Telling a Better Story

How to Talk About God in a Skeptical Age

Joshua D. Chatraw

ZONDERVAN REFLECTIVE

Telling a Better Story

Copyright © 2020 by Joshua D. Chatraw

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

ISBN 978-0-310-10863-4 (softcover)

ISBN 978-0-310-10865-8 (audio)

ISBN 978-0-310-10864-1 (ebook)

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.®

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Cover design: Emily Weigel

Cover image: © banyumilistudio / shutterstock

To my brother Ben,

who lives the Better Story

Contents

Foreword by Mark D. Allen

Introduction

PART 1: A Better Story about Apologetics

1. In Search of a Better Way

2. The Story Lives On

3. What Time Is It?

4. When Talking to Humans

5. Inside Out

PART 2: Offering a Better Story

6. Imagining a Better Meaning

7. Imagining a Better True Self

8. Imagining a Better Happiness

9. Imagining a Better Inclusiveness

10. Imagining Better Reason(s)

PART 3: Objections to the Story

11. An Oppressive Story?

12. An Unloving Story?

13. An Untrue Story?

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

Foreword

On October 22, 2014, Josh Chatraw invited me to meet with him at the Starbucks on the campus where we both taught. He had an ambitious agenda for us: design a book proposal for a reimagined apologetic. Between sips of coffee, he shared with great clarity vital aspects of his vision for apologetics. Perhaps most importantly, along with being cross-shaped and cross-centered, it would be an “integrative, relevant, and culturally engaging” approach. We pitched the idea to Zondervan—they liked it, and away we went.

For nearly three years, we met every Friday for breakfast to talk about how to help people have better apologetic conversations. Besides that, our offices were right next to each other—fertile ground for his creative juices. I remember distinctly the day Josh walked into my office (okay, it may have been more like a sprint) and optimistically unpacked his construal of the “inside out” structure. I realized he was on to something innovative yet very basic to doing apologetics in our late-modern context. ...