Can You Believe It’s True? Christian Apologetics in a Modern and Postmodern Era
Overview
Truth? Can we know it? Today, many people say we can’t. This paradigmatic shift to relativism presents a direct challenge to a Christian’s witness. In this comprehensive treatment, noted scholar John Feinberg argues that truth is both real and knowable, offering a robust guide to Christian apologetics for engagement with our world today.
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- Addresses common questions of modern and postmodern skepticism
- Discusses the idea of Christian truth in a contemporary context
- Explores approaches to both traditional and current apologetical themes
- The Question of Truth
- Introduction
- Modernity and Postmodernity
- Answers to Postmodern Skepticism (I)
- Answers to Postmodern Skepticism (II): Objectivity, Subjectivity, and Apologetics
- Answers to Modern Skepticism (I)
- Answers to Modern Skepticism (II): Doubt and Certainty
- Ways of Defending Christian Truth
- Reformed Epistemology
- Presuppositionalism
- Christian Evidentialism
- Methodology Illustrated—Some Christian Evidences
- The Problem of Evil
- The Reliability of the Gospels
- The Resurrection of Jesus Christ
- Religious Pluralism
Top Highlights
“I hold that morally evil deeds stem from human desires” (Pages 347–348)
“A realist is ‘someone who thinks that there is an objective, mind-independent reality to be known, and that the beliefs that we come to hold about the world represent (or fail to represent) the world ‘as it is’.’” (Page 47)
“Isn’t God still responsible for the evil we do with free will, because he must have foreknown that we would use our freedom to do evil?” (Pages 342–343)
“Reason was deemed capable of grasping and interacting correctly with the world, and it was held that this was true for all people.” (Page 42)
“One is that the world operates in accord with natural laws and is explainable in naturalistic terms” (Page 30)
Many Christians are unprepared to answer the postmodern notion that truth is unknowable and hence ultimately unimportant. That premise refutes itself, of course, but for those already steeped in existential and postmodern ways of thinking, self-defeating propositions are standard fare, and even the simplest truths can seem elusive. Persuading those who love darkness and revel in contradiction can be quite a challenge. Dr. John Feinberg is uniquely qualified to untangle the knots of modern and postmodern thought, pointing us to a better way of understanding truth in the clear light of Scripture. This is an extremely helpful study.
—John MacArthur, pastor, Grace Community Church, Sun Valley, California
John Feinberg meets the challenge of modern skepticism head on, with the full confidence that Christianity is rational and defensible in the marketplace of ideas. Your mind will be stretched and your faith strengthened when you read this book.
—Erwin W. Lutzer, senior pastor, The Moody Church, Chicago, Illinois
John Feinberg’s book is an insightful, thoughtful, and thorough analysis of the modern and postmodern mindsets and a guide on how to engage them. In addition to astute treatments of traditional apologetical themes, such as the Gospels’ reliability and religious pluralism, this volume incisively engages skepticism, truth, and knowledge quite unlike the standard texts in apologetics. Carefully-argued, yet quite readable, Feinberg’s book has much to offer the expert, the novice, and those in between.
—Paul Copan, Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics, Palm Beach Atlantic University
John Feinberg is one of the most perceptive Christian thinkers of our time. In Can You Believe It’s True? he affords an accessible and helpful guide for pastors, ministerial students, and laypersons about how to articulate the truth of Christianity effectively in our postmodern era.
—Steve Lemke, provost and professor of philosophy and ethics, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
This volume by John Feinberg presents a more extensive range of subjects than many apologetics textbooks. Beginning with truth and the modern-postmodern debate, Feinberg wades into waters that are explored too seldom in this context but that perhaps include the most gems. Other topics include a detailed investigation of apologetic methodologies, along with specific issues such as the problem of evil, the reliability of the New Testament text, Jesus’s resurrection, and pluralism and tolerance. Each is discussed with understanding and insight. While this is the thorough treatment one would expect from Feinberg, its accessible and relaxed tone gives it a sense of a conversation throughout. I recommend this enjoyable text that can be used at more than one level . . .
—Gary R. Habermas, distinguished research professor, Liberty University and Theological Seminary
John S. Feinberg is professor of biblical and systematic theology and chairman of that department at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is the author of several books, including Ethics for a Brave New World (with Paul D. Feinberg) and The Many Faces of Evil, and is general editor of the Foundations of Evangelical Theology series.
