Apologist and author Norman Geisler has died

Norman L. Geisler, who spent his life defending the gospel, died Monday. He was 86.

Raised as a nonbeliever, Geisler became a Christian and a street evangelist at age 17 in his hometown of Detroit. A drunken man claiming to be a graduate of “Moody insta Bible toot,” a play on the name of the Moody Bible Institute, cited a Bible verse in which Jesus said to “go and tell no man”—a reference to Mark 1:44 and other instances where Jesus instructs his followers to stay quiet—as proof Geisler should not be evangelizing. “I had no idea what that verse meant,” said Geisler. “I couldn’t even read, but God took me as raw material and said, ‘I want to make you into a scholar, and I want you to write books.’ … You might look at me and say, ‘I could never do that.’ Well, I couldn’t either, but I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

Geisler described his apologetic method as a “cross between Thomas Aquinas and Billy Graham.” He called himself a “moderate Calvinist … put here in defense of the gospel.” He received his Ph.D. in philosophy, wrote or co-authored more than 96 books and papers, taught in higher Biblical education for over 55 years, debated and spoke all over the world, and co-founded Southern Evangelical Seminary and Veritas International University.

For fun, Geisler collected the quotes of atheists, collating them into the popular book I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist. He and his wife, Barbara Jean Geisler, raised three sons and three daughters. The Geislers were married 62 years had numerous grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.