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EUROPEAN APOLOGETICS NETWORK

Please view the programme of the 2008 European Apologetics Network below. More detailed information about the programme of the 2009 European Apologetics Network will be added in the coming months.

What did the Apostle Paul do when Pre-Christian Europe was pagan, relativistic and pluralistic? He did apologetics among his contemporaries. Paul went to the Jews arguing from the Old Testament Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ. Paul also went to pagan Greeks and used their literature and cultural artefacts to argue that the "unknown God" has been revealed and proclaimed in Jesus.

21st century Europe is in a state very much similar to Paul's time. Just as Paul confronted the marketplace of ideas in his generation, Europe today needs gifted apologists who can demonstrate that Christianity is true and relevant. Therefore, the vision of the European Apologetics Network is to train a new generation of apologists who can stand in today's marketplace of ideas in the way that Paul did in his generation. Our desire is to develop apologists who will testify to the truth of the gospel with wisdom, versatility and courage in their efforts to persuade their contemporaries.
 

Applicants should be those with evangelistic or apologetic gifts. The purpose of the Network is to train, mentor, equip and resource those evangelists and apologists who are seeking to communicate the Gospel in their local communities. This Network will be led by Forum Steering Committee members Stefan Gustavsson and Richard Cunningham. Also speaking in this Network are Andrew Fellows, Dr Os Guinness, Dr Bruce A Little, Stuart McAllister, Ellis Potter and Dr Ted Turnau. Prior preparation will be set for all applicants.

NETWORK SPEAKERS

Richard Cunningham is the co-leader of the European Apologetics Network and a member of the European Leadership Forum Steering Committee. He has been Director of UCCF: the Christian Unions since early 2004. Prior to that he was Executive Director of the Areopagus Trust. A graduate of London University and ordained for ministry at Oxford University, Richard has been the primary speaker at over 25 University Missions. He founded the Biblical Evangelism Conference which has trained hundreds of British University graduates in Evangelism. He has been asked to serve on the National College of Evangelists, an outreach arm of the Anglican church.
 
Stefan Gustavsson is co-leader of the European Apologetics Network and a member of the European Leadership Forum Steering Committee. He is director of Credo Academy, a Christian study centre in Stockholm, which focuses on cultural analysis, worldview studies, apologetics and evangelism. He is the author of a book on Christian apologetics, and writes regularly for different Swedish magazines. Stefan also serves as General Secretary of the Swedish Evangelical Alliance. He is married to Ingrid and they have three children.
 
Andrew Fellows is the Director of L’Abri Fellowship in the United Kingdom. L’Abri is a community dedicated to both demonstrating and explaining the truthfulness of Christianity. It does so by opening its doors to hundreds of seekers who experience the hospitality of this community. Andrew has travelled extensively throughout Europe lecturing to students, artists and politicians on a wide array of subjects.

Dr Os Guinness was educated in England, receiving his undergraduate degree from the University of London and a DPhil from Oriel College, Oxford. He was a Guest Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies and a Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution. From 1986-1989 he was the Executive Director of the Williamsburg Charter Foundation, one of the drafters of the Williamsburg Charter. He is the founder and was the Senior Fellow of the Trinity Forum. Some of his influential books include The Dust of Death; In Two Minds; The Gravedigger File; The American Hour; Dining with the Devil: The Megachurch Movement Flirts with Modernity; Fit Bodies, Fat Minds: Why Evangelicals Don't Think; The Call; and Time for Truth: Living Free in a World of Lies.

Dr Bruce A Little has Masters degrees in Apologetics and Religion and a PhD in Philosophy of Religion. Presently, he is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he has been on faculty since 2001.  He also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Apologetics at Carolina Evangelical Divinity School. For over a decade, he has travelled widely in Europe and Asia, lecturing in universities, teaching in a variety of schools and presenting papers at conferences. He has published in various professional journals and written the book A Creation-Order Theodicy: God and Gratuitous Evil.

Stuart McAllister is an international apologist with RZIM, based in Atlanta, Georgia, and is Associate Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics. Formerly, he worked with Operation Mobilisation before becoming General Secretary for the European Evangelical Alliance. Mr McAllister developed an evangelistic mobilisation called 'Love Europe' that sent several thousand team members across Europe. He joined the staff of RZIM in 1998, directing their training programme, which has included teaching graduate level courses on apologetics at Alliance Theological Society for the past 6 years.

Ellis Potter, a native Californian, is a former Buddhist monk who became a Christian under the influence and ministry of the late Dr. Francis Schaeffer. He worked for many years with Schaeffer at L’Abri Fellowship, Switzerland and was the pastor of the Basel Christian Fellowship for ten years. Potter’s unique background includes music and the arts, theology and philosophy, which qualifies him to lecture on a variety of subjects including the relevancy of Christianity to the arts and modern philosophical and social movements.  He often lectures on a comparison of Biblical and other worldviews, seeking to establish the clear truth of God’s Word. He now works as an independent missionary, based in Basel, Switzerland and directs most of his attention and energies eastward to the developing nations of Central and Eastern Europe. With his wife, Mary, he founded Eastern European Renewal (EER).
 
Dr Ted Turnau is a college professor teaching at Anglo-American College (a small secular liberal arts college in Prague, Czech Republic) and at the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University. Trained as an apologist (PhD from Westminster Theological Seminary), Ted has been teaching in Prague as part of the International Institute for Christian Studies team since 1999. He has taught classes on world religions, the sociology and anthropology of religion, modern intellectual history, the Pauline epistles, comparative theologies, and popular culture and media theory. He has written on how Christians can engage in popular culture and has an active “movie discussion night” ministry with his students. Ted has a wife, Carolyn, and three children, Roger, Claire, and Ruth, and two cats named Marbles and Enkidu.

NETWORK PROGRAMME

Day 1:
 
Speaking the Worldview Vernacular: Popular Culture as an Essential Part of Apologetics
Dr Ted Turnau
 
This talk addresses a vital need in practical apologetics: relevance and plausibility. Too often, apologists speak a language that fails to engage their listeners at the level of worldview. The arguments may be sound, as far as they go; they just don’t go very far. Popular culture has emerged in the past 70 years as one of the strongest influences on worldview. If we want to engage people at the level of worldview, we need to become familiar with popular culture. This talk will present a method engaging the worldviews of popular culture apologetically, revealing the frailty of its idols, and the glory of God’s grace.
 
Fools Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion
Dr Os Guinness
 
How do we speak to people who are not open, not interested, and not needy? This lecture will be a discussion of the lost art of persuasion, including biblical methods such as questions and parables, and why they are needed and how they work.
 
Day 2:
 
Epistemological Concerns and Apologetic Challenges
Dr Bruce A Little
 
This lecture looks at two epistemological issues within evangelicalism and one new apologetic challenge for evangelical apologetics at the beginning of the 21st century. All three of these, while separate discussions, are clearly interrelated. The lecture looks first at the two epistemological concerns which are: (1) the epistemological crisis of foundationalism and its effects on evangelical epistemology; (2) information overload leading to confusing information with knowledge. In each case, the lecture suggests possible correctives. Finally, the lecture examines a new challenge apologetically which is New Atheism. New Atheism affirms objective and universal moral absolutes based on evolution and scientific evidence from neuroscience; it is associated with people such as Marc Hauser, Edward Q. Wilson, and Walter Sinnott-Armstrong. The lecture concludes with a suggestion of how evangelicals might engage this new challenge.
 
Day 3:
 
Seeing and Exploring Cultural Connections: How Does the Apologist Learn to “Read” Culture, Identify Barriers and Bridges, and Seek Active Ways to Connect?
Stuart McAllister
 
Stephen Covey exhorts us to “seek first to understand then to be understood”. For the Christian communicator this is a crucial insight. We must be aware of our own beliefs, values and culturally influenced ways of “seeing” things. We also need to be informed about and sensitive to those we seek to engage. In this session, we will examine the role and power of culture as it affects and influences our communication. We will look at how the Apostles provide a lasting example of awareness of cultural issues and yet also of boldness with their own proclamation. In the final section, we will look into practical ways of working this out meaningfully in our own context.
  
Jesus: Subversive Apologist
Andrew Fellows
 
Most apologetics presuppose some degree of ‘openness’ on the part of the person we are engaged with. The fact is, most often we are dealing with those who are ‘closed’. The apologetics of Jesus give a remarkable insight into how we can engage subversively with the ‘closed’. This involves tackling their dominant worldview symbols, using narrative and engaging with questions. This workshop will discuss how to engage in these tasks.
 
Day 4:
 
Comparative Worldviews
Ellis Potter
 
How do we understand the people with whom we are trying to communicate? Do we start with questions when we talk to people? Or with answers? How do we even know which issues are important to address? How should a Christian relate to radically different worldviews? How can we understand how and why intelligent and lovely people maintain a very unbiblical worldview? In this session, Ellis Potter addresses questions such as these while systematically discussing the major competitors to the Christian worldview.
 
Unspeakable: Facing Up to the Challenge on Evil
Dr Os Guinness
 
The last century was the most murderous century in history, raising unique challenges to a Christian understanding of evil in both theory and action. While there is no final answer to the problem of evil, this is a proven response to the deepest questions that have been forged in countless individual and public discussions.

ADDITIONAL NETWORK RELATED SPEAKER BIOS

The following speakers will deliver workshops and seminars that contain apologetics related content.  Please scroll past these bios to view workshop and seminar descriptions.

Andy Bannister is Visiting Lecturer in Philosophy at the London School of Theology (LST). He has lectured in apologetics at LST and has taught and trained various Christian churches and organisations in Christian and Islamic Issues for. He has done outreach to Muslims in various Internet contexts and at Speaker's Corner in London. Andy is currently a PhD student in New Testament/Islamics at London School of Theology.
 
Prof Jerram Barrs is presently Professor of Christian Studies and Contemporary Culture at Covenant Seminary in St. Louis.  Professor Barrs joined the Covenant Seminary faculty in 1989 after 18 years with L'Abri Fellowship in England, where he also pastored the International Presbyterian Church. Prof Barrs’ field of expertise is cultural apologetics.  He has recently been seeking to develop a more biblical approach to evangelism by studying Jesus' conversations with unbelievers.  Other interests include the arts and literature. He has written several books, including Being Human, Shepherds and Sheep, Who Are the Peacemakers?, The Great Rescue, Building Bridges to the Gospel, as well as the video series Building up Bridges, Breaking Down Walls.  His most recent publication is The Heart of Evangelism.
 
Dan Cho serves as the Executive Director of The Veritas Forum and is working to lead the organisation in its next stage of development. Dan’s relationship with Veritas dates back to his freshman year at Harvard when he attended the very first Forum. He has over a decade of college ministry experience and has also worked in the development offices of Harvard and MIT. In addition to earning an A.B. from Harvard College in social anthropology, Dan has also received master’s degrees from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Yale Divinity School.
 
Dave Demas is an entrepreneur having started or acquired six businesses since his graduation from Indiana University. He has been involved in seeker small group leadership for the past 10 years. He is currently a partner in a mergers and acquisitions insurance firm. He was past Chairman of Gilgal Gospel Mission and has served on the board of directors for both publicly traded and privately held businesses. He currently resides in Chicago with his wife Janet and their six children.

 

Dr William Edgar is the leader of the European Artists Network. He studied at Harvard University (Honors BA in Music), Westminster Theological Seminary (MDiv), and the University of Geneva (DTh). He has taught at the Brunswick School in Greenwich, CT, and at the Faculte Libre de Theologie Reforme in Aix-en-Provence, France, where he continues as Professeur Associe. He is currently Professor of Apologetics, Coordinator of the Apologetics Department, and Chairman of the Faculty at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, where he has been since 1989. His books include Taking Note of Music (London: SPCK, 1986), Reasons of the Heart (Baker/Hourglass, 1996; P & R, 2003), La carte protestante (Labor et Fides, 1997), The Face of Truth: Lifting the Veil (P & R, 2001), and Truth in All Its Glory: Commending the Reformed Faith (P & R, 2004). He has written numerous articles on such subjects as cultural apologetics, the music of Brahms, the French Huguenots and African-American aesthetics. He plays regularly with a professional jazz band.

 
Dr Dirk Jongkind is a Dutch biblical scholar who finished his PhD at Cambridge University. His main scholarly interest is in the Greek text of the Bible and the Greco-Roman backdrop of Acts and the letters. Currently he is the Research Fellow in New Testament at Tyndale House and the John W. Laing Fellow at St Edmund's College, Cambridge, and is working on legal language in and outside the New Testament. The focus of his work includes textual criticism of the Greek Bible, with emphases on grammar and lexicography, epigraphy, papyrology, archaeology of the Greco-Roman world and the relation of New Testament background and exegesis.
 
Keith Small has been a missionary apologist and evangelist to Muslims in the UK with Avant Ministries since 1989 and a teacher/trainer in Christian and Islamic Apologetics ministry for the last seven years. He has experience in evangelism and apologetics ministry to Muslims in local neighbourhood and church-based ministry settings; he has also delivered outreach lectures to Muslims on many UK university campuses. In addition, Keith has participated in formal debates on university campuses, mosques and Islamic community centres. He received his ThM in Systematic Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary in 1988, and is currently a part-time PhD student in Islamics at London School of Theology. His area of research is applying New Testament textual criticism methods to early Qur’an manuscripts.
 
Dr Jürgen Spieß is the founder and director of the “Institute of Science and Faith” (www.iguw.de) in Marburg, Germany. He studied at the University of Munich, where he received a PhD in Ancient History (with the subsidiary subjects “Egyptology” and “Philosophy of History”). For fifteen years, he acted as General Secretary of SMD (IFES-Germany).  He is author and editor of books and articles on subjects such as the following: F.M. Dostoevsky, C.S. Lewis, Medical Ethics, Science and Faith, The Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and Christian Apologetics. He has lectured at many European universities in Russia (St. Petersburg, Novosobirsk, Irkutsk, Tomsk), Ukraine and Georgia. He is a member of the “German Dostoevsky Society” and the “Inklings Society.” He lost his first family (wife and child) by a car accident. He is married again and has one daughter.
 
Dr Chris Watkin completed his doctoral thesis in philosophy (on the relation of deconstruction and phenomenology) at Cambridge University in 2006, looking particularly at the work of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Paul Ricœur and Jean-Luc Nancy. Last year he was elected to a Junior Research Fellowship at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he is currently working on the ‘turn to religion’ in contemporary Continental thought. He serves in the undergraduate student ministry of his church in Cambridge.
 
Dr Peter (PJ) Williams was educated at Cambridge University; he received his MA (Classics, Hebrew and Aramaic), MPhil (Hebrew Studies), PhD (on an Aramaic version of 1 Kings). After receiving his PhD (1997) he was a Research Associate on the Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database Project in the Faculty of Divinity, Cambridge University, and thereafter taught Hebrew and Old Testament at Cambridge University as Affiliated Lecturer in Hebrew and Aramaic and as Research Fellow in Old Testament at Tyndale House, Cambridge (1998 - 2003). Since 2003 he has been teaching New Testament at Aberdeen University, where he is a Senior Lecturer. In July 2007 he took up the position of Warden at Tyndale House, Cambridge. Maintaining interests in both Testaments, he is presently seeking to develop a consistently evangelical approach to the textual criticism of the Bible. Recent publications include Beginning to Study the Old Testament, in Philip Duce and Daniel Strange, eds., Encountering God's Word: Beginning Biblical Studies (2003), and his second book, Early Syriac Translation Technique and the Textual Criticism of the Greek Gospels (2004).

NETWORK RELATED WORKSHOPS AND SEMINARS

PRE-FORUM SEMINARS

How to Witness to Muslims: Alternatives Paradigms for Evangelism

Andy Bannister and Keith Small

 
How to Witness to Muslim
This seminar will present a simple method of communicating the Gospel to a Muslim in either a personal or group setting. Using Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son as a model, it will also consider how to keep a conversation on track, answer some common Muslim objections, and suggest key Scripture passages to have at the ready.
 
Spectrum of Approaches
There are a number of different schools of thought among Christians as to the best methodology for evangelism among Muslims. These generally represent a gradient from the more irenical (e.g. dialogue-based) to more confrontational (e.g. debate-orientated) approaches. This seminar will explore the different methodologies and their advocates and will look at the strengths and weaknesses of both. It will argue that the context of our evangelism largely dictates the methodology and we will seek to equip attendees with a rich spectrum of resources upon which they can draw when engaged in evangelism to Muslims.
 
Paul's Paradigm
Traditionally, evangelicals have only used one methodology in their ministry with Islam, that which is known as the irenical approach (friendship evangelism). Post-9/11 it is time to try other approaches. One such methodology is 'the Pauline Paradigm', which entails a much more confrontive approach towards Islam, evidenced in much of Paul's ministry, recorded in Acts 17-19. Can we in the 21st century possibly employ that which Paul so successfully used in the 1st Century? And are we ready to accept the reaction of Muslims if we do use it?

 

Globalization and the Gospel

Dr Os Guinness

 
Will the church of Christ win the world but lose its soul? The global era represents the greatest challenges and the greatest opportunities for the church since the apostles, yet the modern world has done more damage to the church than all the persecutors in Christian history. Never has it been more important to understand the world that we are ‘in’ but ‘not of.’ But many Christians have still not understood the impact on faith of early modernity (represented by the Industrial Revolution and centered on ‘production’). Now, many have become breathless cheerleaders for advanced modernity (represented by globalization and centered on ‘communication’). Following the traditional Christian approach of discern/assess/engage, this seminar will analyze the notion of ‘globalization,’ highlight its leading drivers such as the Internet, trace its crucial impact on many levels of human life, and outline the many challenges it raises for followers of Christ. A Christian understanding of globalization is an essential requirement for both faithfulness and fruitfulness in today’s world.

WORKSHOPS

Trinity vs. Tawheed: The Concept of God in Islam and Christianity

Andy Bannister

 
A popular target for Muslim polemicists is the Christian concept of the Trinity. Not only does this appear to Muslims as ridiculous and polytheistic, but many Christians feel poorly equipped to defend this foundational truth. The result is that Christians have often been scared to evangelise Muslims for fear of encountering this topic. However, this workshop will argue that the concept of the Trinity is one of our strongest Christian doctrines; not only is it defensible, it is philosophically more plausible and inherently more rational than tawhid, the Muslim concept of Allah’s complete oneness.
 
Learning from Jesus: The Greatest Evangelist
Prof Jerram Barrs
 
As we read the four Gospels, we learn that Jesus is the best example of how we are to relate to those we meet, whatever their views, whatever their way of life. He is the best example of how we are to live before unbelievers: how we are to love them, serve them and speak truth to them. Our evangelism, in theory and practice, ought to be shaped by the teaching of Jesus and the example that He sets before us. In fact, the greatest number of biblical passages that describe encounters with unbelievers are found in the four Gospel accounts of the ministry of Jesus. This is not surprising, of course, for Jesus repeatedly declares that He has come into the world to save those who are lost. In this session we will look at Jesus’ encounter with Zacchaeus, recorded in Luke 19:1-10. In studying this passage, we will discover some of the passions and principles present both in Jesus’ life and words that shape the way He meets and talks with this despised man. And, we will draw some lessons for our own lives and for our communication of the Gospel. 
 
Finding God at Harvard…and Beyond: The Story and Approach of The Veritas Forum
Dan Cho
 
The Veritas Forum is an event-based university movement whose story began at Harvard in 1992, and now includes more than 90 universities in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Netherlands. Dan Cho (Executive Director) will share stories, values, and strategies of The Veritas Forum in unifying the Christian community to engage the university in the search for truth. The Veritas model centres on having respected scholars, leaders and artists engage the hardest questions of our cultures and connect them to the beauty and brilliance of Jesus Christ. Participants will have the opportunity to meet Veritas planners from teams in Europe.
 
Seeker Small Groups: Engaging Spiritual Seekers in Life-Changing Conversations
Dave Demas
 
This strategic workshop explores one of the most powerful and effective tools in evangelism: seeker small groups. These informal, non-threatening gatherings, consisting mostly of non-Christians and one or two Christian facilitators, meet on a regular basis to discuss spiritual matters and investigate biblical truths. In this workshop, participants will:
  • Discover a step-by-step, innovative approach anyone can follow,
  • Identify the essential ingredients to creating a safe place for seekers to seek,
  • Learn how to unleash their evangelistic potential.
Conversational Apologetics: The Wisdom of Commending the Faith
Dr William Edgar
 
This lecture will set the scene for doing dialogical apologetics today. At the heart is the art of persuasion, which involves finding those places where tensions and unfulfilled dreams animate the soul. The goal of persuasion is to show unbelievers why, on their own terms, their assumptions cannot hold water. The Gospel is an answer to questions often not being asked. This lecture will recommend that Christians engage in personal conversations, guided by wisdom, with unbelievers. Many examples of how this happens will be offered.
 
Jazz and the Gospel
Dr William Edgar
 
This presentation will explicate the relation of music to theology. Using musical examples, we will explore the history of the African-American people and show how their music flows from their social and spiritual experiences. This lecture asserts that the black aesthetic is a narrative which moves from deep misery to inextinguishable joy. This movement may especially be experienced in the music called jazz.
 
The Story of Camus at Le Chambon
Dr William Edgar
 
Albert Camus (1913-1960) was known as an existentialist with a human face. In 1942, he came to Le Chambon, so-called “Free France,” in the midst of the German occupation to write his most powerful novel, The Plague. The main characters of this novel contribute to raising the perennial question of God and evil. Camus’ answer is among the most widely accepted, even today. The true story going on around him gave quite a different answer. The Huguenot citizens of this village took in some 5,000 refugees, mostly Jews, and at great risk protected them from deportation. The reason? Come and find out!
 
The One Unanswerable Objection – an analysis and answer to the problem of hypocrisy
Dr Os Guinness
 
The accusation of hypocrisy is the worst charge laid to the church in the West today, and answering it is an important key to discipleship as well as to apologetics. Yet no one in all history had such a constant aversion to hypocrisy as Jesus, so Christians should be in the forefront of acknowledging where we do not ‘walk the talk,’ and how we can grow in line with the biblical remedy for two-faced living.
 
Third Mission to the West – the opportunities and challenges in winning back the modern world
Dr Os Guinness
 
The church is exploding in the ‘Global South,’ but not doing well anywhere in the ‘North’ (or the West). This lecture will be an analysis of the practical challenges we face in winning our part of the world for Christ. 
 
Time for Truth – living free in a world of lies, hype, and spin
Dr Os Guinness
 
Truth is central to the biblical understanding of God and faith, yet nothing is more contested in the postmodern age. This workshop will include an analysis of the postmodern claims and their consequences, and an outline of the answer we must give.
 
Apologetics and the Textual Criticism of the NT
Dr Dirk Jongkind
 
The reliability of the New Testament is one of those dreaded headings in each apologetics class. More often than not, we have to restrict ourselves to repeating the arguments and conclusions reached by others because, simply, we lack the necessary expertise ourselves. Over the last decade a fresh attack on the New Testament has taken shape, an attack based on the notion that there is no such thing as an 'original' New Testament. This attack argues that the text and the canon we have today, is the one produced by the winners of the great church battles of the first couple of centuries. But, as with all texts, this one has been doctored, changed, and altered to serve the agenda of the victorious (and therefore able to label themselves as 'orthodox') faction. Rather this session suggests that if one takes a proper look at all the evidence, one will find all the various Christianities back in and outside the New Testament.
 
 Though this argument resonates deeply with reader-orientated literary criticism ('get something good out of the text, irrespective of its original intention—if it had any'), it does not sit very well with the emphasis of Christianity on real historical events that are accessible in reliable form. How has establishing the original text (‘Textual Criticism’) become the new battlefield? Can we say anything positive? Is the New Testament reliable as a transmitted text, as a trustworthy account, and as a collection of books and letters? By having a look at some of the current arguments and examples, we will see that the simplest solution may be actually the best.
 
History in the New Testament: Historical Novel or Sourcebook?
Dr Dirk Jongkind
 
This lecture will address how the New Testament fits into what we know about the first-century world. Where are there potential clashes? Where do we find exciting affirmations? By having a look at what has been preserved and what can be known about the ancient social world, we can develop a powerful apologetic argument for the reliability of Scripture. By not focussing on 'point scoring' but rather on doing justice to the nature of the NT and the ancient world, the subject becomes doing 'history' rather than 'apologetics'. The actual apologetic effect of such enterprise is much bigger than by trying 'to proof-text' the ancient world in order to prove the Bible.
 
Creation and Pre - Evangelism
Dr Bruce A Little
 
This lecture considers how one might engage the non-theist, the one without a theistic worldview, in a way that opens a conversation that leads to God. It begins by looking at apologetics in general and then points out that God is not self-evident in creation, but as rational beings we can, by inference, come to see that God is the best explanation of why the world is the way it is. Although science has a profound, not perfect, understanding of how nature works, it cannot explain: (1) why humans have strong impulse for a search for meaning; (2) why we should care about right and wrong which are not necessary elements of survival: (3) why nature is knowable; (4) why human language universally has certain concepts related to reality that cannot be demonstrated, such as the concept of possibility. The point of the lecture is to encourage Christians to think beyond the traditional demonstrations for God’s existence and to engage non-theists in areas that cause them to think about their world as a matter of ontological and existential realities.
 
Current Shifts in Epistemology
Dr Bruce A Little
 
This lecture traces the epistemological path from the 17th century through to the mid-20th century, and then suggests what can be expected next. It argues that the 17th century boast of epistemological certainty was overdrawn and led to epistemology falling upon hard times. In fact, in time, the western mind confessed a denial of objectivity to knowledge (that there existed a reality independent of the mind), the loss of the universal (there is nothing that transcends experience), and the general decline of epistemology as traditionally understood. However, at the end of the 20th century, there was a sharp rebuke to postmodernism, much of it coming from those in the hard sciences, who claimed post modernism to be false and dangerous. That is, however, not the end of the story as another movement is beginning to take hold that has profound implications for evangelical Christianity. This epistemological approach is known by different names, but generally is called critical realism. This lecture concludes with a look at critical realism with an eye to opening conversation regarding the future of epistemology of the west and its implications for Christianity.
 
Theology and Science
Dr Bruce A Little
 
This workshop examines the developments between theology and science, beginning in the 17th century with the “two-circle theory” of truth. This theory led to a severe split between science and theology, particularly in the mid-nineteenth century. This split was exacerbated by the growing confidence that science was totally objective while all other epistemological systems were inferior. In time, all that was left was the circle of science, leaving theology out of the discussion and science with the loss of the transcendent. This lecture examines how science reacted to postmodernism, and considers epistemological developments that have opened new possibilities for dialogue between science and theology. It focuses on critical realism and explores its potential as a Christian method both hermeneutically and apologetically. Critical realism affirms only one reality which restores a proper relationship between ontology and epistemology, between science and theology, thus offering a resolution to the two-circle theory of truth.
 
Apologetics as Love
Ellis Potter
 
How do loving our neighbour and effectively communicating the Gospel fit together? Why do we feel so awkward and uncomfortable about evangelism? Are their certain questions we should be asking non-Christians? How and when should we ask these questions? Is there a loving and compassionate way to help sceptics see their need for God? This workshop is designed to answer questions such as these. Through it, Ellis Potter explains how we fully love unbelieving family members and friends by explaining to them the truthfulness of the Gospel.
 
The Importance of Asking Honest Questions
Ellis Potter
 
For many Christians, asking questions is often associated with doubt and is therefore labelled rebellious and unfaithful. In this session, Ellis Potter suggests that such thinking is dangerous to our growth as Christians, since it is only through questioning that we learn more about who God is and how we must live as His children. The goal, he claims, is not to ignore our questions, but to ask them from a sincere, childlike heart. We must learn to do this not only for our own sake but also for the benefit of those around us (believer and unbeliever) who wrestle with similar questions about God and faith.
 
Revelation and Scripture: The Qur’an vs. the Bible
Keith Small
 
For the first time, Western Orientalists (primarily in Europe) are applying an external historical/critical analysis of the Qur’an and the Islamic traditions, and are offering a new and critical assessment of the beginnings of Islam, which stands in direct contrast to the traditional story offered by most Muslim scholars today. This material is particularly important in our discussions with the more radical wing of Islam, post 9/11, as it is they, more than any other Muslim group, who use the Qur’an and the traditions as the divine authority for their acts. But we won’t stop there. We will also look at how this same analysis, when applied to the Bible, creates an authority for it that causes even the secular world to sit up and pay attention. This will include a direct comparison of the application of textual criticism methods to both the NT and Qur’an texts with the effect that textual variants have on the reliability of their texts.
 
The Historical Reliability of Jesus' Resurrection
Dr Jürgen Spieß
 
The resurrection of Jesus is the basis for Christian faith (I Corinthians 14-15) and Christian hope (I Peter 1-3). Therefore the historicity of Jesus' death and resurrection is crucial for Christianity. This lecture will discuss what can be said about the evidences of Jesus' resurrection from the perspective of an historian.
 
Poet & Prophet: The Actuality of Dostoevsky for Our Time
Dr Jürgen Spieß
 
Fyodor Dostoevsky is perhaps the most influential European writer of the Modern Era, impacting the likes of Karl Barth, Sigmund Freud, and Alfred Adler. Friedrich Nietzsche remarked, “Reading Dostoevsky was the stroke of luck in my life...He was the only psychologist from whom I had to learn.” Two years before his death, Albert Camus wrote, “Now everybody knows that Dostoevsky and not Karl Marx is the prophet of the 20th century.” This workshop will examine the influence Dostoevsky had on leading European thinkers such as these by providing a broad overview of his life and conversion while discussing the applications of Dostoevsky’s work to today’s world. It will be conducted by Dr Jürgen Spieß, a long time member of the German Dostoevsky Society and an esteemed Dostoevsky lecturer for nearly two decades.
 
Practical Apologetics: Dealing with Worldview Assumptions
Dr Ted Turnau
 
Often, it is difficult to talk with our friends and acquaintances about our hope in Christ because, well, they seem like they are in a completely different universe than we are.  And, in a sense, they are: the world they see is coloured by worldview assumptions.  This workshop is designed to teach participants how these deeply rooted perspectives affect non-Christians. It teaches participants how they can connect with unbelievers, challenge their assumptions, and offer the hope found in the Gospel in a meaningful, relevant way.
 
Screening Worldviews: How to Watch (and Discuss) Movies as a Christian
Dr Ted Turnau
 
Let’s face it: movies are this generation’s literature.  Cinema carries the important ideas and values that shape our sense of who we are, why we’re here, and where we’re going.  Being able to discuss movies sensitively and intelligently from a Christian perspective is an invaluable tool in contemporary apologetics.  Christians need to be able to talk about movies with their non-Christian friends in a way that is incisive and insightful, yet non-threatening.  This workshop is designed to be a practical guide on how to do that.  It will discuss what the Christian worldview brings to the discussion of movies, how to choose good movies to watch, how to “read” a movie and how to lead discussions about movies.  Participants will spend some time watching movie clips and then practice discussing them.
 
Postmodernism and After: Words and the Word
Dr Chris Watkin
 
There is always a danger, when Christians seek to engage with secular ideas, that the terms of debate are set in a way that muffles the Bible’s message, shoehorning rich and subtle biblical truths into much flatter categories of thought. This often occurs in relation to the issue of ‘postmodernism’ and its understanding of ‘truth’, where concepts and concerns foreign to the Bible have been allowed to dictate the terms in which Christians intervene in the debate and seek to understand their own position.
 
Basing our investigation in John 1:1-14, we will contrast the ‘postmodern’ understanding of words with what the Bible has to say about the Word, showing how much of the postmodern critique, though serviceable in its own terms, fails to engage with the subtlety of the Christian Word. We will then reflect this rich biblical understanding back onto the ‘postmodernism’ debate, asking how Christians can engage sympathetically and faithfully from the Bible with the anxieties and concerns of those who hold ‘postmodern’ views.
 
The seminar will end with some brief, preliminary reflections from my current research on what comes after ‘postmodernism’, and how Christians can understand and relate to it.
 
Building a Doctrine of Scripture
Dr Peter (PJ) Williams
 
Discussion of the doctrine of scripture often centres round the use of one particular term to describe Scripture. Typically words such as ‘infallible’ or ‘inerrant’ are the subject of controversy. This talk argues that there are at least seven elements that are necessary for a fully-functional and effective doctrine of Scripture. Typically, wrong attitudes to Scripture infiltrate evangelicalism by affirming the authority of Scripture in one area but denying it in another. In light of this, this lecture will discuss how to build a solid doctrine of scripture.
  
New Testament Canon
Dr Peter (PJ) Williams
 
This workshop will consider how evangelicals should approach this knotty problem of the New Testament Canon. The typical impression given by popular literature on the subject of the New Testament Canon is that the books of the New Testament were decided during the fourth century, subsequent to the adoption of Christianity by Constantine. One reason for this is that our first canon list, containing exactly the 27 books of New Testament, comes from the fourth century. This impression can give rise to the view that the adoption of certain books in the New Testament was politically motivated.
 
Questions You've Always Been Afraid to Ask About the Bible
Dr Peter (PJ) Williams
 
This workshop will be an open question time in which it will be possible to ask both broad, general questions and detailed, specific ones. The speaker gives no guarantee of answers, but hopes to model a way in which we might go about finding answers to tough questions.
 
POST-FORUM SEMINARS
 
Conversational Apologetics: The Wisdom of Commending the Faith
Dr William Edgar
 
This lecture will set the scene for doing dialogical apologetics today. At the heart is the art of persuasion, which involves finding those places where tensions and unfulfilled dreams animate the soul. The goal of persuasion is to show unbelievers why, on their own terms, their assumptions cannot hold water. The Gospel is an answer to questions often not being asked. This lecture will recommend that Christians engage in personal conversations, guided by wisdom, with unbelievers. Many examples of how this happens will be offered.
  
Is the Bible Historically Reliable?
Dr Peter (PJ) Williams
 
The question of the Bible's reliability could be broken down into the following issues:
 
1.) We will tackle some of the evidence for the historical reliability of the Bible. From the Old Testament it will consider various ways of understanding the conquest of Canaan and will also consider the use of the forms of proper names as an argument for the date of Old Testament narratives. Also, it will consider the evidence of ancient inscriptions, focussing on specific Old Testament figures such as David and Balaam.
 
2.) The New Testament focus will emphasise the Gospels and the evidence of early non-Christian writers who treated Christianity. It will also deal with the question of non-Canonical gospels.
 
3.) After building a foundation of Biblical reliability, we will discuss the doctrine of Scripture, which often centres on the use of one particular term to describe Scripture. Typically, words such as 'infallible' or 'inerrant' are the subject of controversy. This talk argues that there are at least seven elements that are necessary for a fully-functional and effective doctrine of Scripture. Typically wrong attitudes to Scripture infiltrate evangelicalism by affirming the authority of Scripture in one area but denying it in another.
 
4.) We will end with an open question time in which it will be possible to ask both broad general questions and detailed specific ones. The speaker gives no guarantee of answers, but hopes to model a way in which we might go about getting answers to tough questions.