Rev. Chris Sinkinson discussed his background in apologetics and anthropology. He also talks explained how apologetics is important for all Christians and how to have conversations where Christians can positively defend their faith.

The situation of Christianity in England, Chris’s native country, is not good. Nominal Christians are falling away from the faith. Christianity is frequently joked about and mocked. Islam is quickly gaining converts.

For many Christians apologetics has not been a part of their experience of God.

Chris points to the Enlightenment as the turning point when Christians began to ground their intellectual convictions in themselves instead of the Bible. After philosophers such as René Descartes and Immanuel Kant, there was an important shift away from depending on God’s revelation. In every area, the God of revelation was pushed aside by these individuals and their intellectual progeny.

Charles Darwin ‘s experience reflects how the church as a whole and many individual Christians respond today. Darwin departed from intellectual orthodoxy well before he left actual orthodoxy and wrote his book “On the Origin of Species” about evolution.

In contrast, Chris hearkens back to the early church fathers and theologians who did not place a distinction between theology and apologetics. These theologians agreed about two key elements of orthodoxy:

•  The bodily resurrection of Christ.
•  The evidence of fulfilled prophecy.

Just as these individuals mixed theology and apologetics we also should regular engage in both elements of intellectually engaging our faith.

Conversations that lead to the Cross

Rev. Sinkinson is a lecturer in apologetics at Moorlands College on the south coast of England. His book is called Confident Christianity – Conversations That Lead to the Cross.