Justification Of The Legal Apologetic Of John Warwick Montgomery: An Apologetic For All Seasons -- By: Ross Clifford

Journal: Global Journal of Classical Theology
Volume: GJCT 03:1 (Apr 2002)
Article: Justification Of The Legal Apologetic Of John Warwick Montgomery: An Apologetic For All Seasons
Author: Ross Clifford


Justification Of The Legal Apologetic Of
John Warwick Montgomery: An Apologetic For All Seasons

Ross Clifford

Principal, Morling Theological College
Former Solicitor and Barrister, Author and Radio Presenter
New South Wales, Australia

(This paper is a brief abstract from the author’s forthcoming doctoral thesis)

The setting was an ecumenical meeting of ministers. My paper was on the role of apologetics. I started by sharing that I had left the practice of law to study for the Christian ministry at a Baptist Seminary. Within six months I was close to being apostate. My reading of liberal Christian books had led me to a position of renouncing the resurrection and deity of Christ. I had advised the Principal of the Seminary that I would probably be leaving, as I could not in all conscience remain committed to something that I believed to be false. It was then, by chance, that I passed the sale of second hand books. One drew my attention. It was The Law above the Law.1 It was written by a scholar, John Warwick Montgomery, who was a new name to me. It contained a legal defence of the scriptures and, in an appendix; Simon Greenleaf’s legal defence of the New Testament gospel resurrection accounts was reproduced. I read the text carefully and critically, re-read the gospels and re-entered the faith.2 As soon as I had finished this personal anecdote, the man next to me cried out, ‘I’m a Presbyterian minister, a former lawyer, and I had the same problems and doubts at Seminary. The same author (Montgomery), but different book transformed my life at Seminary.’

What follows is a brief justification of Montgomery’s legal apologetic. The legal apologetic has its roots in the historical apologetic for the reliability of the New Testament gospels and the fact of Christ’s resurrection. However, the legal apologetic is an apologetic school in its own right. Montgomery’s legal apologetic brief is most fully set out in Human Rights and Human Dignity with a slightly altered version in Christians in the Public Square.3 James Fairbanks says of Montgomery’s legal apologetic, that it demonstrates ‘why Montgomery enjoys the reputation of being one of the twentieth century’s most renowned Christian apologists’.4 As a lawyer Montgomery initially investigates whether the gospel records of Jesus are historically reliable. Lawyers are experts in the trustworthiness of documents. Then he asks, is the eyewitness testimony in these records, which is offered as proof of the resurrection, solid enough to make a finding of fact on? If the documents and testimony are reli...

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