The End of Apologetics Christian Witness in a Postmodern Context M y r o n B r a d l ey P e n n e r K (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) © 2013 by Myron Bradley Penner Published by Baker Academic a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box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 Printed in the United States of America 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 Ver- sion 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 All rights reserved. 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) In memoriam The Reverend Joseph Walker Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) (U(Unpnupbulbislhisehde dm manaunsucsrcipritp—t—cocpoypryigrihgth pt rportoetcetcetde dB aBkaekre Pr uPbulbislhisihnign gG Groruopu)p) Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Against Apologetics 1 Another Disquieting Suggestion Changing Paradigms 1. Apologetic Amnesia 21 A Tale of Modern Apologetics Secular Apologetics Apologies to Postmodernism Apologetic Amnesia 2. Apologetics, Suspicion, and Faith 47 Of Geniuses and Apostles Apologetic Nihilism Fallibilism and Hermeneutics Conclusion 3. Irony, Witness, and the Ethics of Belief 77 Apostles and Apologetics The Ethics of Belief Irony and In/Direct Witness Irony, Edification, and Witness Witness as Confession Conclusion vii (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) viii Contents 4. Witness and Truth 109 Truth after Metaphysics Christian Truth-Telling Conclusion 5. The Politics of Witness 135 The Ethics of Witness Apologetic Violence Conclusion Epilogue 173 Index 175 (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) Acknowledgments F or 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, along with my mother’s (Myrna Penner), is a sustaining force in my life. Next in line for beatification should be Bob Hosack at Baker Academic, who has been long-suffering and faithful to me throughout the process of bringing this manuscript to press, in addition to lending his judiciousness and insight to the project. I am grateful to you, Bob. Many other individuals and institutions have conspired to sup- port me in a myriad of ways too many to count, and I owe them all my thanks and appreciation, trusting they may be absolved of any responsibility for the shortcomings of this book. Of these, I must express my deep gratitude to The Right Reverend Jane Alexander, Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Edmonton, my pastor, but also my friend, for her grace and care. Gordon Marion, Cynthia Lund, and ix (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) x Acknowledgments the entire staff at the Hong Kierkegaard Library, St. Olaf College, hosted me and provided me with access to their collections, but also welcomed our family into their community and made it possible for me to draft the outline and proposal for the book. I continue to value and count on their friendship. Wayne and Linda Williams (Uncle Wayne and Aunt Linda) allowed me to camp out in their basement and gave me the space and time to draft the bulk of the manuscript. “Thank you” seems an inadequate response to their love and support. I must also thank Archdeacon Michael Rolph and all the parishioners at The Anglican Parish of Christ Church, Edmonton—especially the wardens Lynda Phillips, Martha Watson, Rick Theroux, and Keith Spencer. It has been a joy and privilege to share in the ministry of the gospel with all of you, and to learn further what it means to be a witness to Jesus Christ. Several of my colleagues in the Diocese of Edmonton also sup- ported me in this endeavor, particularly The Reverends Joseph Walker, Stephen London, and Thomas Brauer. I am also grateful to Mabiala Kenzo for his generosity and support. Many other individuals also talked through or read part or all of the manuscript, offering their advice and insight. Try as they might, they could not correct all its flaws, and they should not be held responsible for any that remain. These include Merold Westphal, Kevin Vanhoozer, Jonathan R. Wil- son, John Franke, C. Scott Baker, Douglas Harink and his theology reading group (particularly David Eagle and Jonathan Coutts), Bruce Ellis Benson, Stephen Martin, David Williams, Paul Joosse, Robert Brink, Miles Dyck, Michael Buttrey, Steven D. Martz, and an anony- mous reviewer. Finally, I am grateful to Dan Poxon, who listened to my ravings and, in addition to giving me friendship, provided insight and a modicum of sanity to my argument. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) Introduction Against Apologetics Is the cross, then, an argument? Nietzsche A lasdair MacIntyre begins his provocative book After Virtue with a “disquieting suggestion.” He asks us to imagine that a series of environmental disasters occur around the world and the general public places the blame for them squarely on scientists. Sub- sequently, natural science itself suffers the effects of this catastrophe. Riots break out across the globe, institutions of scientific research and teaching are destroyed, scientists are lynched and their books, equip- ment, and instruments destroyed, and all records of their existence expunged.1 Eventually this reaction matures into a political movement that successfully abolishes the teaching of science from schools and universities. The remaining scientists are locked away so their views cannot infect society. 1. As Michael Buttrey pointed out to me, MacIntyre’s scenario bears an uncanny similarity to the basic plot of Walter Miller’s A Canticle for Leibowitz, first pub- lished in 1960. See Walter M. Miller Jr., A Canticle for Leibowitz (London: Harper Voyager, 2006). 1 (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group) 2 Introduction Over time, however, a handful of “enlightened” people, who re- call the marvels of science, react to this destructive movement. They seek to restore science to its former place, only they possess but a fragmentary knowledge of what it once was: bits and pieces of theories, chapters in books, partial articles, miscellaneous scientific instruments and equipment—all dissociated from the wider practices and theoretical underpinnings from which they arose and in which they originally made sense. Nonetheless, these fragments of science are redeployed within a new set of practices labeled according to the traditional branches of science: biology, chemistry, and physics. People continue to use scientific expressions—such as mass, neu- trino, deoxyribonucleic acid, and stoichiometry—systematically and in interrelated ways, yet largely without relation to the manner in which those expressions were used in former times prior to the loss of scientific knowledge. Accordingly, MacIntyre tells us, “Adults argue with each other about the respective merits of relativity, evolutionary theory, and phlo- giston theory, although they possess only a very partial knowledge of each.” The children also are taught to engage in these of practices and “learn by heart the surviving portions of the periodic table and recite as incantations some of the theorems of Euclid.”2 The problem is that no one, or almost no one, realizes that they are not practicing natural science properly at all. For, as MacIntyre notes, “everything they do and say conforms to certain canons of consistency and coherence and those contexts which would be needed to make sense of what they are doing have been lost, perhaps irretrievably.”3 MacIntyre presents this thought experiment in order to introduce his answer to the question of why contemporary discussions of mo- rality are characterized by a fundamental and interminable lack of consensus. There seems to be no way of securing rational agreement regarding moral issues in Western culture.4 So MacIntyre’s contro- versial thesis is that the moral language of our actual world is in the same state of disorder and chaos that exists in regard to natural 2. Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, 2nd ed. (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1984), 1. 3. Ibid. 4. Ibid., 6. (Unpublished manuscript—copyright protected Baker Publishing Group)