me as […]
Reasonable Faith
I recently started listening the Reasonable Faith podcasts by William Lane Craig. I found them quite enjoyable and helpful. They are mix of answers to questions sent in and portions of debates with background on […]
Audio Course on Islam
Islam is becoming a religion that people need to know about. Muslims are not people from a far and distant land but likely your friends and neighbours. There are some pretty bad resources out there […]
When Athens Met Jerusalem
It is important for Christians to understand our Jewish heritage. It is equally important for us to understand our Greek heritage. There is a reason why the New Testament was written in Greek. Even Judaism […]
New Testament and Mythology
I have been meaning to read something by Rudolf Bultmann for some time and I finally got around to reading a collection of his essays entitled New Testament and Mythology. I have encountered a number […]
Knowing Christ Today – Review
Some time back I gave a short review of Dallas Willard’s Knowing Christ Today. You can read my full review in the McMaster Journal of Theology and Ministry here.
John Piper on the Prosperity Gospel
nuChristian
A few months ago, I read an interesting book called unChristian written by David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. It dealt with the perceptions that people outside the church felt toward the church and Christianity. It […]
Wright and Dunn on the New Perspective
I must confess that I have not taken a position on the new perspective on Paul. I think that there are some important correctives raised by the new perspective scholars but I am not yet […]
Facts on Islam Worldwide
CNN reports on an interesting story about how many Muslims there are and where they live. There are some surprising statistics that break some of the misconceptions that people have about Islam. It is good […]
Is Open Theism a Heresy?
I was recently listening to an audio course on apologetics that made the brief comment that open theism is a modern heresy. What is open theism? Open theism is an attempt to remove Greek philosophical […]
Who is the Father of Jesus Christ?
Let me put my cards on the table: I believe Jesus to be the Son of God and that his human father was Joseph, the husband of Mary. Why do I believe that Jesus is […]
Why Do I Believe in the Virgin Birth?
There has been quite a conversation about the virgin birth on my post comparing the virgin birth of Laozi and I thought it was time to take it to a new post. I would like […]
Biblical Archaeology Review
One of the resources that I have grown to appreciate is the magazine Biblical Archaeology Review (BAR). Ironically, I first encountered BAR from a person who was very critical of Christianity as I debated on […]
Portable Seminary
I recently read a book called the Portable Seminary: A Master’s Level Overview in One Volume. The idea is that it covers all of the topics that could come up in seminary. Of course the […]
Mystery Religions
Samuel Angus’ Mystery Religions is an older but still interesting book on ancient mystery religions. One of the things that I like about this book is that it does not just describe the religions but […]
Knowing Christ Today
I just finished reading an excellent book: Dallas Willard’s Knowing Christ Today. Willard is an incredible writer and thinker. He brings philosophy, theology and biblical studies to bear on relevant issues and leaves the reader […]
Did Jesus Exist?
Among Christians, it is common to think of a trilemma in regards to the identity of Jesus. In part inspired by C.S. Lewis, the trilemma suggests that there are three options for the identity of […]
Losing Christianity
I recently wrote a review article on Bart Ehrman’s Misquoting Jesus and Lost Christianities which has just been published in the McMaster Journal of Theology and Ministry. You can find the article entitled: “Losing Christianity: […]
Christology of Early Jewish Christianity
My New Testament professor at McMaster Divinity College during my M.Div. days and one of my readers for my M.Th. thesis was a scholar named Richard Longenecker. He was a great teacher and I can […]
Top Ten Problems With the Jesus Myth Theory
As I sit here watching the documentary on Tom Harpur’s Pagan Christ, I find myself reminded of all the problems that I see in the Jesus myth theory. I will share my top ten problems […]
Meri, Mary and the Mother of the Saviour
A recent comment on this blog asked about the Egyptian Meri as a name for Isis as a connection to Mary the mother of Jesus. If you Google Meri and Mary you will find dozens […]
Laozi, Jesus and the Virgin Birth
One of the most common arguments of the Jesus myth hypothesis is that the virgin birth of Jesus in the Gospels is just another version of the many virgin births in other religions. When one […]
The Late Dating of the Gospels
I have been listening to a podcast by York University professor Philip Harland and have been enjoying it. I disagree with about 25% of what he says but there are enough good insights for it […]
Misquoting Truth
I recently finished reading Timothy Paul Jones’ Misquoting Truth: A Guide to the Fallacies of Bart Ehrman’s Misquoting Jesus. Despite the title, it is in fact a response to both Misquoting Jesus and Lost Christianities. […]
Fabricating Jesus Review
My full review of Craig Evans’ Fabricating Jesus has now been published in the McMaster Journal of Theology and Ministry. You can read the review here.
Yahweh vs Allah
I found a great mp3 on the different conceptions of God in Christianity and Islam including a look at the unity and Trinity of God. You can find it here. The lecture is by Andy […]
Misquoting Jesus
I recently read Bart Ehrman’s Misquoting Jesus: The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why. In some ways, Ehrman should be commended for this book. He took what is to many people the very […]
The Apologist’s Evening Prayer
From all my lame defeats and oh! much more From all the victories that I seemed to score; From cleverness shot forth on Thy behalf At which, while angels weep, the audience laugh; From all […]
The Quest of the Historical Jesus
I finally got around to reading book I have been interested in for some time: The Quest of the Historical Jesus by Albert Schweitzer. Schweitzer (1875-1965) was an incredible individual with doctorates in theology, medicine […]
Bart Ehrman and N.T. Wright on Suffering
The Beliefnet web-site has a very interesting “blogalogue” between Bart Ehrman and N.T. Wright on the issue of suffering. Both are respected biblical scholars but Ehrman is a former evangelical who has left the faith […]
Is Jesus the Archangel Michael?
One of the distinctives of the Jehovah’s Witnesses is their belief that Jesus is not God but is rather the archangel Michael. They derive this from the following passage. “For the Lord himself, with a […]
Bocking at the Jesus Seminar
The web-site www.bethinking.org has a great lecture by Darrell Bock on the Jesus Seminar. I enjoy Darrell’s work and I read his blog regularly. Dr. Bock teaches New Testament at a conservative seminary (Dallas Theological […]
Why the Trinity Makes Sense
Groups such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses sometimes point out that the Trinity is never mentioned in the Bible and yet traditional Christianity uses the Trinity as one of its major tests of orthodoxy. Could the […]
Divinity By Decree: Part Two
Did Jesus receive his divinity by a vote at the Council of Nicaea? In part one of this discussion, we looked at Jewish monotheism and saw that there was some flexibility within that monotheism that […]
The Bible and Pagan Holidays
The subject of holidays with pagan origins came up recently in our discussion on Jehovah’s Witnesses. I mentioned that I consider this a “Samaritan” issue, that is a nonessential. However, I would like to pursue […]
Virgin Birth
How much of the Gospel accounts about Jesus are historical? What actually happened in Jesus’ life and what was the invention of the Gospel writers? E.P. Sanders says in his book The Historical Figure of Jesus, […]
Testamonium Flavianum
When we look for the evidence of the historical Jesus, we must spend time dealing with the first century Jewish historian Josephus. Josephus wrote a number of books including one called the Antiquities of the […]
Fabricating Jesus
I just finished reading Craig A. Evans’ Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels. This was one of the best books on apologetics that I have ever read. Evans tackles the Jesus Seminar, John […]
Josephus, John the Baptist and the Historical Jesus
The idea that Jesus was not a historical figure stubbornly remains in some areas. Is there truly any historical evidence for Jesus? There most definitely is. Some of the best non-biblical evidence comes from the […]
Gospel of Judas
My co-author on Unmasking the Pagan Christ, Stan Porter, was recently on the Drew Marshall Show, a Christian radio talk show. Stan co-wrote a book on the Gospel of Judas with the church history professor […]
The Muslim Jesus
There seems to be no lack of Jesus movies but a new one has come out that should capture some attention. It is called the Messiah and it was made by Iranian filmmaker Nader Talebzadeh. […]
The Jesus Myth
One of my interests is the claim that Jesus was not a historical figure but rather just another myth. Despite my interest, I must confess a certain level of frustration. In many ways it is a […]
Origen of the Problem
When writers attempt to revise the meaning of Christianity, imposing their own radical views, one of the ancient authors that they are often drawn to is the Alexandrian scholar Origen. Origen lived 185-254 AD, was […]
What is a Cult?
It was commented that my use of the category ‘cult’ for Christian Science is not the most helpful for dialogue. I must confess that in the past I have been uncomfortable with that term as […]
Divinity By Decree: Part One
One of the things that I have encountered from time to time is the claim that Jesus received his divinity by vote at the Council of Nicaea (325 AD). For many Christians it seems preposterous […]
Christian Science is Not Christian
We are very fortunate in our area to have a very high quality Christian radio station called Life 100.3. I enjoy the station but I was shocked this morning. At the end of their news […]
Paul and the Historical Jesus
One of the things that I get frustrated with is the claim that the Apostle Paul never spoke of the historical Jesus. If this is true, it leaves wide open the claim that the early […]
Apologetics and the Emerging Church
As part of my studies with the Arrow Leadership Program, I am doing some reading on the emerging church, specifically the book, Emerging Churches: Creating Christian Community in Postmodern Cultures by Eddie Gibbs and Ryan […]