Defending the Gospel in Legal Style: Essays on Legal Apologetics & the Justification of Classical Christian Faith

by John Warwick Montgomery

Overview

Traditional apologetics is either focused on obscure, quasi-Thomist philosophical arguments for God's existence or on 18th-century-style answers to alleged biblical contradictions. But a new approach has recently entered the picture: the juridical defence of historic Christian faith, with its particular concern for demonstrating Jesus's deity and saving work for humankind. The undisputed leader of this movement is John Warwick Montgomery, emeritus professor of law and humanities, University of Bedfordshire, England, and director, International Academy of Apologetics, Evangelism and Human Rights, Strasbourg, France. His latest book (of more than sixty published during his career) shows the strength of legal apologetics: its arguments, drawn from secular legal reasoning, can be rejected only at the cost of jettisoning the legal system itself, on which every civilised society depends for its very existence. The present work also includes theological essays on vital topics of the day, characterised by the author's well-known humour and skill for lucid communication.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781725250567
Publisher:	Wipf & Stock Publishers
Publication date:	10/25/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	392
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

John Warwick Montgomery is the leading advocate of a legal apologetic for historic Christian faith. He is trained as a historian (Ph.D., University of Chicago), an English barrister, French avocat, and American lawyer (LL.D., Cardiff University, Wales, U.K.), and theologian (D.Théol., Faculty of Protestant Theology, University of Strasbourg, France). He has debated major representatives of secularism (atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair, death-of-God advocate Thomas Altizer, liberal theologian Bishop James Pike, atheistic cosmologist Sean M. Carroll, et al.). He is the author or editor of more than 60 books and 150 journal articles, and has appeared on innumerable international television and radio broadcasts. Professor emeritus of Law and Humanities, University of Bedfordshire, England, he now serves as Professor-at-Large, 1517: The Legacy Project (Irvine, California, U.S.A.). Professor Montgomery resides in France and England and directs the International Academy of Apologetics, Evangelism and Human Rights (Strasbourg, France).



Websites:

www.jwm.christendom.co.uk www.globaljournalct.com www.apologeticsacademy.eu



John Warwick Montgomery is Professor Emeritus of Law and Humanities, University of Bedfordshire, England; Distinguished Research Professor of Philosophy, Concordia University Wisconsin; and Director, International Academy of Apologetics, Evangelism and Human Rights (Strasbourg, France). He holds ten earned degrees, including a Doctorate in Philosophy from the University of Chicago, the Doctorat d'Universite in Protestant theology from the University of Strasbourg, France, and the LL.M. and LL.D. from the University of Cardiff, Wales/UK. He is an English barrister and a member of the Paris bar. A frequent contributor to Christianity Today, Montgomery has been honored by inclusion in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in France, Who's Who in the World, and the Dictionary of International Biography. He is the author of some fifty books in the areas of theology, philosophy, law, and church history. He pleads cases before the European Court of Human Rights and has received the Patriarch's Medal of the Romanian Orthodox Church for his efforts in behalf of religious liberty. He is an ordained Lutheran pastor.

Table of Contents

Foreword Thomas Schirrmacher 13

Preface 15

Acknowledgments 17

Part 1 Legal Apologetics Per Se 19

1 How Much Evidence to Justify Religious Conversion? 21

2 The Criminal Standard of Proof 35

3 Legal Evidence for the Truth of the Faith 47

4 A New Approach to the Apologetic for Christ's Resurrection by Way of Wigmore's Juridical Analysis of Evidence 55

5 Legal Hermeneutics and the Interpretation of Scripture 69

6 Higher Criticism and the Legal Standard for Expert Testimony 81

7 Law and Justice 93

8 Why Human Rights Are Impossible Without Religion 129

Part 2 Thinking Like a Lawyer in the Theological Realm 145

9 Artificial Intelligence and Societal Transformation 147

10 The Last Meow: An Indeterminacy Argument for God's Existence, with a Further Glance at Schrödinger's Cat 155

11 Apologetics Insights from the Thought of I. J. Good 161

12 Miracle Evidence: How Philosophers Go Wrong 171

13 The Heritage of the Reformation - and Why It Should Be Defended 177

14 The Apologetic Thrust of Lutheran Theology 191

15 Christian Apologetics in the Light of the Lutheran Confessions 209

16 The Kloha Catastrophe 227

17 Christian Concern UK: Evangelicals contra Irreligion in an Increasingly Secular Britain 273

18 A Non-Politically-Correct Remedy to Muslim Terrorist Immigration 281

19 Religious Fraud: Its Etiology and Prevention 293

20 Doctrinal Fidelity in the Light of Comparative Professional Negligence 303

Part 3 Short Essays on Critical Topics 313

21 Lesser-of-Evils 315

22 Reflections on John 7:53-8:11 319

23 Secularism and Stupidity in the Fast Lane 321

24 "Intolerant Religion" As Threat To "Tolerant-Liberal Democracy"? 323

25 The New Age of Christian Martyrdom 327

26 "Ararat," the Armenians, and Missionary Doctor Clarence Ussher 329

27 Martin Scorsese's Silence 333

28 Evangelical Chauvinism 337

29 American Law and Freedom of Expression 341

30 Hate Speech 345

31 Check Your References 349

32 Beliefs Have Consequences - in Spades! 353

33 Why English Theology and Churchmanship Are Hopelessly Weak 357

34 Parabolic Interpretation 361

35 Two Mathematical Excursions 367

36 Regeneration: Biological, Computational, Theological 373

Index of Names 383