Confessing and Commending the Faith: Historic Witness and Apologetic MethodSince Christianity is a way and not simply a theory, commending the faith to others is an activity in which every Christian participates. Confessing and Commending the Faith discusses the presuppositions which underlie the intellectual commendation of Christianity in the face of the philosophical challenges of the present day. Following his earlier books, John Locke and the Eighteenth-Century Divines and Philosophical Idealism and Christian Belief, Alan Sell proposes a way of proceeding with Christian apologetics in the twenty-first century. He discusses what Christians wish to proclaim, asks whether these claims are reasonable and examines what is involved in the intellectual commendation of the Christian faith. Confessing and Commending the Faith makes extensive use of the historical tradition of apologetics and brings this work to bear on contemporary questions such as the meaning, use and reference of religious language, and the question of transcendence in relation to history. Alan Sell argues that if the intellectual commendation of Christianity's claim to truth is to be viable, contemporary apologetics must draw upon reason, revelation and experience to do justice to Christianity's basic confession of Christ as Saviour and Lord. |
Contents
THE CONFESSION AND THE CONFESSORS | 21 |
Confessors and Continuity | 61 |
PRESUPPOSITIONS OF THE CONFESSION | 91 |
Transcendence Immanence and History | 150 |
ALTERNATIVE APOLOGETIC STARTING POINTS | 207 |
Faith Knowledge and Experience | 280 |
CONCLUSION AND EPILOGUE | 351 |
Epilogue | 374 |
Select Bibliography | 498 |
| 533 | |
| 548 | |
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Confessing and Commending the Faith: Historic Witness and Apologetic Method Alan P. F. Sell No preview available - 2002 |
Common terms and phrases
aesthetic Alan P. F. Sell analogy apologist Aquinas argument assertions B. B. Warfield Barth believe biblical Blackwell Calvin Cambridge Christian apologetics Christian confession Christian faith Church claim Clarendon Press Clark concerning context D. Z. Phillips declared discourse distinction divine Edinburgh epistemological Essays ethical example fact further Alan P. F. God's Gospel grace H. R. Mackintosh Hodder & Stoughton Holy Spirit human Ibid idea Idem imago dei immanence Incarnation Independent Press intellectual Irenaeus Jesus Christ John John Locke Kierkegaard knowledge logical London means metaphysical mind modern moral natural theology objective Orthodox Oxford P. T. Forsyth position Presbyterian propositions question R. G. Collingwood rational reality reason reference Reformed religious experience revelation Robert Mackintosh SCM Press Scripture sense speak supernatural T. F. Torrance theologians things thought tion tradition trans transcendent true truth understanding University Press Wittgenstein words