Glenn Lucke on Apologetics

My friend Glenn Lucke at Common Grounds Online is reconsidering what Peter meant when he said:

“But in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you,” (I Peter 3:15, ESV)

In a post called "What did Peter intend by '. . . Make a Defense'" Glenn says:

Did the Apostle Peter intend his audience to become debate whizzes, philosophical maestros, or even lords of the coffeeshop?

If you’d asked me that years ago when I was perplexing Harvard students with evidence that demanded their verdict (but instead met their yawns, shrugs and murmured ‘whatevers’), I’d have said, “Of course!” I constantly rummaged through the latest, greatest arguments designed to compel students to bow before my propositions. (yes, I am cringing, too.)

This is interesting because Glenn was on the front lines of ministry at Harvard, a place where these kinds of arguments would seem to be most appropos, but he hints at his singular lack of success in persuading students with them.

Glenn sets the verse in its context of first century persecution. Peter was telling the church how to be free from fear and to make a defense for the faith in the midst of this.  H e says:

By regarding Christ as holy. By setting Jesus apart from all else as Lord. By having hope in a Story that far outweighs this present travail. Hope that you will be saved into a glorious inheritance that cannot perish or fade (1:4). As the insults and beatings rain down and as your persecutors simultaneously see your joy and ask you to give an account for your hope….be ready.

Be ready to tell them how and why you have hope in the face of their malignance. Be ready to tell them that all of us were made beautiful, but sin spoiled the beauty, so now we hurt and hate in ceaseless cycle. But then Jesus came and suffered and broke sin’s power.

Be ready to tell them of your hope for the Day when the King will return, when wrongs will be made right, when hatred will be leached of its toxin and transformed into love, when Death will be no more, and when their very insults and beatings will be made into crowns for the suffering.

Be ready to tell them of your hope for a Love that loves them and forgives them and will welcome them into the exilic band so that they too may have this hope: “Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again.”

That's just a great piece of writing and I think Glenn hits the nail on the head here.  I don't think this abrogates the need to understand and articulate evidences for the faith.  Tim Keller himself has said that evidences and rational arguments still have a place even in our postmodern world.  Even postmoderns need reasons to believe.

But Glenn is getting at something more profound and that is that the defense of the faith goes beyond intellectual argumentation.  It seems that our most powerful apologetic defense of the faith comes in our response to suffering, not our intellectual arguments.  In other words, the apologetics that are enjoined here are apologetics that give a reason for hope in the midst of suffering. Sure, if the theistic arguments are the things that bring you comfort and hope in the midst of suffering then by all means use them.  But for most of us, suffering is not a merely intellectual thing with intellectual responses.  Glenn's closing paragraphs get at the heart of suffering and the heart of our hope in the midst of suffering.

Comments

[The Dane]

I agree with Glenn on this. Here's the tail end of something I posted back in 2000 on the matter:

"So what about the standard proof-text for apologetics, 1 Peter 3:15: "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear"? First, what is the "reason" for our hope? Faith! Faith in Christ is the reason that we have a heavenly hope (Hebrews 11:13-16). And what is our defense for our faith? Christ! Christ is defense!! When someone looks at us queerly when we speak of Christ ruling all creation even now with his iron rod, just how are we to respond? We look around and see evil people seemingly getting away with evil things. How can we say that our hope is real? Because we see Jesus (Hebrews 4:8-9). Our defense is that we look not to earthly things, not to the elements of reason, not to "temporary" evidences, not to our feelings, and not to the evidence of our experience; but rather, we look to the heavenly Christ, we look to the promise of a heavenly city, we look to a hope that does not disappoint—and all of these things are apprehended solely because God has revealed them to us. The nonbeliever cannot grasp these because he is blind to their existence. Our only recourse to convince him is to preach to him the Gospel and hope it takes hold."

[Glenn]

David,

Thank you for your additions. What you write at the end I heartily agree with, but we have this 600 word limit at CGO so I was out of words! What you write is what needs to be added for a fuller picture of our apologetic efforts. Your mention of Keller's remark is spot on. While I do hope to provoke our family to think afresh about 1 Peter 3:15 and what giving an account of our hope looks like, I would be remiss if I were to give the impression that thinking Christianly about all things is of little or no value. I'm glad that you have made up for this hole in my post.

[Rhett Smith]

This is obviously a big topic right now. Glenn is speaking of sufferring, and Ryan Bolger was speaking on hospitality as an apologetic. http://www.thebolgblog.typepad.com/

I agree that we will always need some rational defense of our faith, but as a college pastor myself, I have seen the tide turn, even in the last few years, from a traditional apologetic, based on reason, logic, argument, etc., to an apologetic that seems to be more based on how one lives in light of Christ. People are turned on to Christ by the differences they see in other's lives.

[brad]

Right on!!! I have been thinking of posting on this topic today. It all starts with an unshakable hope and peace. From there we basically say, "I know how to lead you into this peaceful quality of life". The next question I ask is "to what length will you go to have this life". It is like Jesus saying, "whoever comes to Me will never thirst". we teach people how to follow Jesus and receive the power in their life they so desperately need.
From there we just start going to meetings together. In other words, always be ready. If a person says, but I don;t believe in God. Then I just say, "WOW what a drag. That means you are going to stay miserable. But how about changing your mind on this one. Cause it looks to me like your worldview isn't working for you." Ahh...this is becoming a post.