AK47 Season 2 Episode 39: Becoming An Apologist Without a Degree, with Richard Porter

 In the next episode of Kyle's apologetics series, he has Richard Porter on to talk about how you can learn apologetics without having to spend years of your life and thousands of dollars of your money getting an advanced degree.  We get to know how Richard became a Christian and got into apologetics, how to learn apologetics effectively, the usefulness of verbal and written debates on the truth of Christianity, Richard's views of Reformed Epistemology and Lydia McGrew's approach to arguing for biblical reliability, the importance of mentors and reading hard books, and more.

To listen to the episode, click here.  If you prefer listening on another platform, check out the links on the left side of this site.

If you would like to financially support the podcast, click here.

Other Episodes in the Series

1. Sam Harper (Philochristos)

2. Evan Minton (Cerebral Faith)

3. Cameron Bertuzzi (Capturing Christianity)

4. Clinton Wilcox (this one is on the topic of abortion specifically)

AK47 Season 2 Episode 35: Responding to Bad Atheist Arguments Part 2

Tripp Parker (M.A. in philosophy from Duke) joins Kyle to continue going through Jay Beecher's tweet thread claiming that the Bible is based on pagan myths, it's full of errors, the biblical canon was decided at the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D., and much more.

To listen to the episode, click here.  If you prefer to listen on another platform such as iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, and more, click one of the links on the left side of the site.

If you would like to financially support this podcast, click here.

Sources Used for the Episode

The Mirror or the Mask: Liberating the Gospels from Literary Devices by Dr. Lydia McGrew

Alleged Historical Errors in the Gospels part one and part two by Dr. Timothy McGrew

We didn't mention this during the episode, but for a humorous response to the claim that Jesus and the stories about him are copied from pagan myths, check out this video from Lutheran Satire.

AK47 Season 2 Episode 34: Responding to Bad Atheist Arguments

Aaron and Kyle bring on a special guest, Tripp Parker (M.A. in philosophy from Duke) to talk about a tweet thread from Jay Beecher arguing that the Bible is copied from pagan myths and makes a bunch of historical errors.

To listen to the episode, click here.  If you prefer to listen on another platform such as iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, and more, click one of the links on the left side of the site.

If you would like to financially support this podcast, click here.

Sources Used for the Show

Jay Beechers tweet thread.

The History for Atheists blog.

The AK47 Podcast Season 2: Episode 11

I am doing a new series of interviews interviewing people who are Christian apologists, but not academics.  My purpose in these interviews is to encourage Christians who want to do apologetics, have apologetics ministries, or implement apologetics into their discussions with skeptics, but don't want to spend thousands of dollars of their money and years of their time on formal degrees in apologetics or other related fields.

Kyle continues his series on becoming an apologist without getting an advanced degree by interviewing Clinton Wilcox.  Clinton is a Christian, but he mostly engages in pro-life speaking and debate.  He has defended the pro-life position in both written and verbal form for years and he has done this without getting an advanced degree.  Despite this, he is very intelligent and informed on the topic.  In this interview, I ask him how he got into pro-life apologetics and how people can prepare themselves to intellectually defend the unborn without having to spend thousands of dollars and years of time getting a degree.

Listen to the episode here.

To learn how to support our podcast, click here.

Be sure to check out Aaron and Kyle's previous interview with Clinton Wilcox on pro-life arguments.

Follow Clinton on Twitter.

Find his writings and other resources at Life Training Institute and Secular Pro-Life.

Books Mentioned in the Show
1. Pro-Life Books
 - The Case for Life by Scott Klusendorf
 - Persuasive Pro-Life by Trent Horn
 - Defending Life by Francis Beckwith
 - The Ethics of Abortion by Christopher Kaczor

2. Pro-Choice Books
 - A Defense of Abortion by David Boonin
 - Arguments about Abortion by Kate Greasley
 - Abortion and Infanticide by Michael Tooley

Other Episodes in the Series

1. Sam Harper (Philochristos)

2. Evan Minton (Cerebral Faith)

3. Cameron Bertuzzi (Capturing Christianity)

4. Richard Porter

The AK47 Podcast Season 2: Episode 7

I am starting a new series of interviews interviewing people who are Christian apologists, but not academics.  My purpose in these interviews is to encourage Christians who want to do apologetics, have apologetics ministries, or implement apologetics into their discussions with skeptics, but don't want to spend thousands of dollars of their money and years of their time on formal degrees in apologetics or other related fields.

In this episode, I interview Cameron Bertuzzi of Capturing Christianity.  I ask him how he became a Christian, how he became interested in the intellectual side of the Christian faith, and why he decided to start a blog on the topic.  I ask him for advice on how to become a good apologist without a formal education, how to deal with anxiety about having discussions or debates with skeptics,  his more controversial theological opinions, and where we can read his stuff.  I also ask him how one can start an online apologetics ministry and the importance of having knowledge and skill in marketing when building a ministry based on apologetics.

Listen to the episode here.

To learn how to support our podcast, click here.

Check out Capturing Christianity

Follow Cameron on Twitter.

Check out the Capturing Christianity Youtube channel.

Other Episodes in this Series

1. Sam Harper (Philochristos)

2. Evan Minton (Cerebral Faith)

3. Clinton Wilcox (specifically on the topic of abortion)

4. Richard Porter

The AK47 Podcast Season 2: Episode 5

I am starting a new series of interviews interviewing people who are Christian apologists, but not academics.  My purpose in these interviews is to encourage Christians who want to do apologetics, have apologetics ministries, or implement apologetics into their discussions with skeptics, but don't want to spend thousands of dollars of their money and years of their time on formal degrees in apologetics or other related fields.

In this episode, I interview Evan Minton of Cerebral Faith.  I ask him how he became a Christian, how he became interested in the intellectual side of the Christian faith, and why he decided to start a blog on the topic.  I ask him for advice on how to become a good apologist without a formal education, how to deal with anxiety about having discussions or debates with skeptics, his more controversial theological opinions, and where we can read his stuff.  We also talk about some of our nerdy hobbies like video games and anime, with an emphasis on Pokemon and Zelda.

Listen to the episode here.

To learn how to support our podcast, click here.

Read and listen to Evan's stuff on Cerebral Faith.

Follow the Cerebral Faith Twitter.

Other Episodes in this Series

1. Sam Harper (Philochristos)

2. Cameron Bertuzzi (Capturing Christianity)

3. Clinton Wilcox (specifically on the topic of abortion)

4. Richard Porter

The AK47 Podcast Season 2: Episode 4

I am starting a new series of interviews interviewing people who are Christian apologists, but not academics.  My purpose in these interviews is to encourage Christians who want to do apologetics, have apologetics ministries, or implement apologetics into their discussions with skeptics, but don't want to spend thousands of dollars of their money and years of their time on formal degrees in apologetics or other related fields.

In today's episode, I interview Sam Harper, who blogs at Philo Christos.  I ask him how he became a Christian, how he became interested in the intellectual side of the Christian faith, and why he decided to start a blog on the topic.  I ask him for advice on how to become a good apologist without a formal education, how to deal with anxiety about having discussions or debates with skeptics, his more controversial theological opinions, and where we can read his stuff.

(Note: We still seem to experience a slight audio problem.  When two people speak simultaneously or when noise happens on one end while another person is talking, it creates a sudden drop in quality for one of the parties.  The audio is still good and understandable, especially on Sam Harper's end, but if anyone knows how to solve this issue, let us know.)

Listen to the episode here.

To learn how to support our podcast, click here.

Read his blog, Philochristos.

Other Episodes in this Series

1. Evan Minton (Cerebral Faith)

2. Cameron Bertuzzi (Capturing Christianity)

3. Clinton Wilcox (specifically on the topic of abortion)

4. Richard Porter

The AK47 Podcast Season 1: Episode 41

Aaron and I are going to focus on less politically, socially, and philosophically heavy things in the rest of the episodes this year.  It's break time, so we want to take it easy.  That doesn't mean those topics won't come out of our mouths though.

Aaron and I are all over the place in this episode.  We talk about the Aquaman movie, which Aaron recently watched, superhero movies in general, the Gospel, some apologetics, our thoughts on Ben Shapiro's interview with John MacArthur, stuff about the spiritual vs. the psychological, and more.

Listen to the episode here.

If you are interested in supporting our show, find out how here.

The AK47 Podcast Season 1: Episode 33

Aaron and Kyle discuss some logical, apologetic, and epistemological issues that are brought up by the Kavanaugh case.  The reliability of eyewitness testimony and memory, how that applies to the Gospels, thoughts on "believe all women," and more are discussed.

Listen to the episode here.

If you want to support our show, click here to learn how.

The AK47 Podcast Season 1: Episode 32

Aaron and Kyle talk about some recent controversies surrounding the famous preacher and apologist, Ravi Zacharias, and his academic credentials and experiences.

Listen to the episode here.

Click here for the article by Randal Rauser.

To learn how to support our show, click here.

What is the Point of Debating Online?

I came across this picture on FB that I think makes a very good point.  

Earlier this year, I was debating abortion with some people on my FB page and I was in several other debates on that topic over the period of a couple of months. During that time many people have said to me that we should just ignore pro-choice commenters, especially ones that are more emotional and do not give cogent arguments. They won't be convinced, so what's the point debating them? Not everybody says this, but it is something I hear relatively often.  Sometimes, you hear cynical people in any controversial discussion say "What is the point in arguing about this?!  No one is going to change their mind!"

I definitely understand that issue. It is very unlikely that they will be convinced by any arguments we give on this platform. In my experience, they often just repeat the same things over and over again without considering what my pro-life friends or I argue. I do, however, think that entering these debates with pro-choicers on FB is a worthwhile endeavor. I don't necessarily enter these debates to convince these people, though it would be nice if they were convinced. Here is why I engage them

1) It may at least help them understand why people are pro-life beyond "You just want to control women's bodies!"
2) It may help them become pro-life ten years from now.
3) It helps a brother out. If a friend of mine is debating the abortion issue with multiple people, I don't want to leave him alone. I want to help him out. I also appreciate it if people help me out and don't leave me alone.
4) I don't want these people to be so confident in their assertions. I don't want them to get away with saying what they want without being challenged.
5) The audience may be genuinely helped and educated by seeing your contribution to the debate.

I'm not saying that all pro-choicers are bad arguers or closed-minded. I am also not saying that there aren't legitimate times avoid engaging with some people. I just don't like the categorical charge that engaging them is always pointless because they won't be convinced.  This doesn't just go for the abortion debate.  This applies to any topic of debate online.  

Apologist Recommendation: Edward Feser

In this series, I will recommend certain scholars and apologists to our readers and listeners.  These are people that I believe are worth listening to because they are informed and give good arguments and insights into the subjects that they study, which helps intellectually equip Christians so that they can grow in their own faith and their outreach towards non-Christians.  I am not claiming that these scholars and apologists have everything correct, but I think they are intellectual powerhouses that we can learn much from.

Edward Feser

Dr. Feser is a Catholic philosopher who teaches at Pasadena City College.  Being a Catholic, his metaphysics is heavily influenced by Aquinas, which may make his philosophy slightly different from other well-known Christian apologists like William Lane Craig, but his material is still valuable.  A lot of his material is academic, but he has a lot of more popular-level materials that offer great arguments and insights.  Here are some of his works.

His Blog

Feser regularly writes on his blog, where you can find his thoughts on everything philosophy, theology, Catholicism, and apologetics.  This is a good place to go to introduce yourself to his material.

Atheism

Dr. Feser has a lot of scathing and often hilarious critiques of the "New Atheism" and particular atheist writers.  In book form, he wrote The Last Supertition, which is a critique of the new atheism.  His criticisms of Jerry Coyne are all entertaining to read.  He has a review of Coyne's book, Faith Versus Fact, on First Things.  You can also find his blog posts and articles critiquing Coyne here and here.  Feser also critiques Lawrence Krauss, a physicist and atheist, here.  He has a lot more material on atheism and responses to atheist apologists, so look them up.

Existence of God

Dr. Feser has also written on the arguments for the existence of God.  His new book, Five Proofs of the Existence of God, is pretty self-explanatory.  Feser is also interviewed here, where he responds to Dawkins' critiques of the arguments for God's existence in his book, The God Delusion.

Misc.

I recommend just looking through his blog for more materials.  He has a lot of articles on philosophy of mind, ethical issues like sexual ethics, abortion, and capital punishment, explanations of Catholic docrines, and much, much more.  I hope you learn a lot from his resources.

The AK47 Podcast Season 1: Episode 27

Kyle interviews Anthony Costello on his journey from Catholicism and nominal religiosity to Evangelical Protestant Christianity.  We talk about the events that lead to his current beliefs and some of his criticisms of the Catholic church.  Anthony got an M.A. in Christian Apologetics from Biola University and an M.A. in theology at Talbot School of Theology.

Listen to the episode here.

For more from Anthony, check out his website.

To learn how to support our show, click here.

The AK47 Podcast Season 1: Episode 24

Today, I interview Dr. Lydia McGrew on undesigned coincidences as evidence for the reliability of the Bible.  We also talk about a concerning trend in New Testament studies that Lydia calls "Literary Device" theory and the problems with it.

Listen to the episode here.

For more from Lydia, check out her writings on What's Wrong With the World and her personal blog.

For more on the topic we discussed, get her book, Hidden in Plain View.

The AK47 Podcast Season 1: Episode 21

I interview Dennis Bray, a Ph.D candidate in analytic theology at the University of St. Andrews, on the metaphysics of beauty.  Is beauty objective?  Why think it is?  How does the topic of beauty relate to the topic of goodness and morality?  What is God's connection to beauty and its objectivity?  What is an argument for God's existence from beauty?  All that and more here.

Listen to the episode here.

The AK47 Podcast Season 1: Episode 19

Aaron and I talk about the books that have been most influential to us.  This discussion brought up issues of suffering and being authentic with God, Christian's responsibility in changing culture, apologetics, and personal struggles.  We gave some thoughts on C.S. Lewis and Timothy Keller as well.

Listen to the episode here.

Books mentioned in the episode

To Change the World by James Davison Hunter

The Reason for God by Timothy Keller

A Sacred Sorrow by Michael Card

The AK47 Podcast Season 1: Episode 18

I interview Dr. Greg Ganssle on fittingness arguments for God's existence and God of the Gaps arguments.  We discuss what fittingness arguments are, what fittingness arguments there are for theism, what fittingness arguments there are for atheism, and Greg responds to the arguments for atheism.  We finish off by giving an analysis of "God of the Gaps" arguments and responding to the charge that arguments for theism are God of the Gaps arguments.

Listen to the audio here.

The AK47 Podcast Season 1: Episode 17

Aaron and I talk more about abortion, focusing on some of its social issues and the issue of sexual responsibility.  We also talk about the Joe Rogan podcast and give our recommendations for Christians that he should invite onto his show for the purposes of opening him and his audience up to the intellectual viability of Christianity.

Edit: Around minute 6, Aaron means Casey vs. Planned Parenthood.

Listen to the episode here.

For the story about the two angels around J.P. Moreland, listen here.

The AK47 Podcast Season 1: Episode 11

Aaron and I interview Clinton Wilcox on abortion.  What are the arguments for the pro-life position?  Why should we listen to a man's opinion?  Do abortion laws affect abortion rates?  Are pro-lifers just pro-birth?  Does a woman's bodily autonomy justify abortion in some cases?  Listen to find out.

Listen to the interview here.

For more from Clinton Wilcox, check out his blog, his Twitter, and check out the Life Training Institute for more pro-life apologetics.

The AK47 Podcast Season 1: Episode 10

In this episode, I interview Basil Polivka on his journey to Eastern Orthodoxy, where Eastern Orthodoxy came from, and the beliefs and practices of Eastern Orthodoxy.

Listen to the episode here.