The End of Apologetics

Christian Witness in a Postmodern Context

Myron Bradley Penner

a division of Baker Publishing Group

Grand Rapids, Michigan

© 2013 by Myron Bradley Penner

Published by Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakeracademic.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Penner, Myron B., 1968–

The end of Apologetics: Christian witness in a postmodern context / Myron Bradley Penner.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-0-8010-3598-2 (pbk.)

1. Apologetics. 2. Witness bearing (Christianity). 3. Postmodernism—Religious aspects—Christianity. I. Title.

BT1103.P46 2013

239—dc23

2013004634

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations labeled ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

In memoriam

The Reverend Joseph Walker

Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Against Apologetics

Another Disquieting Suggestion

Changing Paradigms

1. Apologetic Amnesia

A Tale of Modern Apologetics

Secular Apologetics

Apologies to Postmodernism

Apologetic Amnesia

2. Apologetics, Suspicion, and Faith

Of Geniuses and Apostles

Apologetic Nihilism

Fallibilism and Hermeneutics

Conclusion

3. Irony, Witness, and the Ethics of Belief

Apostles and Apologetics

The Ethics of Belief

Irony and In/Direct Witness

Irony, Edification, and Witness

Witness as Confession

Conclusion

4. Witness and Truth

Truth after Metaphysics

Christian Truth-Telling

Conclusion

5. The Politics of Witness

The Ethics of Witness

Apologetic Violence

Conclusion

Epilogue

Index

Acknowledgments

For a variety of reasons, this book took an extraordinarily long time to write. Along the way there were many people who edified, encouraged, supported, and continued to believe in it. Without them I would not have finished, and I owe them each a debt of thanks. At the very top of that list of benefactors are my wife, Jodi Penner, and each of our three daughters—Abigail, Sophia, and Isabella. There can be no end of telling of the ways I am blessed by each of them. Their love is the most tangible expression of God’s grace I can imagine in this world. My father, Kenneth Penner, also possesses the knack for dropping an encouraging word or timely piece of advice, and his love, ...