The Faithful Apologist: Rethinking the Role of Persuasion in Apologetics

by K. Scott Oliphint

Rediscover the art of Christian persuasion in an age of increasing unreason. For many Christians who've tried their hands at evangelism or have had to defend their faith, it can feel like doing PR work for God—limiting ourselves to a series of strategies and tactics. In The Faithful Apologist , Scott Oliphint provides a cross-centered foundation for Christians to explain their faith in a welcoming and persuasive manner that avoids any burden to "sell" Christianity to non-Christians. Drawing as much from the rich tradition of Western apologetics as from the wisdom of effective communication, this book bridges the gap between sharing the truth of our faith and the art of persuasion by: As devoted to people as he is to the intellect, Reformed theologian Dr. Scott Oliphint has written this faithful book to explain the importance of both devotions in apologetics and in Christian correspondence with the world. He shows that, when our faith is grounded in the Triune God and his sovereignty, our attempts to defend it will grow more confident and convincing. Accessible and thoroughly rooted in Scripture, The Faithful Apologist takes the anxiety out of apologetics by revealing that success is not measured in the number of minds we change, but in our faithfulness to God, the Divine Persuader.

Genres: Christian, Theology

224 pages, Paperback

Published February 22, 2022

About the author

Dr. K. Scott Oliphint Is professor of Apologetics and Systematic Theology at Westminster Theological Seminary. He is a graduate of West Texas State University (B.A., 1978) and Westminster (M.A.R., 1983; Th.M, 1984; Ph.D., 1994). An ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, Dr. Oliphint served in pastoral ministry in Texas before coming to Westminster in 1991. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including The Battle Belongs to the Lord: The Power of Scripture for Defending Our Faith; Reasons For Faith; Revelation and Reason; "Epistemology and Christian Belief," (Westminster Theological Journal, Fall 2001); "Something Much Too Plain to Say," (Westminster Theological Journal, Fall 2006).

Reviews

[Zach Scheller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Oliphint gives an incredible framework for explaining, not just “what to believe” or “how to defend” but more importantly “why we believe” and how the gospel and Word give us a framework to engage in apologetics. (Or, I should say “premeditated evangelism.)

[Philip Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really solid. I'd recommend reading Covenantal Apologetics before reading this. The section on 'pathos' was best.

[Justin Hollahan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first half could have been more concise. The second half of the book, however, was incredibly good. It gave me insights into Jesus's conversations that I had never considered before.

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Want to read a biblical book on persuasion in the context of evangelism and apologetics? This book is worth considering. It is written by a professor of apologetics, K. Scott Oliphint. Oliphint teaches at Westminster Theological Seminary and is also a Presuppositional Apologist. I know some people have told me they think Presuppositionalists have no interests with persuading people but only to refute unbelievers; this book suggests otherwise. I’m glad that a book on persuasion was written by someone who is a Presuppositionalist!
The books consists of six chapters grouped into two parts of three chapters each. Part one is “Biblical foundations of apologetics and Persuasion.” Chapter one is on the Divine Persuader, chapter two is on the Divine Defender and chapter three is on the Divine Sword. Basically chapter three shows us how God’s Word is an important source to persuade someone with regards to coming to Christ, contrary to some who think apologetics and the Word of God has no place in persuasion. Part two is titled “Parts and Principles of Apologetics and Persuasion.” Here those who have previous education on persuasion will notice the chapters are organized in classical lines of Ethos, Pathos and Logos. What makes this book unique though is the author pulling Scripture to demonstrate each of these points.
Overall this book is biblically driven. One can think of this book as a biblical theology of persuasion. I do appreciate multiple times the book mentioned we must not compromise with Biblical truth and also to consider the person when one is trying to convince someone of something. Yet this book is also informed with a biblical worldview in which Reformed theology also acknowledge that people do suppress the truth and depravity means unbelievers would not want the truth. So with this biblical truth I thought this book was balanced with the truth that we are instruments use by God to persuade and God is the one who is the master of what happens.
I appreciate the author’s look at Acts 17 and also the confrontations Jesus had with religious leaders and seeing its implications for apologetics and persuasion with the elements of logos, ethos and pathos. I also enjoyed the times the author mentioned his own personal experiences. Those were helpful examples and I wished there were more of them. Overall a good book.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for more. Most of the book is an explanation of various biblical texts and Oliphant labels the Bible as "persuasive." While I think Christians would agree with this assessment, I doubt skeptics would. He does recommend asking questions in the latter half of the book as a way to encourage discussion, but there are much fuller treatments of this approach in other books, such as Tactics and Questioning Evangelism.

[Doug Adamson · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I would agree with Oliphint's basic argument and with much of what he says in this book, it seems to me at times to be wandering far afield and left me wondering how what he was saying pertained to or advanced his argument.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

The value of this as an Apologetics books is that it is completely biblical.

[Peter Kiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad at all, good reminders that Christian living is a great apologetic in itself, and that apart from a truly Christian heart, an apologetic loses persuasion.