Evangelically eclectic apologetics

Appreciation for the late Tim Keller’s impact and continuing relevance for contemporary evangelicalism is unlikely to abate anytime soon. His particularly perceptive approach to preaching and persuasive presentation of the Christian faith to a modern skeptical world has inspired the release of The Gospel After Christendom: An Introduction to Cultural Apologetics (Zondervan, 224 pp). Its contributors seek to emphasize the usefulness of Keller’s approach to defending Christianity as an effective form of “preevangelism,” preparing hearts and minds in a post-Christian world to more clearly perceive the gospel as the most satisfying answer to life’s problems.

Part 1 of the work focuses on the theoretical aspect of cultural apologetics, testifying to its present necessity in the 21st century and its firm basis in Scripture and the Christian tradition. Part 2 explores the disposition and motivation of cultural apologetics as fundamentally evangelical, focusing primarily on helping individuals come to know the fullness of joy in Christ rather than simply vindicating Biblical truths for their own sake. Part 3 consists of an application of the approach in articulating Christianity’s objective goodness, beauty, and truthfulness. Finally, Part 4 considers the various contexts for cultural apologetics, stretching from the church itself to the neighborhood and the workplace.

What is most refreshing about these essays is their insistence on timeliness and applicability. They make the gospel out to be the best possible thing for us, not just a set of propositions but a Person who fills all the gaps brought about by our common existential longings. Clarifying that to others necessitates meaningfully engaging with the metanarratives, individual and societal, that many of us live by without a second thought. Trying to decide how to best present the faith to the diverse world around us can thus quickly become overwhelming. Thankfully, each of the contributors appreciates the importance of what must remain central when trying to explain Christianity to anyone: It’s the ultimate story that best depicts our greatest needs, which can be met only in the divine drama consummated in Christ.

One question readers might reasonably ask: Is cultural apologetics more a matter of degree than kind? Seminarians and apologists debate about the best approach to defending the faith. But this book presents a more evangelically eclectic model of cultural apologetics—one driven above all else by a concern to respond to real, articulated deficiencies experienced by human beings when the gospel is not their guide.

This framework may raise a challenge—How do we balance the qualms of the urbane elite with more mundane objections to Christianity? A robust commitment to neighborliness will go far toward avoiding intellectualized navel-gazing in trying to contextualize the gospel. A difficult balance, to be sure, but one Keller himself was dedicated to maintaining as someone who ministered among blue-collar Virginians before he ever had a flock of Manhattanites.

The Gospel After Christendom gets one very important thing collectively across: If we want to seek and save the lost, then we have to ensure that the faith we proclaim meets them where they really are. Apologetics was never meant to be an end in itself, after all.