Sometimes, I have the feeling that most of our apologetic books were written for Christians or teaching Christians to do apologetics...
Very rarely would you find an apologetics book that is specifially addressed to our non-Christian friend, which you could give 'em as a present.
Mere Christianity is one such example. (we did an Alpha follow up based on it)
The Case for Christ... erm, I think the person has got to be very interested to go through all the interviews from Christian experts, but then again, how come experts like Crossan and Borg didnt get in the list?
So I suspect that our fancy apologetics too often are more like 'wushu performances' for audiences than Bruce-Lee-style streetfighting
McLaren's Finding Faith seems to me a brave attempt to reach the unchurched young people. (experimented some frens with mixed results)
A generation before that, Francis Schaeffer's work in L'Abri is a model of conversation, community living and biblical 'honest answers, for honest questions'..
It seems that in those rare occassions where we go on the 'offensive', interesting things happen...
There is a place for apologetics in the lives of believers, to strengthen their faith and help them to reach out. (Check out the Agora Melaka trip)
But we can get too cozy within those walls.. if we dun fling wide the gates, and ride out like Aragorn at the siege of Helm's Deep.
Found the following less-than-sympathetic article tat compares the differences btw McLaren's generous orthodoxy with Schaeffer's escape to reason.
Maybe someone can write one about their similarities later?
Comparison: McLaren & Schaeffer
Very rarely would you find an apologetics book that is specifially addressed to our non-Christian friend, which you could give 'em as a present.
Mere Christianity is one such example. (we did an Alpha follow up based on it)
The Case for Christ... erm, I think the person has got to be very interested to go through all the interviews from Christian experts, but then again, how come experts like Crossan and Borg didnt get in the list?
So I suspect that our fancy apologetics too often are more like 'wushu performances' for audiences than Bruce-Lee-style streetfighting
McLaren's Finding Faith seems to me a brave attempt to reach the unchurched young people. (experimented some frens with mixed results)
A generation before that, Francis Schaeffer's work in L'Abri is a model of conversation, community living and biblical 'honest answers, for honest questions'..
It seems that in those rare occassions where we go on the 'offensive', interesting things happen...
There is a place for apologetics in the lives of believers, to strengthen their faith and help them to reach out. (Check out the Agora Melaka trip)
But we can get too cozy within those walls.. if we dun fling wide the gates, and ride out like Aragorn at the siege of Helm's Deep.
Found the following less-than-sympathetic article tat compares the differences btw McLaren's generous orthodoxy with Schaeffer's escape to reason.
Maybe someone can write one about their similarities later?
Comparison: McLaren & Schaeffer
Comments
Maybe can rub some on the chest too