On rare occasion a first-year student will bring to college an ability to articulate a basic “apologetic” for Christianity.
This is helpful not only for maintaining faith in a challenging collegiate environment, but for sharing faith with others, perhaps along these lines:
1) Origins: Why Christianity, not atheism, provides the best explanation for the origin of the universe and human life.
2) Gospels: Why the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ life can be trusted.
3) Religious Pluralism: Why multiple religions cannot all be true in the same respect.
How to actually train kids in apologetics?
I have some practical ideas that I’ll share some other time.
For now, I just want to get parents and Christian educators thinking about providing teenagers with some basic apologetic tools.
And when they arrive on campus for the first time, hand them off to a campus ministry such as Chi Alpha, Cru, Campus Outreach, the Navigators or InterVarsity.
We can take it from there.
* * *
Starter books in apologetics:
- Letters from a Skeptic by Greg Boyd
- Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Kreeft and Tacelli
- Faith is Like Skydiving (my book)
All available on Amazon.com.
