.png)
Guest Post from Michael J. Alter, independent researcher and author of The Resurrection: A Critical Inquiry (2015), A Thematic Access-Oriented Bibliography of Jesus's Resurrection (2020), and the forthcoming text from GCRR Press, The Resurrection and Its Apologetics: A Critical Inquiry, Vol. 1.[1]
The phrase, “follow the money” or “follow the money trail," is a credo that has been popularized in movies, politics, investigative reporting, and political debates. The sage advice to “follow the money” is also true in the arena of religion and apologetics.
Yes, apologetics is also about money.
This blog post will discuss the importance of those “silver shekels” as related to Christian education and, more specifically, apologetics as a field of academic study.
Opponents of Christian apologists and theologians, whether they be nontheists, agnostics, or theists of other faiths, face definite challenges. The odds are often stacked against these skeptics, regardless of the theistic aisle they find themselves. A significant obstacle is money.
Question: Is Apologetics an Appropriate Degree Program for Higher Education?
According to Steven Cowan, “Apologetics has to do with defending, or making a case for, the truth of the Christian faith” either through repudiating opposition to Christianity (“negative/defensive apologetics”) or through proffering affirmative reasons in support of it (“positive/offensive apologetics”).[2] The problem with this definition is that it contains an inborn confirmation bias that presupposes the truthfulness of Christianity.
The reality is that apologetics oftentimes engages in a fallacious denial or purposeful ignorance of counterevidence. This is most apparent when apologists apply more credibility to information that confirms Christianity while judging disconfirming data with greater harshness. This deceptively makes Christianity impervious to genuine falsification. Rather than seek to identify truth through honest and scholarly investigation, the discipline of apologetics begins with the assumption that Christianity is true and then builds a case for its defense. As one apologist explains, apologetics mistakenly commits the fallacy of affirming the consequent because it assumes that just because Christian evidences exist Christianity must, therefore, be true.[3]
John Frame explains further that neutrality does not exist for the Christian apologist when examining evidences. To claim otherwise would be to tell a lie since the apologist already presumes the validity of Christianity.[4] Such dogmatic presuppositionalism seems contrary to the pedagogical ethics of higher education.
TOPIC I: Apologetic Graduate Programs
Let’s assume that you're a committed Christian and you want to seek a graduate degree in apologetics. Where would you go to earn that degree? What type of degree could you earn? How much would it cost to earn it? What can you do with that degree?
Factors to consider in evaluating potential schools include:
1. Quality of faculty (apologetic expertise of its faculty).
2. Level of accreditation (whether the school’s credentialing would be recognized on a résumé).
3. Diversity of degrees being offered (Certification; DMin; MDiv; PhD.).
4. Cost (per-credit-hour rate), which might also include additional fees, scholarships, cost of living, travel expenses, etc.).
5. Overall accessibility (convenience of the campus and access to classes, be it through online classes, streaming, extension campuses, distance learning, hybrid, night-classes, intensive courses, etc.).
Two potential sources of information that discusses some of these issues are TheBestSchools.org and Ratio Christi. Below, you will find several Christian Apologetics Graduate Programs from faith-based universities with prescribed doctrinal statements. Significantly, not all institutions of higher education that have a Christian affiliation fall into this category. Relevant information about these programs has been placed in an easy-to-read table (see Table 1). However, interested readers are encouraged to examine the sources in their entirety.
TABLE 1: Christian Apologetics Graduate Programs
Institution | Degree | Credit Hours | Cost/Credit Hour |
Master of Arts in Apologetics (on campus or distance learning) | 39 | $667 | |
Master of Arts in Christian Apologetics (M.A.C.A.) | 36 (online) or 60 (four-year apologetics and theology program) | $333 | |
The MA in Apologetics (MAA) | 36 (Residential; Thesis Track) | $585 plus $250 fee/semester | |
Master of Arts in Christian Apologetics | 36 (non-thesis) | $395 | |
48 | $320 |
Cutting to the “money trail,” how many religious detractors would be willing to devote one year of their life and spend thousands of dollars in tuition costs for a 36-credit hour MA in a counter-apologetics degree program (if one existed)? And remember, we are not talking about multi-year PhD programs.
This is where apologetic programs have a decisive advantage over nonbelievers: financial aid (scholarships, loans, underwriting by local churches, etc.) are often available to seminary students. But who would sponsor a counter-apologetic program and then fund students to attend it?
It is also significant to note that seminaries and universities are spending millions of dollars to support these apologetic programs. Funds are required to support and maintain the instructional staff, administrative staff, custodians, library, and maintenance of the buildings (just to name a few). In other words, these institutions have a huge investment in promoting these apologetic degrees, though the degree itself serves almost no useful purpose in the outside world.
COMING SOON!
TOPIC II: Undergraduate Apologetic Programs and Class Offerings
In contrast to graduate programs, hundreds of seminaries, Bible colleges, and faith-based universities offer a profuse number of apologetic programs and class offerings. An extensive list of several hundred theological colleges can be seen on Wikipedia: "List of Evangelical Seminaries and Theological Colleges." Not only are these classes made available, but in many institutions, they are also required for completion of a degree. Here too, these institutions are spending millions of dollars to support and maintain the instructional staff, administrative staff, custodians, library, and maintenance of the buildings.
Question: How many seminaries, college, or universities offer apologetic programs or class offerings that investigate the foundation of the Christian faith from a “different perspective”?
I am aware of at least two traditional [not messianic, believers in Jesus] rabbis involved in teaching classes that delve into this topic. Presumably others exist.
The late Rabbi Michael J. Cook (1942–2021), PhD served as Professor of Intertestamental and Early Christian Literatures and held the Sol and Arlene Bronstein Chair in Judeo-Christian Studies at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati. His obituary states he was the only rabbi in North America with a full-professorial chair in New Testament.[5] Courses he taught included:
New Testament and the Jews: Critical Issues Today Arising from the Gospels & Paul’s Epistles
Jewish and Christian Perspectives on the Historical Jesus in Ancient, Medieval, and Modern History
Citation of Jewish Scripture in Christian Apologetics and Missionizing
There is also Rabbi Amy-Jill Levine[6] at Vanderbilt University. Her CV states that she is University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Professor of New Testament Studies, and Professor of Jewish Studies Vanderbilt University. She is also the Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies Hartford Seminary Divinity School. She teaches a course entitled, "The New Testament in its Jewish Context."
As stated above, possibly several schools of higher education may offer classes that investigate the foundation of the Christian faith from a “different perspective.” It would be interesting to know which institutions actually offer such classes.
TOPIC III: Other Pre-Approved Education and Training Programs (Non-accredited Programs) If a Christian or a person looking for a Christian apologetics program that is not a graduate degree, there are a number of non-accredited programs that are available. Table 2 below provides a list of two faith-based institutions providing non-academic courses. Many other institutions offer similar programs.
Organization | Program | Cost/Credit Hour Equivalent |
$667 | ||
Veritas International University (VIU) | The Norman L. Geisler Apologetics Certificate (CCA/48 units) (5 courses, 5 textbooks, and 5 exams) | $279 per online course and $299 per MP3 Audio/MP4 Video-USB course (excludes books) |
Individuals also promote self-programs with a non-accredited diploma. For example, for years, Dr. Ed Hindson, Dean Emeritus and Distinguished Professor of Religion with the Rawlings School of Divinity (Liberty University), working through his former “The King Is Coming Bible Institute/College” (produced by World Prophetic Ministry) has been offering a “Certificate of Completion.” His Foundation of Biblical Studies Full Set starts at $299. He points out, “As a non-profit, all orders are considered as donations to the ministry.”
What alternatives are available to those on the opposite side of the religious aisle? No specific course about nontheism or why other religious faith groups reject Christian theology were found at The Great Courses website. Of course, as previously identified, there might be individuals offering courses for a fee about these topics, but they are not widely known (if they even exist at all).
However, recently there became available a practical and inexpensive online service: the Global Center for Religious Research (GCRR). Unlike religious institutions, apologetic organizations, and for-profit institutions, GCRR’s point of focus bears inquiry. Its home page states:
The Global Center for Religious Research (GCRR) is a non-religiously affiliated academic society and publishing house that brings together the world’s leading scholars in the arts, humanities, and social sciences for the academic study of religion. As a scholastic society, “religion” is the object of our investigation, not the promotion or abolition of religious faith. As an international organization, our membership consists of people from all over the world who seek the intellectual freedom to question and explore every aspect of religion itself, including its origins and manifestations. As a social-scientific society, our students and scholars are devoted to the scientific, philosophical, and historical study of humanity’s various religious belief systems. We engage in an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural study of what people believe, how those beliefs have evolved over time, and why they continue to affect global systems today.
GCRR is adamantly not profit-driven or agenda-driven. We are education-driven. Both our motivation and passion is focused on knowledge. As such, GCRR is neither religious nor confessional in its pursuit of that knowledge, and we do not promote or endorse any specific religion, political body, or (anti-)religious agenda.
GCRR’s main goal is the promotion of academic studies on religion, as well as the formation and preservation of professional standards in religious research, the distribution of affordable educational programs, and the support of religious researchers around the globe.
GCRR has two main values: 1) a scholarly focus on promoting the academic researchers who sacrifice so much of themselves to increase our knowledge of the human condition; and 2) making that knowledge easily accessible and affordable to people all over the world.
GCRR offers multiple Certificate courses, including:
1) Certificate of Completion in Religious Trauma Studies
2) Certificate in the Philosophy of Religion
3) Certificate in Counter-Apologetics (Coming Soon!)
Currently, the certificate programs are not accredited. However, GCRR is working on obtaining CEU accreditation. Most the GCRR certification courses are at least 10 hours in length or more. The cost is as low as $140 per course or $14 per credit hour. Additional information is available online by clicking the image below:
ENDNOTES:
An original 2017 version of this essay was first requested by Matthew Wade Ferguson.
Steven B. Cowan, “Introduction,” in Five Views on Apologetics, ed. Stanley N. Gundry and Steven B. Cowan, Counterpoints: Bible and Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000), 8.
In syllogistic form, the reasoning is as follows: 1) If Christianity is true, then Christian evidences exist. 2) Christian evidences exist. 3) Therefore, Christianity is true. While Christian evidences lend support for the validity of Christianity, the reasoning is faulty because it affirms the consequent. Christian evidences may still exist for reasons other than Christianity being true. See Gordon R. Lewis, Testing Christianity’s Truth Claims: Approaches to Christian Apologetics, Pbk. Ed. (1976; repr., Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1980), 205-7.
John M. Frame, “Presuppositional Apologetics,” in Five Views on Apologetics, ed. Stanley N. Gundry and Steven B. Cowan, Counterpoints: Bible and Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000), 217-18.
Rabbi Michael J. Cook, Obituary. https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/cincinnati/name/michael-cook-obituary?pid=198202613 Originally published by The Cincinnati Enquirer from Mar. 30 to May 1, 2021.
Amy-Jill Levine. Biography. https://divinity.vanderbilt.edu/people/bio/amy-jill-levine, 2022.
Comments