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)

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 39

Aaron's Description of the Episode

Brian Godawa came back (I know...we're just as baffled by our repeat guests as everyone else is, but bafflement and gratitude are not only not mutually exclusive but complementary) and we talk about eschatology, dispensationalism, the awesomeness of the Bible, but most importantly for present purposes his latest series of books! The Chronicles of the Apocalypse tells a tale of epic proportions concerning the destruction of the temple in AD 70, the monstrous Nero, the persecution of the fledgling Christ followers, and the true battles going on in the heavenly realms that effect our world to this day. Go buy these books as Christmas presents and maybe Godawa will return (or strike back) on our humble pod some day! But seriously go buy his stuff. He's a good dude who writes good stuff: amzn.to/2RBxmVz 

We're getting pretty desperate to find ways to meet our last 8 episodes so after this one the quality will be going down significantly (merry Christmas). Aaron may even do a couple episodes where he just reads old articles and does some commentary on them. This will be a sad attempt to straighten out some of the more complicated ideas for his alleged book project (cough, everybody needs dreams, cough).

Listen to the episode here.

The AK47 Podcast Season 1: Episode 38

Aaron's description of the new episode.

Aaron interviews bestselling author Brian Godawa and they discuss the weird stuff in the Bible. Brian has written several series of "Theological Novels" (Aaron, in his characteristically pretentious style describes them as "Didactic Christian Myth") which explore the more bizarre (but scholarly accurate) aspects of the Old Testament. We discuss the book of Enoch, Giants, Angels, Demons, and other aspects of what Dr. Michael Heiser calls the Deuteronomy 32 worldview. Even the Epic of Gilgamesh comes up at one point. Godawa's first series is entitled The Chronicles of the Nephilim. His latest series, The Chronicles of the Apocalypse, is a kind of antidote to the Left Behind craze by focusing on distinctly preterist eschatology which teaches that John's Apocalypse mostly concerns events in the later 1st century AD. But eschatology (one of Aaron's favorite subjects, yet one Kyle remains willfully and lazily ignorant of) will concern our next episode with Godawa. Kyle is absent from this episode and the next one. Aaron put him in a box to repent of his eschatological ignorance. He won't be allowed back until he's completed all of Jurgen Moltmann's books, and he has to read them in the original Klingon.

Check out Brian Godawa's stuff on Amazon and godawa.com

We mention Michael Heiser quite a bit. Check him out at drmsh.com

And for those of you who are counting down we only have about 30 days left to get out 9 episodes! 

Listen to the episode here.

The AK47 Podcast Season 1: Episode 31

In today's episode, Timothy Hsiao (Ph.D candidate in philosophy at the University of Reading) returns for a third interview.  This time, we talk about the ethics of immigration.  Why is illegal immigration impermissible?  What laws should change?  What about compassion and love?

Listen to the episode here.

Listen to my other interviews with Hsiao: Episodes 25 and 26.

For more from Hsiao, including his articles, go to his website.

To learn how to support our show, click here.

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 25

In this episode, I interviewed Tim Hsiao, professor of philosophy at Grantham University and Ph.D candidate at the University of Reading, on the natural law theory of ethics.  What is natural law theory?  What are the arguments for and against it?  What does natural law theory say about the ethics of sex, lying, drug use, and other things?  How is God involved in natural law theory?  Check it out.

Listen to the episode here.

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 14

In this episode, I interview Dr. Chris Gadsden on religious epistemology and the rationality of theism and Christianity.  A lot of the things we talked about can be their own individual podcasts!

Listen to the episode here.

For more from Dr. Gadsden, check out his website, Ground Belief.

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.

The AK47 Podcast Season 1: Episode 8

Aaron didn't join us for this one, but don't worry.  I didn't leave him or lock him in the closet or anything.  We actually recorded one together earlier today, but that one isn't up yet.

Here is my interview with Adrian Urias on his journey from atheism to Protestant Christianity and then to Catholicism.  I also ask Adrian to respond to some basic Protestant objections to Catholicism.  Adrian's background is very interesting and involves issues like Marxism, Capitalism, Communism, freedom, equality, and other high-concept stuff.

Forgive some of my heavy breathing in the beginning of the interview.  It doesn't overpower the dialogue and it only last for a very short time, so don't worry too much about it.

I'm finally getting the hang of the editing software, so the transition from intro music to the actual talking is much smoother.

Listen to the interview here.

For more materials from Adrian, check out his blog.

The AK47 Podcast Season 1: Episode 7

Aaron, the 'A' of the 'AK', was not able to join us for his podcast, but in this episode I interview Dr. Neil Shenvi on the apparent conflict between Christianity and science.  We discuss whether or not secularism is rampant among scientists and the scientific "culture," the different conflicts between science and Christianity, and how a Christian can respond to those apparent conflicts.  Issues like evolution and the age of the earth are also brought up.

I'm still learning how to edit things, so the intro music still ends very suddenly, making it so that the transition from intro music to the actual discussion isn't very clean, but it's not a big problem and I'll learn.

Listen to the interview here on Anchor.

For more of Dr. Shenvi's materials, check out his website.