Thesis (M.A.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, Wheaton, IL, 2000. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-100).

Thesis (M.A.)--Calvary Theological Seminary, Kansas City, Mo., 1998. / [Abstract]. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-87).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Erskine Theological Seminary, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [173]-176).

Thesis (M.A.)--Wheaton College Graduate School, Wheaton, IL, 2000. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 99-100).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Erskine Theological Seminary, 2005. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [173]-176).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Baylor University, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 190-212).

This dissertation examines the preaching ministry of George Whitefield as a precursor to presuppositional apologetics in relation to the cultural shift of the Enlightenment. The presupposition of the authority of the Word of God is the concept that bridges Whitefield’s preaching and presuppositional apologetics. Chapter 1 presents the research questions narrowing the topic. This section also presents background information as well as methodology of this work. Chapter 2 describes the biographical information of Whitefield. The cultural influences marked his life from an early age, but it was the influence of John and Charles Wesley that guided his faith. Chapter 3 outlines the thought of the Enlightenment period. Specifically, rationalism as a means to discerning and living by truth. Philosophical influences such as Locke, Newton, Hume, Descartes, and Kant are overviewed. The First Great Awakening was the result of many cultural and theological ideas boiling over simultaneously. People were craving truth, direction, and a sense of authority. The Awakening highlighted the movement of the Holy Spirit theologically and a resurgence of biblical truth culturally. The work of John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards is also detailed in regards to their efforts to combat rationalism as sole priority in worldview thinking. Chapter 4 highlights the apologetic within the polemic of Whitefield. His Calvinistic theology is identified and connected to the Articles of faith for the Church of England. This leads to the idea of presuppositional apologetics found within his preaching. Cornelius Van Til, the father of presuppositional apologetics, is also overviewed to show the distinct connection between Whitefield’s thoughts in holding a high view of Scripture and what becomes presuppositional apologetics. Chapter 5 examines the sermons of Whitefield for specific content related to evangelical pushback against Enlightenment thought. Key propositions of the Enlightenment regarding authority, morality, and ultimate truth are answered within the preaching of Whitefield. Each are examined thoroughly. Chapter 6 presents a conclusion regarding the apologetic of Whitefield in his preaching towards the Enlightenment. It reveals connections between the presupposition of the authority of the revelation of God and his polemic. Other connections between the reformer John Calvin and the father of presuppositional apologetics, Cornelius Van Til, are also noted.

ThLic. Bc. Barbora Šmejdová Title of the thesis: C. S. Lewis and the Language of Modern Apologetics Abstract The dissertation thesis is devoted to the question of what kind of language we should use in contemporary apologetics to make Christian message communicable to unbelievers. This question is approached through the work of C. S. Lewis. After the introduction and biography of the author, the thesis provides the analysis of Lewis' gnoseological starting points. In this chapter, we are trying to show that Lewis is able to pay attention to the present accent on subjective perspective without getting trapped in relativism. The next chapter focuses on Lewis' theory of language. For his view, the theme of myth and metaphor is central. Together with Lewis, we come to the conclusion that human language is metaphorical, but we can still touch truth. This journey is not easy, though. To be able to make readers approach truth, the author has to live in truth. That is why the next chapter is devoted to the theological interpretation of imagination and shows that authentic Christian imagination is an integral part of each good apologetic text. The last chapter is focused on the genres of apologetics and, based on Lewis' work, presents their benefits and restrictions. Keywords C. S. Lewis; language of apologetics;...

The thesis "Teilhard de Chardin's apologetics of Christianity" starts with a brief introduction to apologetics and fundamental theology in general, on the basis of Teilhard's thought, presents the main critical comments and addresses the methodological question of the approach to his thinking. In the main part, develops the structure of apologetics from the phenomenological description of the world's evolution, from the particles and animals through the emergence of consciousness and man. This is showed on the basis of the "law of complexity and consciousness", which shows the increase of consciousness with the increase of the complexity. And then, through noogenesis (evolution of the spirit), it reaches the point of Omega. The thesis addresses the question of the legitimacy of such extrapolation and continues to the philosophical deduction of Omega's characteristics, as essentially transcendent, to an entropy independent, attractive and present. From the philosophically introduced point of Omega, seeks to show the possibility of identifying Christ of revelation with the Omega point through the theological reflection, as proof and defense of the truth of Christianity. The thesis tries to critically evaluate the apologetics thus built, to elaborate the philosophical view and to evaluate the...

Cette thèse examine, dans leur rapport aux Pensées de Pascal, deux ensembles de l’apologétique chrétienne, chacun dans sa quasi-totalité : les auteurs grecs et latins jusqu’à 450 et les auteurs français de la fin du XVIe siècle jusqu’à Pascal (1662). L’hypothèse initiale était que la fragmentation des Pensées pouvait avoir des modèles littéraires dans l’époque où naquit la polémique des philosophes contre le christianisme. La recherche porte sur les formes littéraires des apologies en considération de leur parenté avec les Pensées en discontinuité, en disposition, et, à titre secondaire, en inventaire d’arguments principaux. Il s’avère que les Pensées héritent de la première apologétique leurs particularités formelles, ainsi que leur thématique. Pour les modèles d’apologies antiques fragmentaires, nous avons relevé les Stromates de Clément d’Alexandrie et les Sentences de Sixte. Nous n’avons pas trouvé de modèles des Pensées au XVIIe siècle, mais avons constaté que l’apologie de Pascal a beaucoup en commun sur le plan du contenu avec les écrits des apologistes du même siècle. Nous avons aussi conclu que ce qu’on entend par emprunts ou lectures de Pascal dans ses précurseurs immédiats, peut appartenir à la tradition apologétique maintenue par une multitude d’écrivains insuffisamment connus, parmi lesquels il est impossible de déterminer l’auteur d’une sentence donnée. Ainsi la discontinuité des Pensées, défaut aux yeux des contemporains et originalité qui détermine leur succès postérieur, est due au choix conscient de Pascal en faveur de l’apologétique des Pères de l’Église, choix qui s’inscrit dans le retour aux sources du catholicisme de la Contre-Réforme. / Our dissertation looks at two corpuses of apologias, both analysed almost in their entirety, in relationship with Pascal’s Pensées : they are the Roman and Greek apologists up to 450 AD, and the French seventeenth century apologists (until 1662). We made an assumption that the Pensées’ fragmentary form might have had literary models in that period when Christianity began to defend itself against the philosophers’ attacks. Our research studies the apologists’ literary choices in comparison with Pascal’s in view of discontinuity, disposition and, secondarily, content of main arguments. It appears that the Pensées do inherit from the early apologists their literary form as well as their themes. Clement of Alexandria’s Stromata and the Sentences of Sextus have emerged as possible sources and specific models of fragmented apologies. No such models were to be found in seventeenth century France, but the substance of Pascal’s apology has a lot to do with the works of contemporaries. Is has also become clear that what is generally assumed as borrowed by Pascal from a few contemporaries, belongs in fact to the general apologetic tradition, as maintained by a vast number of insufficiently well-known authors, and cannot be traced back to one apologist in particular. The Pensées’ discontinuity, perceived at the time as a flaw and hailed since as unique, and a key to the book’s success, stems from Pascal’s deliberate decision to follow where the Church Fathers had led, in line with the Contre-Réforme’s return to early christian roots.