CHRISTOlogisch.UNDERSTAND & DEFEND THE FAITH
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The apologetics library

Questions of faith.
Answers with a foundation.

What supports the Christian faith? Explore your questions - with clear answers, understandable arguments and sources for further reading.

Where would you like to begin?

Organized by topic. Look things up at any time.

01

Faith and thought

Faith, reason and a good conversation.
15 answers

02

Truth and worldview

Examining truth claims and their presuppositions.
15 answers

03

Understanding God

God's being and the scope of arguments for God.
15 answers

04

The Bible and its transmission

Inspiration, canon, transmission and historical testimony.
20 answers

05

Jesus and resurrection

Jesus' identity, his cross and the Easter testimonies.
20 answers

06

Creation, science and miracles

Knowledge of nature, origins and God's action.
15 answers

07

Humanity, dignity and morality

Personhood, responsibility and inalienable dignity.
10 answers

08

Suffering, doubt and God's goodness

Taking objections seriously and meeting people in their distress.
15 answers

09

Gospel, grace and assurance

The gift of salvation and a life by grace.
15 answers

10

Death, judgment and hope

Resurrection, God's justice and the future.
10 answers

Three paths through the questions.

A starting point if you do not yet have a search term.

Position and sources

Ask thoroughly. Answer honestly.

This library explains the Christian faith on the foundation of God's self-authenticating revelation in Holy Scripture. Historical and philosophical work help examine individual questions carefully. An open research question is not concealed through invented certainty.

Each answer offers a compact introduction. Biblical passages support the biblical assertions; specialist sources accompany the relevant factual questions. The texts are independent explanations. Disagreement and the limits of a finding are named where essential to the answer.

We understand salvation as God's gift through faith in Jesus Christ. It must be distinguished from discipleship, fellowship and reward. Regarding the canon, we start from firmer New Testament doctrinal testimony; less certain questions at the margins must not overturn it.

Research used Logos and the library of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, among other resources. Citing a source does not mean agreement with all its author's views. Books requiring a license are documented bibliographically; their files are not distributed here.

Open source list
Vincent Cheung: Systematic Theology (2010)

pp. 13, 25 and 32–36; revelation and the first ground of knowledge

Original checked from our own source collection. Used for the epistemic approach, rather than as agreement with all the author's teachings.

Oshea Davis: Systematic Theology

Sections on knowledge, first ground and self-authenticating Scripture, pp. 12–17, 65–73

Original from our own source collection. Methodological reference, rather than wholesale acceptance of every assertion.

John M. Frame: Presuppositional Apologetics, in Five Views on Apologetics

Chapter 4, Apologetic Method / A Sketch of an Apologetic, p. 223

Read in Logos; access to the book may require a license.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Relativism

Introduction and distinction between different scopes of relativism

Thomas von Aquin: Summa theologiae I, Question 2

Article 3: the five ways

Historical primary source; not equated with complete Christian revelation.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Cosmological Argument

Introduction: different types of cosmological argument

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Fine-Tuning

Introduction and alternative interpretations

Platon: Euthyphron

10a–11b: The relation of the pious to being loved by the gods

Primary text; the Christian answer is further argumentation.

Institut für Neutestamentliche Textforschung: Research

Research mandate: transmission and initial text of the New Testament

NET Bible: textual note on 1 John 5,7–8

Note 2: Comma Johanneum

For evidence concerning transmission; no doctrine is grounded on this expansion.

Athanasius: 39th Festal Letter (367)

Sections 4–7: Lists of Scripture and books recommended for reading

Historical testimony. The list is not simply identical with every present-day arrangement of the canon.

Gospel of Thomas, translation by Thomas O. Lambdin

Prologue and saying 1

Primary text for comparing its claim; no recognition as canonical Scripture.

Richard A. Burridge: Gospels, The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Studies

pp. 432–444, here the publicly accessible abstract

The abstract was examined, rather than the full book contribution with restricted access.

Tacitus: Annals 15,44

15,44,3: Christ, Tiberius and Pontius Pilate

Latin primary text with commentary by Mathew Owen and Ingo Gildenhard.

Gary R. Habermas: The Minimal Facts Approach to the Resurrection of Jesus

Southeastern Theological Review 3/1 (2012), pp. 15–26; especially pp. 16 and 25–26

On the method and its limits, particularly the status of the empty tomb.

Michael J. Alter / Darren M. Slade: Dataset Analysis of English Texts Written on the Topic of Jesus’ Resurrection

SHERM 3/2 (2021), pp. 367–392; introduction and dataset description, pp. 367–368

Consulted through the SWBTS library. Methodological criticism of literature samples; no direct disproof of the resurrection.

Gary R. Habermas / Benjamin C. F. Shaw: Crucifixion in the Ancient World: A Historical Analysis

Eleutheria 5/1 (2021), pp. 5–17

Discussion and historical evaluation of John Granger Cook's research; the source is no modern examination of Jesus' body.

Joseph W. Bergeron / Gary R. Habermas: The Resurrection of Jesus: A Clinical Review of Psychiatric Hypotheses for the Biblical Story of Easter

Irish Theological Quarterly 80/2 (2015), pp. 157–172; especially pp. 160–163

Critical scholarly position on psychological hypotheses; no clinical diagnosis of ancient people.

Timothy Pawl: In Defense of Conciliar Christology

Oxford University Press 2016, chapter 6, especially pp. 117–119

Chapter consulted through SWBTS. On precise distinctions in attributing Christological properties.

NASA: Webb Telescope & The Big Bang

Questions and answers about early cosmic phases and the limits of knowledge

NASA: How Did Life Begin on Earth?

We Asked a NASA Scientist, Episode 42, 24 July 2023

Dated overview of open questions of origins; no claim to encompass all later research.

MedlinePlus Genetics: How are gene variants involved in evolution?

Variation, mutation, recombination and natural selection

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Miracles

Sections 1–2: Miracles, laws of nature and God's action

David Hume: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

Section X: Of Miracles

Primary argument about experience and testimony; additionally SEP, Miracles, section 3.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Consciousness

Sections 5.1–5.3: Questions of explanation and the explanatory gap

United Nations: Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Preamble and Articles 1–2

Primary document for the claim to equal dignity; the Christian ultimate justification is separately explained in the article.

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: The Problem of Evil

Distinction between logical and evidential arguments, and between defense and theodicy

Charlie Bing: Repentance: What’s in a Word

GraceNotes 22, pp. 1–2

Meaning from context; distinguish inward repentance and outward fruits.

Joseph Dillow: Final Destiny. The Future Reign of the Servant Kings

4th revised edition, Grace Theology Press 2018; sections on grace, repentance, discipleship and reward

Original checked from our own book collection. No publicly accessible full-text file is distributed.

Joseph Dillow: Final Destiny — assurance of salvation

4th revised edition 2018, section The Basis of Assurance / Obtaining Assurance

Original from our own collection. Reference: Christ and his promise as the foundation, distinguishing assurance from feelings.

Joseph Dillow: Final Destiny — preservation

4th revised edition 2018, chapter 47, Eternal Security Depends on God the Father

Original from our own collection. Reference: enduring salvation and distinguishing discipleship, fellowship and reward.

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