Call and Character

The theologian Sarah Coakley once asked in a poignant essay on belief in God: “What are you seeking? Because if these arguments simply add up to a range of arid, abstract possibilities, then they are not grabbing you existentially in the way that they would if you were prepared to put your life on the line...”  Coakley’s question frames the conclusion of the new book *Reimaginging Apologetics: The Beauty of Faith in a Secular Age* by our guest today, Dr. Justin Bailey. Justin is assistant professor of theology at Dordt University, and works at the intersection of theology, culture, and ministry. And his wonderful new book asks his readers to rethink Christian witness, not as a defensive, overly intellectual project, but as an attempt to reveal the beauty of an imaginative faith. Or, to use Coakley’s words, is there anything beautiful enough about religious faith that you’d be prepared to stake your life on it?

In his classic book *The Four Loves* C.S. Lewis claimed that friendship is unnecessary: “Like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create),” he writes, “it has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.” In other words, friendship is a good that has no price tag; it is something to be enjoyed for its own sake. As Lewis himself points out, discussions of friendship are as ubiquitous in ancient and medieval philosophy as they are neglected in modern philosophy. Ancient wisdom promises us the beauty and delight of union with the beloved friend. Modern critiques often highlight the ways that human frailty, alienation, and distractibility often yield only the faintest shadow of true friendship. Our guest, Gilbert Meilaender, has written beautifully on the nature and ends of friendship, and joins us today to reflect on the challenges of friendship in modern times.

Almost four years ago, the vast majority of white evangelicals turned out to support the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump. This surprised quite a few cultural critics, who assumed that Trump’s record would not be attractive to pious Christian voters. Our guest today has a new book that argues that evangelical support of Donald Trump is no surprise, but actually historically rooted in evangelical ideas about gender, masculinity, power, and leadership.