A Renaissance in Christian Thinking

by Melissa Travis (Hard-Core Christianity)

In November I had the privilege of speaking to the Texas A&M University Ratio Christi chapter. It was my first time addressing students on a university campus, and it was a fantastic experience.
There was a great turnout for the meeting, despite the fact that finals are quickly approaching. I presented on the proper relationship of science and Christianity, and used the theological and scientific case for a literal Adam as my model.

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Greg Koukl, in his latest Solid Ground newsletter, has written a masterful piece about the "Third Column." If you are an apologist, you need to read it--it's about you. Wrting about the re-emergence of apologetics over the last fifty years, he notes the pioneering First Column--those that "established a beachhead" after years of intellectual neglect in Christianity. Koukl then talks about the Second Column, the leaders taking up the charge of the First Column, and how many individuals and organizations have been making a steady impact for the last twenty years. Then Koukl says, 

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Bad Religion (a band), a Flying Spaghetti Monster (a student church), and the Reason Rally (a meeting).  Their intersection? Their rejection of and scorn for theism. Being billed as "The Largest Gathering of the Secular Movemement in World History" with speakers such as Richard Dawkins, PZ Meyers, The Amazing Randi, Lawrence Krauss, David Silverman, and many more well known secularists, this event on the National Mall on March 24th is sure to draw a crowd. Dr. Mike Keas, fellow at the Discovery Institute, writer for TrueU, and board member with Ratio Christi, recently published a series of articles on the rally and says,

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“It’s inconsistent for Christians to reject other religious claims based on logic and evidence. If they were consistent, they’d reject Christianity as well.”

So goes a common line of thought among atheists. It is commonly applied in regards to  Mormonism. Indeed, Christianity and Mormonism are similar in that their scriptures purport to tell history, and so both can be examined based on the available evidence.

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This past  year  was one to be remembered for us at Ratio Christi. We hosted an event at The Ohio State University called “I Don’t Have Enough Faith To Be An Atheist” featuring my friend and Christian apologist Frank Turek. One thing that stood out from the event is that many people don’t understand the word “faith.” I could go ahead and blame the media, pop culture, and the university for this widespread problem. But the reality is that it is incumbent upon pastors, apologists, and ministry leaders to teach and instruct Christians about the proper definition of the word “faith.” Yes, many Christians don’t know how to explain the word “faith.”

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Given that historians look to those who are contemporaries of the events, Paul is an important resource for what historians can know about Jesus of Nazareth. Furthermore, the earliest documents we have for the life of Jesus are Paul’s letters. Paul was a very competent rabbi who was trained at the rabbinic academy called the House of Hillel by ‘Gamaliel,’ a key rabbinic leader and member of the Sanhedrin. Of his 13 books, critical scholars even accept six of them as being authentic in that we can be certain of the author and date of these writings. Of course, there are other scholars such as Luke Timothy Johnson and Raymond Brown and others that think more than six of them are authored by Paul. I personally think a good case that Pauline authorship can be made for all of his letters. Anyway,  of the 13 books, the six are Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, and Philippians and 1 Thessalonians. These letters provide a variety of historical details found in the Gospels. Both Christian and non-Christian scholars have come to have great respect  for Paul. Allow me to mention a few comments here:

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