Primary Authors & Sources
From the being of God to natural and revealed religion, classical evidences, the doctrine of Scripture, and a full Christian view of the world, students read the major voices of classical Reformed apologetics. Stephen Charnock’s Existence and Attributes of God grounds apologetics in sustained theistic and biblical teaching on who God is, not in slogans about “proving God.” Joseph Butler’s Analogy of Religion argues that the difficulties of revelation are not stranger than those of nature and providence, training students in cumulative, sober probability rather than cheap certainty. William Paley’s Evidences of Christianity (with his Natural Theology nearby on the shelf) models the older evidential case from design, miracle, and historical testimony that still shapes popular argument. Benjamin B. Warfield’s Revelation and Inspiration defends inspiration and the knowledge of God from revelation against reduction of faith to feeling or mere religious experience. James Orr’s Christian View of God and the World gathers apologetics into a coherent worldview: creation, incarnation, and redemption as one answer to modern unbelief. Together they teach students to give reasons for hope without surrendering Scripture to autonomous reason.
What You Will Study
Students read classical apologetic works defending God's existence, the trustworthiness of Scripture, and the rational coherence of Christian revelation before modern and postmodern objections. Texts span natural theology, historical argument for resurrection, the problem of evil, and the relationship of faith and reason in Augustine, Aquinas, Butler, and Reformed evangelical apologists. The course treats apologetics not as winning debates but as serving love of neighbor and the honor of Christ. Students examine both cumulative-case and presuppositional approaches within a confessional framework that refuses to surrender revelation to autonomous reason. Assigned apologetic texts from the BCFK reading list address cosmological, moral, and historical arguments alongside responses to objections raised by modern atheism, Islam, and religious pluralism in the Florida Keys mission field.
Course Objectives
Objectives include summarizing major classical arguments for God's existence and Christian truth claims, identifying the strengths and limits of each apologetic method, evaluating objections from skepticism, pluralism, and scientism, and presenting Christianity winsomely in written and conversational form. Students will articulate the relationship between general and special revelation, distinguish evidence from proof in historical apologetics, and integrate apologetic skill with pastoral sensitivity. The course aims to produce intellectually serious believers who can engage university-level objections without compromising confessional integrity. Students will practice framing classical arguments in accessible prose for seekers while avoiding both rationalistic reduction of faith to proof and fideistic refusal to give reasons for hope.
Ministry & Life Application
Apologetic training equips believers to give a reason for the hope within them with gentleness and reverence, strengthening evangelistic witness in secular and pluralistic settings. Graduates can answer common objections to Christianity without resorting to shallow proof-texting or defensive hostility. The course prepares house church leaders to disciple seekers who bring honest intellectual questions about science, suffering, and religious diversity. Pastoral ministers gain tools for counseling doubters and equipping members to engage neighbors on the islands and mainland of the Florida Keys. Confident, humble apologetics supports the church's calling to proclaim Christ as the wisdom and power of God in every conversation and public witness.