I tweeted over the weekend “with much due respect, and much love for Tim Keller, apologetics, as traditionally conceived, is not a strategy to engage an already post-Christendom culture. Embodied witness is.” (my twitter) This got a bit of a response on twitter, much of it over-assuming what I was (or was not) saying. So here’s just a few comments on what I was (trying to) saying.
Well analyzed, well said. I don't think anyone is "won" over by apologetics, as traditionally understood. It's more: believers are bolstered in their confidence that "I may not understand everything, but at least what I believe is defensible [by someone else] and not an identity card that I'm an idiot" ; and similarly, not-yet-believers may be melted a bit from cold scoffers to more tolerant tasters at the banquet of options for a world view. I think that has always been the case (that defending the reasonableness of Christian faith, and "winning" souls to full, convinced, reborn, committed, status are two very different things and should not be confused as synonymous. One MAY be a segue towards the other, though not inherently, necessarily, so.
Your own identifying what is different about today's culture(s) from the almost monolithic mid-20th century Western Culture is very helpful. The task is different, so the methods and tools HAVE to be different.
Well analyzed, well said. I don't think anyone is "won" over by apologetics, as traditionally understood. It's more: believers are bolstered in their confidence that "I may not understand everything, but at least what I believe is defensible [by someone else] and not an identity card that I'm an idiot" ; and similarly, not-yet-believers may be melted a bit from cold scoffers to more tolerant tasters at the banquet of options for a world view. I think that has always been the case (that defending the reasonableness of Christian faith, and "winning" souls to full, convinced, reborn, committed, status are two very different things and should not be confused as synonymous. One MAY be a segue towards the other, though not inherently, necessarily, so.
Your own identifying what is different about today's culture(s) from the almost monolithic mid-20th century Western Culture is very helpful. The task is different, so the methods and tools HAVE to be different.
So good. Resonates with some of the voices being lifted up in the YMCA.
Yes! Embodied witness is so very important. Thanks for this and the irenic way in which you've expressed it. Much appreciated. Shalom aleyka!