Apologia

Recently, the Somali-born ex-Muslim Ayaan Hirsi Ali announced that, in a seeming departure from her apostate atheism, she had decided to convert to Christianity. This prompted long-time Apologia participant J. Daniel Sawyer to include some analysis of Ali's about-face and place it in context with the long historical view he is developing at his substack, "Unfolding the World." The result of this w...

Ryan Sanders is a writer and pastor at Irving Bible Church in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex where he focuses on building community. His most recent book is “Unbelievable: Examining the Unlikely Beauty Of the Christian Story,” an honest examination of Christianity in the 21st century. Rather than approach his faith with the argumentative vigor typically employed by apologists, Ryan seeks to look...

Gilbert Keith Chesterton was a literary figure and theological influence on many British Christians in the 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as a figure of continuing influence in the 21st century evangelical Christian Church. Although I’ve read Chesterton’s “Orthodoxy” in the past both as a Christian and as an apostate, I wanted to sit down and chat about him with a true fan, previous interv...

Lee Valerius is a lay Christian and ardent supporter of the Dallas/Fort Worth apologetics community. In this discussion, we talk about Nikos Kazantzakis’ book, “The Last Temptation of Christ,” and the challenges that it presents to orthodox Christians. From what I’ve come to understand and appreciate about Lee, I was eager to find out what he might think about such a controversial book. Listen alo...

Alix Jules is an activist and writer in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, serving as President of the Board of Directors of the Fellowship of Freethought Dallas, President of Black Non-Believers of Dallas, as well as a national speaker on issues of intersectionality between race, religion, and gender. In this discussion, Alix and I talk about “The New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander, which methodically...

Shunda Lee was raised in a family that instilled in her a strong sense of Christian identity and morality, though not specifically following any particular denomination. But upon reaching adulthood, Shunda sought to explore the Christian faith in depth, particularly as a result of her sister’s deep dive into fundamentalist Christianity. However, a combination of the limitations of Christian theolo...

Trey Grant is Lead Pastor and founder of The Well Church in Keller, Texas, an intentionally multi-racial congregation that seeks to build a diverse community that worships Jesus together as one. I first met Trey after one of his first Sunday morning services, held in a local theater and attended by a small but diverse coterie of Christians. I was immediately entranced by Trey’s vision of a new kin...

Scriptorium is a new project I’m undertaking with Apologia, in which I’ll be seeking out interesting discussions about interesting books. These will typically have a theological or philosophical context, and I’ll be inviting people from both sides of the religious fence to participate with me. For the first in this series, I sat down with erstwhile Inquisition subject, Dan Ray, to talk about the h...

Dr. Martin Hughes was raised in a conservative Church of Christ family that embraced the fundamentalist Quiverfull movement, but though he aspired to be an apologist in the mold of C.S. Lewis, his study of literature left him on a path of apostasy. Now an atheist writer who manages the Barrierbreaker blog at patheos.com, Dr. Hughes is struggling to come to terms with a secular community that has d...

Ricky Allen and Zac Poppen are two Christians who have become uncomfortable with the rigid requirements of the pervasive evangelical orthodoxy in America today. Though both revel in the study of theology and find spiritual discussions thrilling, they recognize that their beliefs place them firmly outside the boundaries set by the mainstream American Church. In an online exchange, Ricky and Zac sem...

Dr. George Yancey is the author of "There is No God: Atheists in America," based on research in which I personally participated. He is a professor of sociology at the University of North Texas, contributes at Patheos in the Evangelical Channel at the blog, Black, White, and Gray, is a Senior Contributor at the conservative political and religious website The Stream, and has also written for Christ...

In this follow-up interview, I spoke again with Dan Ray, now a graduate of the Houston Baptist University Master's program in Christian Apologetics, and who is looking for more things to do in that realm. With some help from an old professor, as well as an astronomer who has experience with the Hubble space telescope, Dan may have found something to move his mission forward.

Averroes Paracha was the first interview posted to the Inquisition series, recorded mere hours before his baptism into the Christian faith. In this follow-up interview, Averroes talks about the struggles he's had since then, focusing on the challenges of being a "Skeptical Christian," and becoming comfortable living outside the boundaries defined by strict orthodoxy.

Kymberli Cook describes herself as a "reluctant apologist," which is an interesting characterization coming from someone who works at the Dallas Theological Seminary's Hendricks Center for Christian Leadership and Cultural Engagement, a position that requires her to professionally support the apologetical initiatives promoted by that institution. I sat down with Kym at the DTS campus to talk more...

Over the years, I've found myself occasionally returning to the university setting to meet with, speak to, and encourage students in exploring and challenging their doubts. Allen Hainline makes a habit of it. Allen studied physics from the University of Texas at Austin, later being trained at the graduate level in Systems and Software Engineering. But after a season of skepticism and doubt, Allen...

The American Church has flourished over the past several decades by building itself up into a distinct subculture that, for a time, was one of the dominant political forces in American society. That all seems to be changing now, and Ezra Boggs couldn’t be happier. After creating a unique venue for Christian apologetics called the Bible and Beer Consortium, Ezra is hopeful that he can stimulate chu...

Many people describe their lives as a roller-coaster. Ezra Boggs describes his life as being shot into space, then falling back to Earth to plunge under the ocean in a submarine. When Ezra was a child growing up in Texas, everyone with a pulse was a Christian. Reacting against that culture, Ezra first found himself reacting negatively to organized religion, even considering himself to be an anti-t...

The Pew Forum and the Barna Research Group have shown that the demographics of the American religious landscape are undergoing a slow but steady shift away from Christianity. In this context, how should the Church respond? Blake Giunta notes that many of the reasons that people give for abandoning Christianity are directly addressable by apologetics, so this provides a unique opportunity for him a...

Blake Giunta never thought too much about his Christian faith as something objectively verifiable, until a presentation on Christian apologetics changed his mind. He later founded the online ministry BeliefMap, a digital tool designed to give Christians good reasons to defend what it is they believe. Now a student at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Blake talks about his experience as an aspiring...

Being a conservative Christian in the United Kingdom is a very different experience from being such in the United States, to say nothing of setting out to develop a career as a young apologist. Calum Miller is a recently-graduated physician from the University of Oxford, and an academic philosopher who has a strong interest in Christian apologetics. In this short interview, Dr. Miller shares some...

Aspiring apologist Rebekah Valerius suggests that the rise of the "Nones" and the increasing influence of the New Atheists may be a good thing for the Church, prompting a move in the direction of a more traditional, "Nicene Creed" type of Christianity. Her assessment of the state of the Christian religion in America now is one that is driven by fear, manifesting in many negative ways, including th...

Rebekah Valerius was raised as a Christian with little more than a “Sunday School” understanding of the religion. She struggled with doubt at three critical junctions in her life, first as a struggling young ballet dancer studying far away from Texas in the liberal culture of the Pacific Northwest, later as a student of science frustrated by the seemingly impossible divide between God and evolutio...

What are the sins of the modern American Church, and why does a seminary student think that unless it radically changes soon, it's destined for failure? Brandon Tejedor is not a typical Christian, but he is a much-needed voice of reason from within the Church's hallowed halls. In this second and final part of my interview, listen to find out what he thinks are the challenges facing the Church, the...

I first met Brandon Tejedor over a plastic tray piled high with slow-cooked pit barbecue and pickled jalapeños. Though Brandon was Christian seminary student of apologetics, he had come to meet Justin Schieber, an atheist debater whom he respected and admired. In this discussion, I learn about Brandon's story and his difficult and circuitous path between doubt and faith, and what led him ultimatel...

In the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, what is meant theologically by the use of light? In this third and final part of my discussion with Dan Ray, we talk at length about the underlying mythology of Middle-earth, and how Tolkien's own Catholic faith provided and influence on the metaphysical nature of his fictional world. Brace yourself as I nerd-gush about the particulars of Tolkien's mythology at near...