Category Archives: Promotionals

Online Apologetics Conference 2013: A Defense of the Faith is a Defense of Life


A Defense of the Faith is a Defense of Life

 

Early registration has begun. Check out this year’s Apologetics Conference topics and speakers!

2013 Conference Goals:

  • Highlight the historical connection between genuine human rights and liberties and the broad acceptance of the Christian worldview… and the converse.
  • Observe that beliefs tend to automatically lead to actions based on those beliefs, and call attention to the importance of having well-reasoned, well-evidenced beliefs.
  • Raise awareness of the fact that those with a Christian worldview tend to have ‘pro-life’ attitudes and perspectives and argue that consequently, the defense of that worldview, that is, Christian apologetics, has an important role to play in defending Life.
  • Draw a clear connection in the minds of attendees between the Gospel and life issues and take aim at the notion, often held by Christians themselves, that topics such as abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, assisted suicide, human cloning, etc, are ‘political’ issues where ‘religion’ has no business involving itself.

 

Reading Genesis as History: Implications for Science and the Age of the Universe

UPDATE: The Conference went great and as many of you might have seen below in the comments, I posted a link to my talk on “Reading Genesis as History”. The entire talk with Q&A are available for your free viewing at the following location. Enjoy!

I will be presenting at this year’s online Apologetics conference. Click on this link and see the schedule for the conference. Thursday’s (April 19th) sessions are free to the public and that is the day I will be presenting – at 8 PM EST. My topic is entitled, “Reading Genesis as History: Implications for Science and the Age of the Universe.” Please do consider attending and check out the other topics that are going to be discussed and make sure you check them out too!

ACM Academy of Apologetics – Fall Semester Launch with Gary Habermas!

As of this coming Fall semester, I will be the managing director of Athanatos Christian Ministries’ online apologetics academy.  October 3rd is when several classes begin.  Dr. Gary Habermas will be guest lecturing on the historical Jesus and the evidence for the Resurrection.  It is possible to attend these lectures without being enrolled in the academy.  Those enrolled in the academy, regardless of course, can attend his 90 minute lectures to be held in early November.

With the name of the facilitators listed alongside, here are the Fall 2011 courses offered:

The courses are manageable 3-5 weeks in length with the exception of the OT course, which is 6 weeks.  This fall, there are courses for those who are familiar with apologetics topics already and want to go deeper and those who are just getting started.  For example, we suggest that every Christian know basic Greek.  Also, the Basic Christianity class (taught by me – Glenn Jones) is organized around C.S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity.  New Christians or seekers are strongly encouraged to take the Basic Christianity course.

This leads us to the fact that atheists and agnostics are welcome to attend our courses.  This session, the Historical Jesus course and the Survey of the Old Testament would be of particular value to a non-Christian:  if you’re going to reject something, you should actually know what you are rejecting as the proponents themselves present it.  The Survey of the OT course is actually part 1 of 3, with parts 2 and 3 to come later in the year.  It is impossible to fully comprehend Christianity without an understanding of the Old Testament.

And that brings us to our “Send an Atheist to School” program.  We are aware that atheists or seekers might not be willing to pay for such courses.  We are asking Christians to consider sponsoring atheists, seekers, agnostics, and fellow Christians who cannot afford our (reasonably priced) courses.

Learn more and register at:  http://academyofapologetics.com

The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach

I wanted to point everyone’s attention to a new book on the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. It is a very detailed book and something I would encourage everyone to consider owning. It will help you deal with the modern day critical schools that doubt the resurrection and it will also encourage your faith to know the historical evidence that we have and better enable you to defend the Faith when skeptics and non-believers ask you to give a reason for the hope that you have.

Here is the product description:

The question of the historicity of Jesus’ resurrection has been repeatedly probed, investigated and debated. And the results have varied widely. Perhaps some now regard this issue as the burned-over district of New Testament scholarship. Could there be any new and promising approach to this problem? Yes, answers Michael Licona. And he convincingly points us to a significant deficiency in approaching this question: our historiographical orientation and practice. So he opens this study with an extensive consideration of historiography and the particular problem of investigating claims of miracles. This alone is a valuable contribution. But then Licona carefully applies his principles and methods to the question of Jesus’ resurrection. In addition to determining and working from the most reliable sources and bedrock historical evidence, Licona critically weighs other prominent hypotheses. His own argument is a challenging and closely argued case for the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus, the Christ. Any future approaches to dealing with this “prize puzzle” of New Testament study will need to be routed through The Resurrection of Jesus.


Please do consider buying the book through this Amazon link above. It will help the ministry expenses for maintaining this web site. Here are two recommendations for the book as well:

“The resurrection of Jesus is–in many ways–too important a topic to be left to theologians! In this thoroughly researched and well-argued volume, Mike Licona brings the latest in discussion of historiography to bear on the question of Jesus’ resurrection. In a discipline that is often overwhelmed by theological special-pleading, it is refreshing to have this sober and sensible approach to the resurrection that evaluates the historical data and the arguments of many of the scholars writing on the subject. There are few biblical scholars who will not learn something from this important book.”

—Stanley E. Porter, president, dean and professor of New Testament, McMaster Divinity College

“The most important event in the story of Christian beginnings is the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, who was widely believed by his followers to be the Messiah of Israel and the very Son of God. Their conviction that Jesus was such a being was confirmed by the resurrection. Without the resurrection of Jesus there really are no grounds for Christian faith. Consequently, there is no topic more important than this one and this is why Michael Licona’s book on the resurrection of Jesus is so welcome. Licona demonstrates expertise in every field that is germane to the question. He knows the philosophical arguments inside and out, as well as the relevant historical, biblical, cultural and archaeological data. This is the book for believers and skeptics alike.”

—Craig A. Evans, Payzant Distinguished Professor of New Testament, Acadia Divinity College, Nova Scotia, Canada

John Frame and Evangelicalism

I would encourage everyone to listen to this interview of Pastor James Grant on Trinity Talk radio. Pastor Grant is a personal friend of mine and he has co-written a great chapter with Justin Taylor in the Festschrift in honor of John Frame titled, Speaking the Truth in Love. The chapter is entitled “John Frame and Evangelicalism.” It deals with John Frames influence on the Reformed world and his influence, or lack thereof, on Evangelicalism itself.

To give a little more detail of the chapter, John Frame’s influence on the Reformed tradition of our day cannot be lightly dismissed, especially as it pertains to his helping the Reformed world of today interact more broadly with the Evangelical world. The chapter is also helpful to point out how, or how he could have, influenced broader evangelicalism through more interaction with the scholarly societies.

Listen to the interview to find out more about the chapter. Also, I encourage everyone to get the Festschrift and read through it because the contributors are excellent and their insights and discussions of Frames work are priceless.

[HT: In Light of the Gospel]

Online Apologetics Conference: May 7 & 8

Athanatos Ministries is hosting an Online Apologetics Conference May 7 & 8, 2010. This year’s conference will primarily focus on literary apologetics, or promoting the Christian faith through the written word, and fiction in particular. The list of presenters is as follows:

• Keynote: Robert Bowman, Jr.
• Plenary: Dr.  Angus Menuge
• Plenary: Dr. Corey Olsen
• Workshop: Dr. Bernard Bull
• Workshop: Mr. Robert Velarde
• Workshop: Ms. Mary Jo Sharp
• Workshop: Mr. Anthony Horvath
• Workshop: 2010 Christian Writing Contest Winner

Click here to learn more about the presenters. Click here to register.

[HT: Brian]

An Evening of Eschatology

After this year’s Desiring God Conference, the Bethlehem College and Seminary put on an excellent ’round-table’ discussion and debate moderated by John Piper. The three major eschatological viewpoints were represented: Premillennialism (Jim Hamilton), Amillennialism (Sam Storms), and Postmillennialism (Doug Wilson). The representative speakers for each view are in parentheses. For more information about the debate, go here.

But getting to the good part… they have posted the audio and video on the desiring God web site and offered it for free viewing to all of us!

So, with no further ado, I give you “An Evening of Eschatology”!!!

The NEW Jesus Storybook Bible – Deluxe Edition

Jesus Story Book Bible DELUXE

Zondervan is releasing the Jesus Storybook Bible in a new deluxe edition that comes with three audio CDs of all the stories being narrated by David Suchet.

My wife and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading these stories to our children and I highly recommend you consider this edition of the book if you have older children that are learning to read along with their books. Audio stories with books can be very joyful and educational. Please let us know what you think about this book if you have read the first edition to your children and family.

Third Millennium Ministries & Free Seminary Curriculum

The Primeval History

Today I was browsing Richard Pratt’s ministry web site, Third Millennium Ministries, and came upon a wondful discovery! They have recently redesigned their minsitry web site and now they are offering all of their seminary video curriculum for FREE DOWNLOAD!

It is great news and I highly recommend that you consider downloading at least one of their video series to see how good their curriculum really is. Above, you will notice that I have posted the picture of one of their video series that I am currently going through in conjunction with a seminary class at Reformed Theological Seminary (where I attend). It is very good and if you are interested in learning more about the Old Testament, I would encourage you to start there with this video series.

Here are the links to the mp3 audio of the Primeval History video series for your listening pleasure: