Thanks Tony for this perceptive piece. Would it be fair to say that a Gospel-centred hermeneutic for dealing with the Preemptive Objections model (Type 3 in your article) is in fact Type 7, the Critique or kategoria model? That is, rather than accept secular objections that impede someone accepting the Gospel, we should use the Gospel to dismantle these objections?
That’s often what ends up happening in apologetic discussions anyway. For example, a discussion about suffering inevitably leads to dismantling someone’s assumptions about justice existing without a God who ordains real justice. Then I would move to explain how we can know that real justice through God demonstrating it mercifully in the death and resurrection of Jesus, which resolves the moral problem of suffering and so much more!
The problems you have identified stem from preachers/evangelists moving away from centring their message on a biblical text and from there preaching the gospel.
This does not mean ceasing to preach on a specific subject. Far from it because your chosen text itself presents the subject. For example deciding to preach on 1 Peter 2 concerning Jesus as the precious cornerstone one can ask people to think what is the foundation of their lives for we all have one. But there is only one foundation which sustains the life we build with an eternally secure cornerstone. ( Please forgive mini sermon)
Thanks Tony for this perceptive piece. Would it be fair to say that a Gospel-centred hermeneutic for dealing with the Preemptive Objections model (Type 3 in your article) is in fact Type 7, the Critique or kategoria model? That is, rather than accept secular objections that impede someone accepting the Gospel, we should use the Gospel to dismantle these objections?
That’s often what ends up happening in apologetic discussions anyway. For example, a discussion about suffering inevitably leads to dismantling someone’s assumptions about justice existing without a God who ordains real justice. Then I would move to explain how we can know that real justice through God demonstrating it mercifully in the death and resurrection of Jesus, which resolves the moral problem of suffering and so much more!
The problems you have identified stem from preachers/evangelists moving away from centring their message on a biblical text and from there preaching the gospel.
This does not mean ceasing to preach on a specific subject. Far from it because your chosen text itself presents the subject. For example deciding to preach on 1 Peter 2 concerning Jesus as the precious cornerstone one can ask people to think what is the foundation of their lives for we all have one. But there is only one foundation which sustains the life we build with an eternally secure cornerstone. ( Please forgive mini sermon)
Many thanks,
Fane