Christian Apologetics in the Postmodern World

by Dennis Okholm and Timothy R. Phillips

Book Overview

Evangelicals are beginning to provide analyses of our postmodern society, but little has been done to suggest an effective apologetic strategy for reaching a culture that is pluralistic, consumer-oriented, and infatuated with managerial and therapeutic approaches to life. This, then, is the first book to address that vital task. In these pages some of evangelicalism's most stimulating thinkers consider three possible apologetic responses to postmodernity...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 083081860X
• ISBN13: 9780830818600
• Release Date: April 1995
• Publisher: IVP Academic
• Length: 238 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A Decent Introduction to a Difficult Topic

Necessarily the idea that "objective truth" does not exist is going to strike a bitter chord with most Christians. I believe this book does a fine job of introducing the thinking Christian to what postmodernism truly is (not the denial of "truth" per se, but the denial that claims to truth can be made from an objective standpoint) and why the Christian should be concerned about it.Of the essays in the book, James Sire's and Philip Kenneson's do the best work in representing either side of the view. Sire argues that postmodernism is nothing but relativism in a new package and should be treated accordingly. Kenneson argues that claims to "truth" are not necessarily wrong, but that we need to examine the method by which we arrive at those claims. In the end, I'm sure, it is Sire's opinion that will be adopted by the vast majority of readers if only because it is a familiar one that most (if not all) Christians have been reared on. It's a shame that Kenneson will probably be dismissed as being "merely a relativist" simply because he is honest regarding the human condition--specifically its inability to interpret experiences apart from the experiences themselves. The model of thought he provides frees the church of the burden of "proving the truth" and instead allows it to return to its original mission of "living the truth."