Unapologetic Apologetics: Meeting the Challenges of Theological Studies [Paperback]

William A. Dembski (Editor), Jay W. Richards (Editor), James Parker III (Afterword), Phillip E. Johnson (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 5, 2001

As objective truth has come under suspicion in theological study during recent years, scholars and students have also begun to take less seriously the task of persuading others to believe. Apologetics has been neglected, misunderstood and misrepresented. Unwilling to accept this new status quo, editors William Dembski and Jay Wesley Richards, along with their team of expert contributors, firmly hold that apologetics once again deserves our attention. The editors and contributing scholars, all one-time students at Princeton Theological Seminary, squarely meet some of the most vexing issues in contemporary theological studies

• pervasive contextualism
• the question of error in Scripture
• feminist challenges to our concept of God
• the nature and coherence of the incarnation
• the presumption of universalism
• incursions of science into theology

Taking up in turn foundations, Scripture, Christology, theology and science, the essays comprising Unapologetic Apologetics expose the tenets of naturalism and other philosophical systems that too often permeate theological studies without remark, let alone critique or debate. Dembski, Richards and their contributors expertly administer their cure for false ideas--not quarantine but inoculation. Contributors include Michael D. Bush, Raymond D. Cannata, Gary W. Deddo, William A. Dembski, Matthew Frawley, Phillip E. Johnson, James Parker III and Leslie Zeigler. For seminarians and anyone pursuing theological study, Unapologetic Apologetics will become a trusted guide to the philosophical and cultural forces at work in religious education today.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Dembski and Richards have created what deserves to be called the mother of all seminary peer groups, an apologetics seminar where the tough issues are debated even in front of outside critics." (Phillip E. Johnson (from the foreword) )

"This guide should be required reading not merely for seminary students but for all who are in any way responsible for their care and feeding. It offers valuable insights and much-needed correctives in a straightforward style and with uncompromising conviction. I regret that I graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary before Dembski and Richards helped begin the Princeton apologetics seminar. The stimulating essays they have drawn from the seminar and collected in this volume would have been a welcome supplement to my course work. No seminary-bound evangelical should leave home without this book." (Robert P. Mills, associate editor, The Presbyterian Layman )

"Unapologetic Apologetics is another sign of the coming of David and the doom of Goliath. David represents young, vibrant and unanswerable Christian orthodoxy, while Goliath is the reigning liberal/modernist theological establishment. Here are students at a large, 'leading' seminary making more sense than their professors. Goliath cannot stand for long." (Peter Kreeft, professor of philosophy, Boston College )

"My first reading of Unapologetic Apologetics sent an electric shock through my body. I have been waiting for twenty-five years for someone to write this book, and finally my wait is over! This book is not only a first-rate piece of orthodox Christian scholarship but also an absolutely unique book in its aim and scope. Dembski and Richards address a host of issues--biblical authority; the nature, aim and scope of apologetics; naturalism and its impact on theology and biblical studies; feminism; postmodernism and others--that seminary students and, indeed, Christian leaders must engage if they want to approach their development with an eye on the culture they are called to minister in. This book will be of special interest to those who work on secular college campuses, attend seminary, do graduate or undergraduate work in philosophy or religious studies, or regularly interact with those on the left of the intellectual spectrum. Every evangelical who attends seminary must read this book before he or she graduates." (J. P. Moreland, professor of philosophy, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University )

From the Publisher

My first reading of Unapologetic Apologetics sent an electric shock through my body. I have been waiting for twenty-five years for someone to write this book, and finally my wait is over! This book is not only a first-rate piece of orthodox Christian scholarship but also an absolutely unique book in its aim and scope. Dembski and Richards address a host of issues--biblical authority; the nature, aim and scope of apologetics; naturalism and its impact on theology and biblical studies; feminism; postmodernism; and others--that seminary students and, indeed, Christian leaders must engage if they want to approach their development with an eye on the culture they are called to minister in. This book will be of special interest to those who work on secular college campuses, attend seminary, do graduate or undergraduate work in philosophy or religious studies, or regularly interact with those on the left of the intellectual spectrum. Every evangelical who attends seminary must read this book before he or she graduates.

J. P. Moreland, professor of philosophy, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University

Product Details

• Paperback: 280 pages
• Publisher: IVP Academic (January 5, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0830815635
• ISBN-13: 978-0830815630
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,172,877 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A mathematician and philosopher, William A. Dembski is Research Professor in Philosophy at Southwestern Seminary in Ft. Worth, where he directs its Center for Cultural Engagement. He is also a senior fellow with Discovery Institute's Center for Science and Culture in Seattle. Previously he was the Carl F. H. Henry Professor of Theology and Science at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, where he founded its Center for Theology and Science. Before that he was Associate Research Professor in the Conceptual Foundations of Science at Baylor University, where he headed the first intelligent design think-tank at a major research university: The Michael Polanyi Center.

Dr. Dembski has taught at Northwestern University, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of Dallas. He has done postdoctoral work in mathematics at MIT, in physics at the University of Chicago, and in computer science at Princeton University. A graduate of the University of Illinois at Chicago where he earned a B.A. in psychology, an M.S. in statistics, and a Ph.D. in philosophy, he also received a doctorate in mathematics from the University of Chicago in 1988 and a master of divinity degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1996. He has held National Science Foundation graduate and postdoctoral fellowships.

Dr. Dembski has published articles in mathematics, engineering, philosophy, and theology journals and is the author/editor of more than a dozen books. In The Design Inference: Eliminating Chance Through Small Probabilities (Cambridge University Press, 1998), he examines the design argument in a post-Darwinian context and analyzes the connections linking chance, probability, and intelligent causation. The sequel to The Design Inference appeared with Rowman & Littlefield in 2002 and critiques Darwinian and other naturalistic accounts of evolution. It is titled No Free Lunch: Why Specified Complexity Cannot Be Purchased without Intelligence. Dr. Dembski has edited several influential anthologies, including Uncommon Dissent: Intellectuals Who Find Darwinism Unconvincing (ISI, 2004) and Debating Design: From Darwin to DNA (Cambridge University Press, 2004, co-edited with Michael Ruse). His newest book, The End of Christianity, differs markedly from his others, attempting to understand how the Fall of humanity can be real in light of modern science.

As interest in intelligent design has grown in the wider culture, Dr. Dembski has assumed the role of public intellectual. In addition to lecturing around the world at colleges and universities, he is frequently interviewed on the radio and television. His work has been cited in numerous newspaper and magazine articles, including three front page stories in the New York Times as well as the August 15, 2005 Time magazine cover story on intelligent design. He has appeared on the BBC, NPR (Diane Rehm, etc.), PBS (Inside the Law with Jack Ford; Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson), CSPAN2, CNN, Fox News, ABC Nightline, and the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

[Photo by Laszlo Bencze]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read, March 20, 2001

By 

Rick R (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Unapologetic Apologetics: Meeting the Challenges of Theological Studies (Paperback)

I have not read every essay in this book (yet:) but so far I've been more than impressed and highly recommend this book to anyone interested in a refreshing and thought-provoking look at apologetic issues that face the Christian church. This isn't a Josh McDowell "an ancient scroll has been found in a cave proving that Christ is real" text book. The essays in this book, however, cover a broad range of topics and will help clear up confusion surronding so many troublesome issues. From Cannata's excellent essay on "The History of Apologetics at Princeton Seminary" to Dembski's "The Problem of Error In Scripture," you simply can not afford to wait any longer to purchase this must-read book.

18 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars challenges the old, rehashed status quo, March 13, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Unapologetic Apologetics: Meeting the Challenges of Theological Studies (Paperback)

As a graduate of Yale Divinity School, I relished most of what I read in this book. There are real limits to what only one volume can accomplish. Yet this book will be for many seminarians the beginning of a discussion that will free them from the staid "orthodoxy" that is straitjacketing most mainline Protestant seminaries and strangling the life out of the mainline Protestant denominations.

This "orthodoxy"--that spurns and subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) chastises conservative evangelicals, as well as traditional Anglicans, Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox--often surpasses the uniformity and conformity found in fundamentalist institutions.

Dembski and Richards's plan of how traditional Christian students can be anti-establishment and counter the reigning orthodoxies of contemporary theology, without being triumphalistic or imperialistic, is exciting and will go far in renewing vibrant theological discourse on the campuses of mainline divinity schools, much of which is already going on at places like Yale, which for more than a decade has been actively recruiting evangelical students and faculty members. I hope that this book gains wide currency among young men and women in seminary.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb apologetic resource, July 26, 2001

By 

Tom Hinkle (Tulsa, OK USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Unapologetic Apologetics: Meeting the Challenges of Theological Studies (Paperback)

While the discipline of apologetics has fallen into disuse and disfavor among mainline scholars who have subscribed to a more pluralistic philosophy, this intrepid group of Princeton alumni battle to keep that old apologetic spirit, so integral to "Old Princeton", alive and well. They succeed admirably. Many issues are tackled in this book, especially naturalism and the effect it has had on biblical and theological studies. The book reads like a conservative theological journal, and, believe me, I would be thrilled to see more books from this group on the market. Every person preparing to enter seminary or study religion in a college setting should read this book and keep it handy for research purposes. Although some subjects could have been developed further (the chapter on universalism ended much too soon), all in all it is an outstanding resource.