Persuasion
Why isn’t Apologetics More Effective?
Have you ever had a religious or political discussion with someone where you stated your disagreement in a carefully worded, factual, and well-reasoned response? How did it go? I'm guessing the other person didn't say, "Oh, you're right! Thank you so much." In fact, I...
Psychological Apologetics Resources
Psychological apologetics is a unique field that focuses on using and applying psychological sciences (which really includes all social and cognitive sciences) for apologetics. Very few people do work that could be considered psychological apologetics, especially if...
Engineering Psychology for Apologetics
Apologists tend to think like engineers in the sense that we're very analytical and logical, which also means that we often misunderstand people who don't think this way. Nearly every apologist goes through a phase where we think, if I just show people the evidence,...
The Coddling of the Righteous Mind
I've been meaning to read Jonathan Haidt's books, The Righteous Mind and The Coddling of the American Mind for quite a while. In fact, I considered applying to work with him for my PhD because his research is so relevant for apologetics. Alas, I...
The apologist’s super-secret weapon
You have to meet people where they areor they'll never get to where you are. Part I of this article discussed paraphrasing as a secret weapon that anyone can use in apologetics or evangelism. All you have to do is repeat what the other person said in your own words....
The apologist’s secret weapon
I'm currently reading the new edition of Tactics, which is a must-read if you want to learn how to have better conversations with unbelievers. The books Relational Apologetics and Influence: Science and Practice (non-Christian book) are also great for evangelism and...
What pets can teach us about apologetics & evangelism
When my wife, Lindsey, and I decided to go to seminary, we had to get rid of our cat so we could live on campus. This saved us a ton of money, and even though cats are pretty easy to care for, it simplified our lives. After we found a home for our cat, I swore I would...
Are Christians Dumb?
While working on my previous article, Are you a Stupid Christian?, I realized I should probably address the actual scientific evidence regarding intelligence and belief. This was made all the more apparent when I came across some anti-scientific statements by several...
Are You a Stupid Christian?
This is what we're up against. Christians have a reputation for being stupid. Anyone engaged in apologetics has probably been told (usually by someone in complete shock) that they're the first intelligent Christian they've met. The charge that Christians are stupid...
Virtue Apologetics
A recent article in Psychology Today has been making the rounds on my social media. The article discusses a peer-reviewed paper from 2015 that showed that Christian children are less generous than non-religious children. The original paper was touted as...
Sleeping for Christ
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine asked me what spiritual disciplines I was participating in. If I asked you the same question, what would you say? One of my answers was sleep, which seemed a bit odd to my friend until I explained the way sleep affects our lives. Most...
Vaccines and Apologetics
I've been meaning to write about vaccines for a while now but just haven't gotten around to it. However, in the past year or so, I've heard several Christians question their safety (mostly about autism), there have been several outbreaks, and there is a proposed bill...
The Apologist’s Dilemma
What's your goal as an apologist?For probably every apologist I know, their goal is to reach unbelievers with the gospel and/or to train others to do evangelism and apologetics. This is also reflected in the mission statement of the major apologetics ministries (RZIM,...
Persuasive Apologetics Principle 7: Bonus Tips
The previous articles in this series each focused on a specific principle from the book Influence: Science and Practice. Because of the narrow focus, the practical tips were limited to things that fit squarely into a single category; however, many of practical aspects...
Persuasive Apologetics Principle 6: Authority
In 1963 Dr. Stanley Milgram published the results of one of the most famous psychological studies of all time. In this experiment, Milgram was able to convince regular people to administer what they thought was a potentially fatal shock to another participant for...
Persuasive Apologetics Principle 4: Commitment and Consistency
Asking someone to convert to Christianity is a huge commitment. In most cases, people will have to change the entire way they view the world and their place in it. They may lose relationships with family members and friends over it, they could lose their job, and in...
Persuasive Apologetics Principle 5: Scarcity
Ha Ha! Gotcha... I shared this article by saying it would only be available for a limited time (It's not. This was just to make a point). As a result, I expect it will I'll get more readers quicker than my previous posts, at least for the first few hours (update:...
Persuasive Apologetics Principle 3: Social Proof
Have you ever been in a new situation where you didn't know what to do? This is common when visiting foreign countries, but also happens pretty regular in our lives. Think of when you may have started a new job or new school, visited a new type of restaurant, or...
Persuasive Apologetics Principle 2: Reciprocity
Everyone loves getting things for free, but this also comes with a sense of obligation to return the favor. This is reciprocity. It's a give and take. Some social scientists go so far as to say that civilization is built upon this nearly universal human principle....
Persuasive Apologetics Principle 1: Liking
I've heard the above statement quoted by several apologists and it was even the inspiration for a book, The Fifth Gospel, by The One Minute Apologist, Bobby Conway. On the one hand, apologists are right to recognize that the behavior of Christians is not a logically...
Persuasive Apologetics
What would it take to convince you to convert to a different religion and how long do you think it would take? Whatever your answer is, keep in mind that people of other belief systems are likely just as resistant, if not more resistant, to convert to Christianity. As...
Personality Tests for Apologetics?
I was not intending to write another article on personality after my Enneagram articles, but I had a few people ask me questions about personality in general, so I thought it would be good to answer those questions since my mind is already on the topic and the...
Review: Relational Apologetics: Defending the Christian Faith with Holiness, Respect, and Truth
Relational Apologetics: Defending the Christian Faith with Holiness, Respect, and Truth by Michael C. SherrardMy rating: 5 of 5 stars The purpose of this book is to help apologists improve their methods so they can be more effective when doing...
The Enneagram, Science, and Christianity – Part 2
I reviewed the scientific evidence related to the enneagram in part 1 of this article and concluded it is not a very good tool. If you haven't already done so, I would suggest reading it. In this post, I will address the reasons why the enneagram seems to work for so...
The Enneagram, Science, and Christianity – Part 1
Part 2 discusses the reasons why the enneagram seems to work. Part 3 talks about the enneagram in the context of spiritual growth. I first heard about the enneagram in mid-2017. If you're not familiar with it, it's a psychological and spiritual personality assessment...
A New Perspective for Apologetics
Think of all your favorite apologists. What are their degrees in? Most have philosophy or theology degrees. Then there are a good number with degrees in the hard sciences or mathematics. However, there aren't really any apologists with a graduate degree in psychology....