Dallas Theological Seminary New Testament scholar, Dr. Darrell Bock, helps us negotiate the world of scholarly criticism and skepticism toward the historicity of Jesus. Whether you are familiar with historical Jesus studies or an average layperson somewhat familiar or even unfamiliar with historical studies about Jesus and the Gospels, our conversation with Darrell will help equip you with the basics for having thoughtful dialogue with skeptics and non-believers. Our conversation this week and next, is based on Dr. Bock's 2019 book, Jesus, Skepticism, & the Problem of History.

Dr. Darrell Bock has earned recognition as a Humboldt Scholar (Tübingen University in Germany), is the author of over 40 books, including well-regarded commentaries on Luke and Acts and studies of the historical Jesus, and work in cultural engagement as host of the seminary's Table Podcasts. He was president of the Evangelical Theological Society (ETS) from 2000 to 2001, served as a consulting editor for Christianity Today, and serves on the boards of Wheaton College and Chosen People Ministries. His articles appear in leading publications. He is often an expert for the media on NT issues. 

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2023 Year-In-Review: This is the very first year-in-review episode for Apologetics Profile since we began broadcasting in 2019. This special edition features several highlights from our interviews from 2023, from aliens, atheists, and Latter-Day Saints, to the theaters of Athens and Hollywood, our featured guests remind us that we are all storytellers commissioned to tell the greatest story ever told, the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Chirst. 

Featured guests on this review include Dr. Gary Habermas, Dr. Frank Turek, Steve Matthews, Dr. Hugh Ross, Pastor David Marini, Ryan Burge, Andy Bannister, Dr. Paul Tyson, Bill McKeever, Justin Brierley, and James K. Walker.

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How do we know that what we believe about Christianity is true? Our guest again this week, author, apologist, and theoretical chemist Neil Shenvi gives us some helpful and insightful ways to give a defense to those who ask of us how we know our faith in Christ is true. We continue to discuss his 2022 book, Why Believe? A Reasoned Approach to Christianity.

Dr. Neil Shenvi grew up in Delaware and attended Princeton University as an undergraduate where he worked on high-dimensional function approximation. He became a Christian in Berkeley, CA where he did his PhD in Theoretical Chemistry at U.C. Berkeley on quantum computation, including topics in quantum random walks, cavity quantum electrodynamics, spin physics, and the N-representability problem. In 2015, he quit his job at Duke to homeschool his four children, He presently serves as the principal of the South Durham Academy for Math and Science (also known as Daddy Academy). He is also the author of Critical Dilemma - The Rise of Critical Theories and Social Justice Ideologies Implications for the Church and Society.

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God has revealed Himself to us through His Spirit, through what He has created, through His word, and through His Son. The evidence of His existence is manifold. He did not lavish us with so much so that we might think His existence is something of a mere intellectual curiosity, but so that He might bring dead people back to life. Author, apologist, and theoretical chemist Neil Shenvi discusses with us his 2022 book, Why Believe? A Reasoned Approach to Christianity.

Dr. Neil Shenvi grew up in Delaware and attended Princeton University as an undergraduate where he worked on high-dimensional function approximation. He became a Christian in Berkeley, CA where he did his PhD in Theoretical Chemistry at U.C. Berkeley on quantum computation, including topics in quantum random walks, cavity quantum electrodynamics, spin physics, and the N-representability problem. In 2015, he quit his job at Duke to homeschool his four children, He presently serves as the principal of the South Durham Academy for Math and Science (also known as Daddy Academy). He is also the author of Critical Dilemma - The Rise of Critical Theories and Social Justice Ideologies Implications for the Church and Society.

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Two of the main challenges to the Christian faith today come from science and from textual criticism. Does the science of the universe disprove God's existence and have textual critics of Scripture once and for all demonstrated that the Bible is historically unreliable? If we aren't scholars in this area, how can we even begin to engage these objections, especially when many seem so antagonistically opposed to the Bible today? The key is asking the right questions, which our guest again this week, author, apologist, and founder of Stand to Reason ministries Greg Koukl, has a wealth of experience in doing. Greg shares with us some of the wisdom he has gleaned from Jesus's agrarian parables to encourage you in your engagement with non-believers. 

Greg Koukl founded  Stand to Reason (str.org)  in 1993 and currently serves as president. He has spoken on more than 70 college and university campuses both in the U.S. and abroad and has hosted his own call-in radio show for 27 years, advocating for “Christianity worth thinking about.” He has debated atheist Michael Shermer on national radio and Deepak Chopra on national television. An award-winning writer and best-selling author, Greg has written seven books, including CThe Story of Reality-How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between; Tactics-A GamePlan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions, and Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air.  Greg has been featured on Focus on the Family radio and has been interviewed for CBN and the BBC. He's been quoted in Christianity Today, U.S. News & World Report, and the L.A. Times.

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It seems to be more and more difficult in today's divisive culture wars to have civil and meaningful conversations with non-Christians. While we certainly do not wish to change the message of the Gospel, it is important to understand what are the sort of fruitful approaches to sharing our faith that can help at least begin such conversations. Evangelism is not what it used to be. On the next two episodes of the Profile we talk with author, apologist, and founder of Stand to Reason ministries Greg Koukl about his latest book, Street Smarts. Greg gives us wisdom for how to engage those on the outside by means of understanding the nature of gardening. 

Greg Koukl founded  Stand to Reason (str.org)  in 1993 and currently serves as president. He has spoken on more than 70 college and university campuses both in the U.S. and abroad and has hosted his own call-in radio show for 27 years, advocating for “Christianity worth thinking about.” He has debated atheist Michael Shermer on national radio and Deepak Chopra on national television. An award-winning writer and best-selling author, Greg has written seven books, including CThe Story of Reality-How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between; Tactics-A GamePlan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions, and Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air.  Greg has been featured on Focus on the Family radio and has been interviewed for CBN and the BBC. He's been quoted in Christianity Today, U.S. News & World Report, and the L.A. Times.

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Apologetics Profile is a ministry of Watchman Fellowship For more information, visit www.watchman.org © Watchman Fellowship, Inc.

In this episode, Watchman Fellowship president, James Walker, concludes his interview with Andre Traversa, former advocate of the Urantia Book. This mysterious and controversial book was allegedly communicated by numerous spiritual or celestial beings between 1924 and 1955. The book includes a reports on the "missing years" of the life of Jesus and describing extraterrestrial life on other planets in an elaborate cosmology which includes the Central and Superuniverses.
 
Two of the main human sources of the Urantia Book are the former Seventh Day Adventist couple, William and Lena Sadler. The Urantia Book is huge (about 2,000 pages) and was reported to have physically materialized from spiritual sources in periodic installments over three decades. The book belongs to a genre of spiritual literature sourced from occult methodologies such as automatic writing, channeling, Ouija (spirit) boards and the "Sleeping Prophet" Edgar Casey, This week and next, we discuss the possible sources of the Urantia Book and document some of the dangers inherent in seeking truth through such sources.

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Apologetics Profile is a ministry of Watchman Fellowship For more information, visit www.watchman.org © Watchman Fellowship, Inc.

James Walker, president of Watchman Fellowship, interviews Andre Traversa, former advocate of the Urantia Book. This mysterious and controversial book was allegedly communicated by numerous spiritual or celestial beings between 1924 and 1955. The book includes a reports on the "missing years" of the life of Jesus and describing extraterrestrial life on other planets in an elaborate cosmology which includes the Central and Superuniverses.
 
Two of the main human sources of the Uranta Book are the former Seventh Day Adventist couple, William and Lena Sadler. The Urantia Book is huge (about 2,000 pages) and was reported to have physically materialized from spiritual sources in periodic installments over three decades. The book belongs to a genre of spiritual literature sourced from occult methodologies such as automatic writing, channeling, Ouija (spirit) boards and the "Sleeping Prophet" Edgar Casey, This week and next, we discuss the possible sources of the Urantia Book and document some of the dangers inherent in seeking truth through such sources.

Related Links: Free access to some related Watchman Profiles:

Additional Resources

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PROFILE NOTEBOOK: Order the complete collection of Watchman Fellowship Profiles (over 600 pages -- from Astrology to Zen Buddhism) in either printed or PDF formats here: watchman.org/notebook.

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Apologetics Profile is a ministry of Watchman Fellowship For more information, visit www.watchman.org © Watchman Fellowship, Inc.

What does Athens have to do with Jerusalem? Much in every way, as bad philosophy has made a number of inroads into the Church today, including philosophical assumptions about how scholars and laypersons alike ought to interpret and understand the Bible. Objective truth about the historicity and teaching of Scripture is being routinely questioned and jettisoned by higher academics. 

How should we respond? Our guest again this week Dr. Richard G. Howe, professor of philosophy at Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina, shares with us in a winsome and meaningful way how we need to cultivate a habit of applying sound philosophical and theological thinking to counter the baleful trends besetting our culture today. 

Richard G. Howe (RichardGHowe.com) is a writer as well as a public speaker and debater in churches, conferences, and university campuses on issues concerning Christian apologetics and philosophy. He is Provost, Professor of Philosophy and Apologetics, and Norman L. Geisler Chair of Christian Apologetics at Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina. Dr. Howe is Past President of the International Society of Christian Apologetics. In their free time, Richard and his wife Rebekah enjoy international travel.

Link to Richard's brother Thomas Howe's book, Objectivity in Biblical Interpretation, mentioned in this episode.

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Science offers us a great deal of remarkable insights to the nature of the physical world. From distant galaxies to the DNA in our bodies, the world is replete with God's handiwork. But not everyone sees it this way. Scientists who do not believe in God will often offer explanations for why they think God likely does not exist, but when they do, they are not using the methods and tools of science to do so, they are making philosophical arguments.

This week and next on the profile, our guest is Dr. Richard G. Howe, professor of philosophy at Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina, conversationally helps us to understand how philosophy and theology go together in equipping us to us discern and respond to the empty philosophy and deceit of our confused postmodern milieu.

Richard G. Howe (RichardGHowe.com) is a writer as well as a public speaker and debater in churches, conferences, and university campuses on issues concerning Christian apologetics and philosophy. He is Provost, Professor of Philosophy and Apologetics, and Norman L. Geisler Chair of Christian Apologetics at Southern Evangelical Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina. Dr. Howe is Past President of the International Society of Christian Apologetics. In their free time, Richard and his wife Rebekah enjoy international travel.

Link: The Comprehensive Guide to Science and Faith featuring Richard's article as quoted in this episode.

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Apologetics Profile is a ministry of Watchman Fellowship For more information, visit www.watchman.org © Watchman Fellowship, Inc.