The Current State Of Evangelical Apologetics: Advances, Future Prospects, And Concerns -- By: Gary R. Habermas

Journal: Faith and Mission
Volume: FM 24:4 (NA 2008)
Article: The Current State Of Evangelical Apologetics: Advances, Future Prospects, And Concerns
Author: Gary R. Habermas


The Current State Of Evangelical Apologetics: Advances, Future Prospects, And Concerns

Gary Habermas

Chairman, Department of Philosophy and Theology
Distinguished Research Professor of Apologetics and Philosophy,
Liberty University

Thank you, Dr. Bush, for the invitation on behalf of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, this time to lecture on behalf of the Center for Faith and Culture.1 It is always a privilege as well as an enjoyment to visit your campus, and I appreciate the opportunity to do so.

I have known Dr. Bush for about twenty-five years. He has been an excellent friend, a wise counselor, as well as a tremendous scholar. Further, two of my brothers studied under Dr. Bush many years ago, and he prepared them not only to love the truth, but also to love people in their ministry. After all these years, it is simply wonderful to continue to witness Dr. Bush’s ongoing testimony and to find him still serving the Lord. It is always nice to see Cindy Bush again, as well.

My topic today was suggested by Dr. Bush. But this is a good subject for contemplation: What advances has evangelical apologetics made in the past few decades? I thought of beginning with a semi-provocative statement, such as: “Evangelical apologetics has arrived” or at least, “it is arriving.” Having started with a possible overstatement, there are some exciting things happening today. Much of it has had a world-wide impact, both intellectually as well as practically.

But along with the positive developments come some warnings. So I would like to begin by outlining six areas where I think evangelical apologetics has made some incredible strides in recent years. Then I want to issue a warning regarding four potential problem areas that evangelical apologetics may perhaps be either struggling with at present, or that it may potentially face in the future. On the latter, I would like to sound a little bit of an alarm and just say, “Be careful.”

Since I cannot address in detail all of these issues, I am going to simply mention a few details of each and then move on. There are wonderful resource persons on this campus. Two of them are sitting right here in front (Russ Bush and Bruce Little), and there are many other professors around here who can steer you further into these subjects. I would also invite you to visit my website (www.garyhabermas.com) for additional details, including a number of debates, dialogues, lectures, essays, and a couple of books. Nothing is for sale on the website. I hope you make good use of the items, because they are there for the

sake of learning...

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