Academic Connections, International

    As the diagrams in the spread of views section suggested, there are two general and somewhat systematic ways Christian apologists have defended their faith in the academic marketplace of ideas.  What I want to discuss here is one of those two general systematic ways, that of presuppositional apologetics. I want to clarify how it is being used in this context.

    The term “presuppositional apologetics” is being used as a broad general category to characterize apologists (and those systems of apologetics they produce) who hold that the foundations of one’s beliefs are starting points or foundations that cannot be argued to because, simply, there is nothing more properly foundational than they.  

    Under this broad category of presuppositional apologetics there are a few useful things to highlight:  1) not all presuppositionalists agree on what particular beliefs should be included as properly held presuppositions--some hold it includes belief that God exists, others hold that and the presupposition that the Bible is God’s word and therefore true, etc.; 2) not all presuppositionalists agree as to what constitutes the proper grounds for their holding the presuppositions they do; and 3) not all presuppositional apologists would prefer to be called presuppositionalists since it is a general name which covers a multitude of sins.

    That being the case, we should be careful not to conflate the various forms into a single way of thinking about presuppositional apologetics. What they hold in common is that some beliefs cannot be justified by appealing to other propositional arguments--they are something like "basic beliefs"--which for various reasons, they believe they are rationally entitled to hold.

    And finally, in a similar way to the evidentialists, there are some presuppositionalists who like to in various ways play both side of the fence on their stance.   Whether that is strictly proper to do so and in what circumstances and qualifications that might be justified is a subject to be covered in the other resources and readings offered on this site.