Notes and Assignments MONDAY 10 24 11

10^th:  No Homework

11/12: Write 1 paragraph summaries of your two sources.

8^th: Write the Rationale  or Justification section of your proposal.

9^th: Answer three questions about Gilgamesh reading in writing:

1) What condition was G. in when he reached the garden of Utnapishtim?

2) Explain how G. fails U’s test.

3) What connection does G’s faillure to remain awake have with U’s refusing to give him the secret?

RHETORIC

Yes, we’re back at it again. Below are the texts of the two handouts from today. From the bottom of page two, here’s the reading/writing assignment that’s due TOMORROW:

ASSIGNMENT: Read the following passages of Scripture: Matthew 10:18-20, and the parallel passages, Mark 13:10-11, Luke 12:11-12. Write your thoughts about how we might reconcile 1) Jesus’ instruction not to plan out our answers ahead of time with 2) the practice of apologetics. What do you think it means that ‘what you should speak…will be given to you in that hour’?

Now read 1 Corinthians chapters 1 and 2. Which verses might apply to questions about how Christians should prepare to answer our critics, and what kinds of ‘reasons’ or ‘evidences’ we should be ready to give for our faith to those we hope to evangelize? 

Rhetoric Assignment, 10.24.11

Final rhetoric assignment: write a three to four-page essay discussing the appropriate role of Aristotelian rhetorical logos in the spread and defense of the gospel.

1) A preliminary two-page typed essay is due in two weeks.

2) The final essay will be due after the final Rhetoric class in March.

Be sure your essays have:

1) A clear evaluative or synthetic thesis,

2) A specific topic or sub-thesis for each paragraph, with transitions that explain the connections from para. to para.

3) Coherently connected discussions within the paragraphs.

An important issue in this essay will be the practice of ‘apologetics’—the study and preparation of reasoned or rational-appearing arguments to answer critics and attack conflicting beliefs and views.

Think about the answers to such questions as:

• Is the ‘faith’ that saves souls the same as ‘belief’ based on reasoning and evidence? Why or why not?

• Can the practice of apologetics—preparing answers and arguments beforehand—be reconciled with Jesus’ instructions to wait for the words the Holy Spirit will give? If not, why not? If so, how can they be reconciled?

• The basic proof text for apologetics is 1 Peter 3:15, which exhorts Christians to be ready to give ‘answer’ or ‘defense,’ and a logos or ‘reason’ for our faith.  Is this defense going to be primarily a matter of reasoning and logical arguments? Or does the Bible suggest that the ‘logos’ or ‘reason’ Peter had in mind might involve something more? Does it make a difference that the scriptural text says ‘a reason’ not ‘reasons’?

• Is ordinary human logic and intellectual reasoning capable of understanding the ways of God, or of comprehending the message of salvation and ‘new birth’? What does the Bible say we can accomplish with our own minds, our own understanding?

• Is reason alone a sufficient source of knowledge about God and salvation? Can the Bible be understood with reason alone? If not, does the Bible suggest what other channels of understanding and knowledge might be necessary?

 

Rhetoric and Apologetics

One of the fundamental elements of rhetoric, as identified by Aristotle, is logos, the practice of persuasion by rational, or rational-seeming, arguments. In many Christian circles, the broad term applied to such arguments is apologetics. Advocates of Christian ‘apologetics’ almost always base their practice on 1 Peter 3:15 (NKJV):

But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always [be] ready to [give] a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear;

The Greek word translated ‘defense’ is apologia, an answer or justification, meaning the reasoned (logical) defense one gives in court or to one’s critics. Here’s a fairly typical explanation of apologetics, from the webpage ‘Introduction to Christian Apologetics’ by Charlie Campbell, founder of ABR, the Always Be Ready apologetics ministry. Campbell defines apologetics as ‘giving reasons and evidence in defense of the faith,’ and references the term apologia in the verse from 1 Peter:

It is from this Greek word that that we get our English word “apologetics.” To be skilled in apologetics is to be able to give a defense of the Christian faith to someone who asks, or to someone who challenges your beliefs.

What kind of defense should we be prepared to give? Campbell points out that the same verse uses the Greek word logos, which literally translated is ‘word’, but which can also mean a reasoned answer or argument based on evidence—the same meaning Aristotle used for it. Campbell obviously interprets the text in this Aristotelian sense:

There are good reasons why a person should believe that God exists, that the Bible is trustworthy, that Jesus rose from the dead, etc. The Christian ambassador should be familiar with these reasons and be able to articulate them to those who have questions.

Thus the stated purpose of apologetics is to provide Christians with prepared arguments, based on reasoning from evidence, to use when responding to those who question or criticize our faith. Apologetics also aims to show unbelievers the logical weaknesses and errors in their own beliefs. Here’s how Campbell explains this second aspect of apologetics:  

Our primary task as ambassadors is to preach the gospel and to make disciples. But sometimes before a person receives the gospel, we must be involved in what we might call “spiritual demolition," demolishing lies and misconceptions about the Christian faith.

Clearly, the purpose of apologetics is to use evidence and reasoning in debate as a means of answering those who ask us for a ‘reason’ for our faith in Jesus as the Messiah and Savior. Thus apologetics is a rhetorical tool, a Christian version of Aristotle’s logos.

ASSIGNMENT: Read the following passages of Scripture: Matthew 10:18-20, and the parallel passages, Mark 13:10-11, Luke 12:11-12. Write your thoughts about how we might reconcile 1) Jesus’ instruction not to plan out our answers ahead of time with 2) the practice of apologetics. What do you think it means that ‘what you should speak…will be given to you in that hour’?

Now read 1 Corinthians chapters 1 and 2. Which verses might apply to questions about how Christians should prepare to answer our critics, and what kinds of ‘reasons’ or ‘evidences’ we should be ready to give for our faith to those we hope to evangelize?