I’m listening to an audio-essay of J. Gresham Machen’s “The Important of Christian Scholarship” (HT: Phil Gons), and this sentence stood out to me: “But because argument is insufficient, it does not follow that it is unnecessary.” I’ve placed it in bold below so that you can read it in context.

The Importance of Argument

Certainly a Christianity that avoids argument is not the Christianity of the New Testament. The New Testament is full of argument in defense of the faith. The Epistles of Paul are full of argument—no one can doubt that. But even the words of Jesus are full of argument in defense of the truth of what Jesus was saying. “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?” Is not that a well-known form of reasoning, which the logicians would put in its proper category? Many of the parables of Jesus are argumentative in character. Even our Lord, who spake in the plenitude of divine authority, did condescend to reason with men. Everywhere the New Testament meets objections fairly, and presents the gospel as a thoroughly reasonable thing. (more…)

The latest CCI article just became available. It’s impressive.

Last night Jenni and I watched Collision: Christopher Hitchens vs. Douglas Wilson, an 87-minute film in which two witty public intellectuals debate whether Christianity is good for the world.

As we expected, the debate is fascinating, fast-paced, evenhanded, and edifying. The creative camera angles and other non-verbal aspects of the film make it even more provocative.

Amazon.com will start shipping the DVD on October 29.

Related:

1. The film’s official site includes an overview and 13-minute preview.
2. The film is based on this book: Is Christianity Good for the World? A Debate (Moscow, ID: Canon, 2008).
3. The book grew out of a six-part exchange in Christianity Today.
4. Justin Taylor shared some thoughts after viewing the film in March.
5. John Piper interviewed Doug Wilson for 16 minutes after showing the film at the Desiring God conference last weekend.

My last post highlights a book I read last night:

Gregory Koukl. Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009.

In the foreword Lee Strobel recounts this story:

When I hosted a national television program called Faith Under Fire, which featured short debates on spiritual topics, I decided to invite best-selling New Age author Deepak Chopra to be a guest. The topic would be the future of faith. To offer a different perspective, I asked my friend Greg Koukl to represent Christianity. The idea was to tape them as they interacted for about fifteen minutes via satellite, the typical format for a segment of the show.

That plan quickly went out the window.

Greg was simply so engaging and so effecting in poking holes in Chopra’s worldview that I had to keep the cameras running. Time after time, Greg was able to expose the faulty thinking underlying Chopra’s amorphous theology and correct his inaccurate claims about Jesus and the Bible. Before I knew it, we had consumed the entire hour of the show. Chopra—who was accustomed to spouting his opinions unchallenged on television and radio—was left thoroughly defeated and deflated.

As soon as the taping was over, I turned to my producer. “That,” I said, “was a textbook example of how to defend Christianity.” For the only time in our show’s tenure, we decided to devote an entire program to airing one debate.

Why was Greg so incredibly successful in that encounter? He wasn’t belligerent or obnoxious. He didn’t raise his voice or launch into a sermon. Instead, he used the kind of tactics that he describes in his book: winsomely using key questions and other techniques to guide the conversation and unveil the flawed assumptions and hidden contradictions in another person’s positions. (p. 13)

Koukl’s website lists many video resources and other resources on apologetics, including a link to the Chopra-Koukl debate. (I also searched on “Koulk” at LeeStrobel.com and discovered ten videos, including the Chopra-Koukl debate in smaller segments.) Here’s a 36-minute video of the Chopra-Koukl debate:

As I acquire new books, I typically do not immediately assign them to their proper places on bookshelves. First I want to spend at least a few minutes with each book to get a sense of its argument and how it might be a useful resource to consult in the future.

Tonight I’ve been working through a stack of new books, spending fifteen minutes with one, five with another, etc. Then I picked up this one:

Gregory Koukl. Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009. [excerpt]

This is one of those rare books that is hard to put down. It’s insightful, witty, and fun to read. Except for an unpersuasive argument against determinism (pp. 128–29), the book is extremely helpful, particularly Koukl’s winsome and strategic use of asking questions (chaps. 3–6).

The Fallacy of Expert Witness

One of the most helpful chapters is entitled “Rhodes Scholar.” (more…)