In Depth:  Toby Pitchers

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Don’t apologise for apologetics

Don’t apologise for apologetics

Toby Pitchers

In his 2013 book The End of Apologetics, Myron Penner provocatively asserts that ‘apologetics itself might be the single biggest threat to genuine Christian faith that we face today’.

Amongst other criticisms, Penner renounces Christianity’s intellectual defence (in Greek, ‘apologia’) as threatening to value reason over revelation and failing to communicate how the gospel’s truth attaches to a wider way of living. Significantly, this position is not confined to abstract academic debate, but articulates the wider conviction of many Christians today – inevitably shaping how the church converses with the wider culture.