LIBERTY UNIVERSITY JOHN W. RAWLINGS SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
Biblical Foundations and Models for Contemporary Apologetics
A Paper Submitted to
the Faculty of the School of Divinity
in Candidacy for the Degree of
Doctor of Education in Christian Leadership (Ed. D) Department of Christian Leadership and
Church Ministries
By
Mary Gracias
Lynchburg, Virginia
4/2022
Biblical Foundations and Models for Contemporary Apologetics
Despite its prominence historically, apologetics is seen as controversial in many Christian
circles. Where practiced, contemporary apologetics is often characterised by a neglect of
biblical foundations and models. This workshop seeks to identify, explore and apply such key
biblical material. The focus will be on Acts 17:16-34 as a relevant case study.
1. Introduction
1.1 Defining apologetics
Every belief/worldview has its apologists. Christian apologetics may be described as the
rational justification of Christian truth claims over against specific questions, objections and
alternatives, in order to establish 'the epistemic permission' and 'the epistemic obligation' of
the Christian faith for both Christians and non-Christians.
1.2 The need for biblical foundations and models
There is a widespread unease with apologetics in contemporary theology, despite its
prominence historically as a theological discipline. Wherever practised, however, contemporary
apologetics seems largely to be characterised by a neglect of biblical foundations and models.
2. Identifying biblical apologetic models
The definition presented above is an helpful tool for the identification of apologetic
material in the Bible.
2.1 … over against specific questions
The ministry of Jesus provides the key model, e.g. as expressed in the Gospel of John.
2.2 … over against specific objections
Both the ministry of Jesus and the ministry of the apostles dealt with objections to the
beliefs in one God and one Lord (1 Corinthians 8:5-6). An informative example is Acts 26:24-29.
2.3 … over against specific alternatives
The Old Testament prophets, Jesus and the apostles lived in pluralistic contexts of
competing truth claims. The Book of Acts provides a number of examples of how the early
church had to deal with significant alternative worldviews:
"Of three main types of Christian apologetic in the second century Luke provides first-
century prototypes: apologetic in relation to pagan religion (Christianity is true; paganism is
false); apologetic in relation to Judaism (Christianity represents the fulfillment of true Judaism);
apologetic in relation to the political authorities (Christianity is innocent of any offence against
Roman law)." (F. F Bruce)
2.4 The Book of Acts as apologetics – with Acts 17:16-34 as a key model
The Book of Acts should be understood as apologetics, written for Christians with the dual
intention to provide them both with confirmation of the truth of their Christian faith and with
apologetic tools and models for reaching outsiders. This is a credible literary context for Acts
17:16-34 as an apologetic model.
3. Exploring biblical apologetic models: Acts 17:16-34
3.1 The principles
When exploring a biblical passage which is related to apologetics at least three questions
need to be asked:
1. What kind of text? Is it an Old Testament or a New Testament passage? Is it a narrative,
didactive or poetic text?
2. What kind of context? Which questions, objections and/or alternatives do we find in the
text? Are there any comparable contexts (i.e. from then to now)?
3. What kind of content? Is the Christian response to be considered in terms of : a)
normative worldview content? b) a recommendable approach? c) a positive, repeatable
pattern? – or d) possibly a negative model?
3.2 Acts 17:16-34 as a case
This Lucan passage has a number of significant apologetic features:
1. Luke describes Paul as an apologist steeped in a genuinely Judeo-Christian worldview in
the midst of the challenging pluralistic and pagan context of Athens.
2. Luke probably describes Paul as an apologist who gradually sees the need for a proactive
approach in agora contexts.
3. Luke implicitly describes Paul as a Christian apologist with a contextual understanding of
relevant questions, objections and alternatives in Athens to his claims about ‘Jesus and the
Resurrection’.
4. Luke describes Paul as an apologist with an awareness of and an ability to apply
appropriate justification procedures in various contexts, relative to whether people have any
knowledge of the Old Testament Scriptures and/or belief in the Old Testament Scriptures as
authoritative.
5. Luke describes Paul before the Areopagus as a ‘proactive’ Christian apologist who starts
with the beliefs of the Athenians and ‘positively deconstructs’ these beliefs.
6. Luke describes Paul as a Christian apologist with an overall argument before the
Areopagus, where he moves from arguments about the credibility of a Judeo-Christian natural
theology through the plausibility and implications of God’s ultimate authority to the significance
and evidence of the Resurrection.
7. Luke presents Paul as an apologist with the argument that, whereas natural theologies
such as Stoicism and Epicureanism contain elements of truth, a Judeo-Christian natural
theology provides the most adequate view of God, the universe and humanity.
8. Luke presents Paul as an apologist with the argument that the claim that the Judeo-
Christian God has ultimate authority – as expressed in the claims about his final judgment – a) is
plausible, since he is the Creator and Sustainer, and b) constitutes an appropriate basis for
claims about ‘the epistemic obligation’ of the Christian faith.
9. Luke presents Paul as an apologist with an argument about the historical Resurrectionof
Jesus – as resonating with ultimate human concerns, as indicating the uniqueness and authority
of Jesus, and as being based on sufficient, available evidence.
10. Luke presents Paul as an apologist with a threefold apologetic aim: to interest, to
persuade and to confront.
4. Applying biblical apologetic models: Acts 17:16-34.
A number of Christian theologians and apologists claim that philosophical and popular
postmodernism – with scepticism, relativism and hedonism as key components – constitutes a
major contemporary ‘worldview challenge’ to Christian truth claims. If so, the relevance of the
Acts 17 model need to be assessed in the light of this influential challenge. Such an assessment
would lead to the following conclusions.
The truth claims in the Acts 17 model remain valid and relevant also in the contemporary
context as the defining content of a Christian worldview. The general emphases in Acts 17
regarding contextual understanding, application of appropriate justification procedures and
‘positive deconstruction’ of alternative worldviews seem valid and relevant in any context. The
common contextual features of biblical illiteracy and pluralism point to the relevance of Paul’s
specific apologetic approach to the contemporary postmodern challenge. Paul’s arguments
may be seen as potentially relevant, but need to be further developed contextually, if they are
to be seen as properly valid over against philosophical and popular postmodernism. Paul’s aims
seem relevant and valid in a postmodern context, if properly applied and when seen as
complementary.
These conclusions indicate that the content, the approach, the arguments, and the aims of
the apologetic model in Acts 17:16-34 may justifiably be seen as valid and relevant for
contemporary apologetics in comparable ‘agora contexts’, at least in relation to the
postmodern challenge.
Some definitions:
Positive deconstruction: Positive deconstruction is the critical analysis of a given worldview
on the basis of three criteria of truth: 1) consistency and coherence, 2) correspondence with
reality (or the known facts), and 3) pragmatic relevance or adequacy. This deconstruction has
the positive aim of helping people to discover truth and error in their underlying beliefs and
thus prepare the way for a proclamation and defence of the truth of the Gospel. (Nick Pollard)
Natural theology: “General revelation is the traits of the author reflected in his product,
the fingerprint of the potter in the clay, so to speak, whereas the arguments of natural theology
are the human products of men’s rational reflection upon general revelation.” (William Lane
Craig)
Popular postmodernism: “Postmodernism moves beyond the ‘modern’, scientifically based
view of the world by blending a scepticism about technology, objectivity, absolutes, and total
explanations with a stress on image and appearance, personal interpretation, pleasure and the
exploration of every spiritual and material perspective.” (E. David Cook)
Philosophical postmodernism: “1. The first question postmodernism addresses, is not
what is there or how we know what is there but how language functions to construct meaning
itself. In other words, there has been a shift in ‘first things’ from being to knowing to
constructing meaning… 2. The truth about the reality itself is forever hidden from us. All we can
do is tell stories… 3. All narratives mask a play for power. Any one narrative used as a
metanarrative is oppressive… 4. Human beings make themselves who they are by the languages
they construct about themselves… 5. Ethics, like knowledge, is a linguistic construct. Social good
is whatever society takes it to be… 6. The cutting edge of culture is literary theory…” (James W.
Sire)
Resources
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Cowan, S.B. 2000. Five Views on Apologetics. Contributors: William Lane Craig, Gary R.
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