Journal: Global Journal of Classical Theology
Volume: GJCT 18:2 (Nov 2021)
Article: American Christian Juridical Apologists 1850–1947
Author: Phillip E. Johnson

American Christian Juridical Apologists 1850–1947

Philip Johnson

Philip Johnson is a visiting lecturer in apologetics at Morling College, New South Wales. He has co-authored several books including Taboo or To Do?, The Cross is Not Enough, Beyond the Burning Times, and Jesus and the gods of the new age. Previous essays of his have appeared in the Global Journal of Classical Theology.

Abstract: Public lectures and sermons, as well as books and essays, based on juridical apologetics topics developed as a popular feature of American Christian evangelism for a century following Simon Greenleaf’s The Testimony of the Evangelists. This essay presents a tabulated list of one hundred and twenty-two juridical apologists in the USA from 1850–1947. Many of those listed have been overlooked in previous discussions. The bulk of the bibliographical data is derived from newspapers which announced apologetic sermons and lectures, summarised them as news items, or published the entire text of the apologist’s presentation. The table is prefaced by a brief outline of topical matters which forms embryonic data for an unwritten chapter in the history of this apologetic genre in the USA.

A bio-bibliographical list of ninety-two Christian juridical apologists (1600–2000AD) was published in 2002.1 Tabulated below are a hundred and twenty-two apologists just in the USA (1850–1947). This genre is characterised by legal reasoning, jural analogies, similes, and metaphors. Some apologists use the common-law tradition’s civil standard of proof (balance of probabilities) or the criminal standard (proof beyond reasonable doubt).2 Like Simon Greenleaf, some cite legal textbook authorities or case-law. Others use legal rhetoric without technical standards for proof.3 Apologists include qualified practitioners (lawyers, judges, legal academics) and non-lawyers.

Ross Clifford pointed to several frontiers for research.4 William Broughton’s (1937–2013) concise narrative suffered from gaps and misunderstandings.5 The interest of legal historians in Greenleaf and Francis Wharton may encourage further research.6

American apologists from 1850–1947 inherited a British-European tradition which crossfertilised epistemology, theology, historiography, and jurisprudence. It included Francis Bacon’s inductive reasoning, John Locke’s empiricism, Thomas Reid’s Common Sense Philosophy and Christian-Deist de...