A Theory of Revival in America

I have a theory. I would like to try it out on you, so please let me know what you think.

I believe that apologetics is a lost church practice that, when brought back into common practice, will bring forth revival in America. Let me unpack this a bit; I will explain what I mean in my theory, and then I will address what it does not mean to avoid pointless straw man battles.

First things first, apologetics means defense of the faith. An apologist is one who defends the faith. They are not professionals at the art of asking forgiveness. We are not talking about that kind of apology. So, apologetics, not apologies, are a normal and scripturally mandated task of the universal church. It is in 1 Peter 3:15 where Paul tells Timothy that he should always be prepared to give an answer for the joy he holds even through suffering. The Greek word used for “give an answer” is where we get the words apology and apologetics. Going deeper, apologetics is the defense of the faith against non-believers.

Apologetics is a battlefield planted squarely in the mind. We are taught by Jesus to love God with our heart, soul, and MIND. Apologetics is the art of engaging someone’s mind in discussion about the life of faith. The truth of the matter is that science has replaced the Bible as the authority in America, and for over a hundred years Faith has ignored the cries of ridicule offered from the scientific elite. Like King Saul and the Israelites we have sat back in fear, afraid to approach the giant. we have been losing the battle for the mind. For evidence, look at the number of students who fall away from the faith when they enter into college. They were not equipped for battle when the church released them into war, and we lose them at an alarming rate due to a battle lost in the mind.

Now, we know that apologetics is the art of defending the faith. We also know that it is a battle for the mind, which Jesus has named as an integral part of belief. Now let’s move on through my theory.

Let me address my statement that apologetics is a lost church practice. First, apologetics is a longstanding church practice. From Paul speaking to the Athenians in Acts 17 to Justin Martyr, Augustine, Anselm, and Thomas Aquinas, the church has always attempted to foresee arguments against the faith and answer them intelligently. In the “Age of Reason” we have lost ground in the battle for the mind, and I believe there are a few contributing factors which have caused the loss of apologetics in America. 

There are a number of cultural factors which I think have contributed to the downfall of common apologetics, such as the specialization of modern academics and the decrease in widespread scholarship among Christians. There was once a time when academic studies and personal scholarship were considered an essential part of the Christian life. When you look through the history of western civilization, it is the clergy who kept the candle of education burning. St. Patrick from Ireland provided the world with something much greater than an appreciation of green and four leaf clovers; he was one of the sole people in Europe that kept education going through the dark ages. He started monasteries where people were taught to read and write. Once we made school mandatory for all kids, education became a duty, not a privilege. Couple that with the American appetite for entertainment and you will see an inevitable slide away from scholarship. Now, the greater populace cannot wait to finish school so they can stop studying. Apologetics takes study and hard work, but we are too busy, too tired and too fond of being entertained to make personal growth and difficult study a part of our daily lives.

Another influence in the fall of apologetics is the rise of revivalism in America. Revivalism taught that when we say a prayer committing ourselves to God, we have been saved. Once we have been saved, there is no need for continued work on our part, for our faith has saved us. The last sentence is highly debatable on a number of counts, but for a better understanding of the effects of revivalism see The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Mark A. Noll.

When we do in fact bring apologetics back into common practice, we will see revival in America. I say this because Christianity is no longer considered thoughtful discourse. We have relied for so long on our faith alone, that people without faith ignore us before we open our mouths. Christianity as a presupposition has no weight in the academic world. I would like to argue that if we can bring reason to support our faith we will see people reconsider the validity of the claims we make. We consider our faith to be above reason; I say that because our faith is the truth it is inextricably tied to reason. Once we show this to be true, we will be able to have real conversations with people about our faith, and they will want to hear what we have to say.

Finally, I want to head off a major argument in order to save time. I do not believe that argumentation can save anyone. We are saved by grace, through our faith - not our intelligence or understanding. I am simply positing that too much reliance upon faith without addressing real questions with real answers has reduced the transforming power of the gospel to a subjective personal experience. When the Gospel becomes subjective, it becomes irrelevant.