{"id":26396,"date":"2020-03-15T21:14:59","date_gmt":"2020-03-16T04:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=26396"},"modified":"2020-03-15T21:14:59","modified_gmt":"2020-03-16T04:14:59","slug":"a-fresh-take-on-apologetics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/a-fresh-take-on-apologetics\/","title":{"rendered":"A Fresh Take on Apologetics"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was challenging to find a non-Christian review of McLaughlin\u2019s Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World\u2019s Largest Religion<\/em>. While I did not do an exhaustive search, I landed upon Mark Ward\u2019s review. Ward initially approached McLaughlin\u2019s work, thinking it was written from a non-Christian perspective. He quickly became impressed with her grounded (an evangelical upbringing along with her Ph.D. in literature from Cambridge) evidence-based findings that were honed through her frontline fieldwork with the Veritas Forum. He contends that her work is robust while also being accessible to a lay audience. Ward recognized the deep well McLaughlin drew from in her Veritas work. He compares the freshness of her arguments to his first impressions from reading Tim Keller\u2019s work. He views McLaughlin in need of further and more robust development of her contentions, particularly in her need for more substantive biblical treatment.[1]<\/a> I found his criticism counterintuitive as from Confronting Christianity<\/em>\u2019s dedication to \u201cNatasha,\u201d McLaughlin intended this book to be read by, \u201dfiercely intelligent friends who disagree with me.\u201d[2]<\/a> Perhaps Ward was speaking more from his own apologetic bias rather than considering the context of McLaughlin\u2019s work and her intended readers.<\/p>\n

I am embarrassed to admit that I am not a fan of reading or practicing apologetics. They seem to strike me as debate or courtroom argument focused. My perspective is probably more a product of my light exposure to this field and my disinterest in dogmatic approaches to introducing people to the person of Jesus. I found McLaughlin\u2019s work refreshing and very thought-provoking, and I consider myself a believer and a practitioner of the world\u2019s largest religion for the past forty-five years. I was quite taken with her passion, joy, and scholarship (as is often stated by US observers, a British accent tends to make one even more compelling) from a May 6, 2019 interview. She is an inspiring female communicator who utilizes her theological undergirding (theological degree from Oak Hill College in London) along with her great love of and use of the power of words.<\/p>\n

I found her chapter \u201cIsn\u2019t Christianity Homophobic?\u201d most intriguing. Perhaps because she spoke from a female perspective or as one who has unrequited (that is, not acted upon) same-sex attraction for most of her life and to this day<\/em>, her construct struck me as innovative and credible. She seemed to make the hard question moot as she instead turned the focus from one\u2019s sexuality or sexual attraction to instead subordinating all things to Jesus. Her quote, \u201c \u2026because blue-blooded heterosexuality is not the goal of the Christian life, Jesus is.\u201d[3]<\/a> startled me by challenging my bias that heterosexuality is the preferred sexual state for Christians. McLaughlin challenged me to concede; it is not one\u2019s sexuality (even for heterosexuals like me) to be focused upon as the preferred \u201cstatus,\u201d but only Jesus. That is, throughout all of our lives, all believers must submit their sexuality to Jesus, not just those who currently find themselves outside of monogamous heterosexual marriage relationships. I found McLaughlin\u2019s declaration that, on the one hand, \u201csexual intimacy belongs exclusively to heterosexual marriage\u201d while, on the other hand, \u201cthe one-body reality of gospel partnership (is)<\/em> best experienced in same-sex friendships\u201d quite a provocative statement.[4]<\/a> While I am sure many detractors will vigorously criticize the first part of this statement (which I find a bit curious as this work is directed towards intelligent friends who do not agree with her), the second part of this statement arrested my attention. I wonder if this might speak to the often chuckled about differences between men and women and the unrealistic expectations we put on exclusively trying to meet each other\u2019s holistic needs within heterosexual marriage. \u00a0Perhaps, this would also speak to the implied hierarchy within the Church of married couples having superior relationships\/friendships within the body of Christ compared to those who are unmarried? McLaughlin contends, \u201cUnderstanding the different kinds of boundaries that operate in marriage and in friendship will help us understand the purpose of each.\u201d That is, opposite-sex marriage is exclusively set apart for sexual intimacy, and this irrefutable wall \u201ccuts off the possibility of sex with anyone else.\u201d This boundary is intended to constrict even the leanings of every Christian. That is, we are always called to sacrifice even our desires to Christ. However, the boundary for friendship, while barring sex, creates space for intimacy with many different people (of all genders?) who touch our lives in diverse and varied ways.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

McLaughlin has accomplished a remarkable task of relocating the seeming intent of the original hard question beyond a preferred sexual status, towards intimate non-sexual friendships. She contends while the New Testament consistently does not support homosexual relationships, neither is there any place for a \u201cthem and us\u201d attitude in the Church. That is, there is no place for a dislike or prejudice against homosexual people, the very definition of a homophobic attitude. Therefore, McLaughlin reminds us that Jesus launched the Church with Christians who had histories of sexual desires and sin, including homosexual desires and sin.[6]<\/a> I appreciate McLaughlin\u2019s fresh approach in writing this book and will return to it often for her \u201cfresh\u201d and innovative insights.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Mark Ward, \u201cReview: Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World\u2019s Largest Religion\u201d, May 28, 2019, By Faith We Understand, https:\/\/byfaithweunderstand.com\/2019\/05\/28\/mclaughlinrebeccaconfrontingchristianity12hardquestionsfortheworldslargestreligion\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Rebecca McLaughlin, Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World\u2019s Largest Religion <\/em>(Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2019) 7.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> McLaughlin, Confronting Christianity<\/em>, 154.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> McLaughlin, Confronting Christianity<\/em>, 156.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> McLaughlin, Confronting Christianity<\/em>, 157.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> McLaughlin, Confronting Christianity<\/em>, 166-167.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was challenging to find a non-Christian review of McLaughlin\u2019s Confronting Christianity: 12 Hard Questions for the World\u2019s Largest Religion. While I did not do an exhaustive search, I landed upon Mark Ward\u2019s review. Ward initially approached McLaughlin\u2019s work, thinking it was written from a non-Christian perspective. He quickly became impressed with her grounded (an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1824,1321,1828],"class_list":["post-26396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-confronting-christianity","tag-dminlgp9","tag-rebecca-mclaughlin","cohort-lgp9"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/114"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26396"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26397,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26396\/revisions\/26397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}