Worldview Basics Part 4: Apologetics Prep

This Dicta sets forth Part 4 of a multi-part series that presents pithy Worldview building blocks outlined in bitesize digestible portions.  These will be tools for your toolboxes.  Today we discuss apologetics and its relationship to reason.  We trust this toolset will edify you as together we Inform the public, Equip the church, and Protect the future.

Just “Google it”.  Or if you must, consult Wikipedia.  Perhaps there’s an Instagram take on it, or, should you have the time, watch a 6-minute YouTube video, OR if you really have the time, a 20 minute Ted-Talk might do the trick, perhaps while enjoying fast food.

We do live in a culture of instant access to many things.  And unfortunately, we often equate instant access with instant solutions.  They are not the same.  And yet, we should be grateful for these instant access tools.  However, instant access does not always translate into instant intelligence, nor competence.  Let’s get to the gist.

The Apologetic Command

Christians need to grasp that apologetics is not a spiritual condiment; it’s a command.  Apologetics is not mustard or relish that one can take or leave while eating a hot dog.  Apologetics is a command – a “must include” – for the viable Christian life.  Peter’s description of the apologetic task makes this plain:

But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.[1]

Note carefully: First, doing apologetics is commanded.  Doing apologetics is not optional nor something that can be ignored; again, it’s not a condiment.  Second, it’s a command generally applicable to all. Peter includes this command in his general epistle addressing all peoples, contexts, geographies, and timeframes, commanding them to do apologetics.  Just like honoring father and mother applies across the board, so too does doing apologetics – it’s a general command and cannot be shirked by claiming it’s really “only for” or exclusively the province of, academics, or clergy,[2] or “smart guys.”

Thirdly, this command cannot be faithfully discharged absent preparation.  Put differently, obeying this command is twofold:  one must first become prepared and only then can he rightly “do apologetics.”  How best to become prepared?  Well, as the introduction here hinted, there is no instant solution or instant formula.  It’s takes decided effort and that effort will take time.  And, one way to “get there” – that is, becoming prepared – is to consume good materials that explain and illustrate good apologetics in action.

Becoming Prepared

To that end, the following titles are offered without commentary.  Each provides some key aspects of what it means to do apologetics faithfully.  Naturally, there could be many subsets of how to address particular apologetic issues such as the right to life,[3] human sexuality,[4] the reliability of the biblical texts,[5] the historical veracity of biblical history[6] etc.  However, each of these must be instantiated within a general biblical worldview and a faithful apologetic methodology. The materials that follow frame the apologetic task and method faithfully.  And to be clear, one need not consume, let alone master all of them to get prepared – but everyone needs the apologetic basics. These materials provide those preparatory on-ramps in verifying degrees.

General Worldview Readings

Peter Jones, One or Two:  Seeing a World of Difference (2010)

Peter Jones, The Other Worldview:  Exposing Christianity’s Greatest Threat (2015)

P. Andrew Sandlin, Creational Worldview:  An Introduction (2020)

James Sire, The Universe Next Door:  A Basic Worldview Catalogue (2020)

Francis Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto (1980)

John Stonestreet and Brett Kunkel, A Practical Guide to Culture:  Helping the Next Generation Navigate Today’s World (2017)

Albert M. Wolters, Creation Regained:  Biblical Basics for a Reformational Worldview (1985)

J. Gresham Machen, Christianity and Liberalism (new edition, 2009)

Introductory Apologetic Readings

Greg L. Bahnsen, Always Ready: Directions for Defending the Faith (2011)

John M. Frame, Apologetics to the Glory of God:  An Introduction (2012)

Richard L. Pratt, Every Thought Captive:  A Study Manual for the Defense of the Faith (1980)

Robert L. Reymond, The Justification of Knowledge (1984)

Advanced Apologetic Readings

Cornelius Van Til, The Defense of the Faith (1955, 2008)

Greg L. Bahnsen, Van Til’s Apologetic:  Readings and Analysis (1998)

Craig Gay, The Way of the (Modern) World, or Why It’s Temping to Live as If God Doesn’t Exist (1998)

Christopher Watkin, Biblical Critical Theory:  How the Bible’s Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture (2022)

E.R Geehan (ed.)  Jerusalem and Athens: Critical Discussions on the Philosophy and Apologetics of Cornelius Van Til (1980)

As the author to Hebrews both encourages and admonishes us:

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits.[7]

Let’s commit to preparing to obey this command.  And, please pray for TxC as we equip the church to do so.

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[1] 1 Peter 3:14-16

[2] In fact, clergy who lack “apologetic chops” lack the qualifications to be ordained servants.  Titus 1:9:  The elder candidate MUST “hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.”

[3] Scott Kluensendorf, The Case for Life: Equipping Christians to Engage the Culture (2023) Second Edition)

[4] Robert A. J. Gagnon, The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics (2002); Fortsan and Grams, Unchanging Witness: The Consistent Christian Teaching on Homosexuality in Scripture and Tradition (2026)

[5] Blomberg and Stewart, The Historical Reliability of the New Testament: Countering the Challenges to Evangelical Christian Beliefs (2016)

[6] N.T. Wright, Christian Origins and the Question of God (Four Book series)

[7] Hebrews 5:11-6:3