I want to understand the faith.
From the first objection to the good news.
What supports the Christian faith? Explore your questions - with clear answers, understandable arguments and sources for further reading.
150 answers in ten subject areas.
Organized by topic. Look things up at any time.
Faith, reason and a good conversation.
15 answers
Examining truth claims and their presuppositions.
15 answers
God's being and the scope of arguments for God.
15 answers
Inspiration, canon, transmission and historical testimony.
20 answers
Jesus' identity, his cross and the Easter testimonies.
20 answers
Knowledge of nature, origins and God's action.
15 answers
Personhood, responsibility and inalienable dignity.
10 answers
Taking objections seriously and meeting people in their distress.
15 answers
The gift of salvation and a life by grace.
15 answers
Resurrection, God's justice and the future.
10 answers
A starting point if you do not yet have a search term.
From the first objection to the good news.
Organize your thoughts. Find comfort and sound hope.
Answer clearly, listen well and ask fair questions in return.
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.
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.
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.
Chapter 4, Apologetic Method / A Sketch of an Apologetic, p. 223
Read in Logos; access to the book may require a license.
Introduction and distinction between different scopes of relativism
Article 3: the five ways
Historical primary source; not equated with complete Christian revelation.
Introduction: different types of cosmological argument
Introduction and alternative interpretations
10a–11b: The relation of the pious to being loved by the gods
Primary text; the Christian answer is further argumentation.
Research mandate: transmission and initial text of the New Testament
Note 2: Comma Johanneum
For evidence concerning transmission; no doctrine is grounded on this expansion.
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.
Prologue and saying 1
Primary text for comparing its claim; no recognition as canonical Scripture.
pp. 432–444, here the publicly accessible abstract
The abstract was examined, rather than the full book contribution with restricted access.
15,44,3: Christ, Tiberius and Pontius Pilate
Latin primary text with commentary by Mathew Owen and Ingo Gildenhard.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Oxford University Press 2016, chapter 6, especially pp. 117–119
Chapter consulted through SWBTS. On precise distinctions in attributing Christological properties.
Questions and answers about early cosmic phases and the limits of knowledge
We Asked a NASA Scientist, Episode 42, 24 July 2023
Dated overview of open questions of origins; no claim to encompass all later research.
Variation, mutation, recombination and natural selection
Sections 1–2: Miracles, laws of nature and God's action
Section X: Of Miracles
Primary argument about experience and testimony; additionally SEP, Miracles, section 3.
Sections 5.1–5.3: Questions of explanation and the explanatory gap
Preamble and Articles 1–2
Primary document for the claim to equal dignity; the Christian ultimate justification is separately explained in the article.
Distinction between logical and evidential arguments, and between defense and theodicy
GraceNotes 22, pp. 1–2
Meaning from context; distinguish inward repentance and outward fruits.
GraceNotes 1, one page
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.
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.
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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