Master Plan 2

Master-Plan (2)
for a School of Christian Apologetics
Update - Posted July 20, 2010

The items below are foundational materials for apologetics at The Road to Emmaus. The basic foundational issues are listed -- along with the works available, either published or still getting ready but available online. The column on the right gives the rational for each step of the way.

The Road to Emmaus is beginning to take mature shape.

Foundations

(1) God, the Creator -- Metaphysics (what needs to be the case in order for us to have a reasonable and intelligible contingent universe? Do we need a Creator? first half of the Imago Dei - see #4 God the Sovereign below)

A Personalist Cosmology in Imago Dei with the Cosmological argument for the existence of God.

Part I, Personality, Empiricism, & God is almost done (not yet published) but available for viewing at

http://www.theroadtoemmaus.org/EM/ShpMl/PEG/00PEG.htm

(2) Worldview (what is the nature of our world/cosmos? a closed or open system?
                personal or impersonal?   and what difference would it make?)

        A Personalist Cosmology in Imago Dei
               Part II, Yahweh or the Great Mother?   at http://www.theroadtoemmaus.org/RdLb/11Phl/WrldV/00Wvw.htm
                         on the two basic worldviews -- Biblical vs. Secular/Pagan   This is in part available online,
                         or in whole on audio tape at http://www.theroadtoemmaus.org/EM/ShpMl/00ShpMl.htm#THEO-APOL


(3) Epistemology (how do we know what we know?)

               Christians lost the war for the 20th century because we did not know how to answer that question,
                    and understood reason to be opposed to revelation. Tragic mistake.

          A Personalist Cosmology in Imago Dei at http://www.theroadtoemmaus.org/EM/ShpMl/PEG/00PEG.htm
                       Part III -- Epistemology , is not yet available

             but, you will find short and fairly easy reading... for starters
                   The Authority of the Bible in a Scientific Age
                         at http://www.theroadtoemmaus.org/EM/ShpMl/AuthBbl/00AuthBbl.htm
                           -- on how the Bible and science are inherently integrated.
                                   No surprise since empirical science came out of the Bible.


(4) God, the Sovereign -- Metaphysics & Morality (Why is God Sovereign over all things? And how can we resolve the terribly fractious debates over atonement theory which have divided Christians?)

Law & Grace in Imago Dei  God, the Sovereign (the other half of #1 - God the Creator - above).

Part I, but available for viewing at

http://www.theroadtoemmaus.org/EM/ShpMl/Law&Grace/00Law&Grace.htm

Areas of Life Built on the Above Foundations

(5) Morality (is there such a thing as "obligation" or an "ought"? foundations for a theology of atonement.)

        Law & Grace in Imago Dei (as above in #4) almost finished - not yet published.
                available for reading at http://www.theroadtoemmaus.org/EM/ShpMl/Law&Grace/00Law&Grace.htm

       ** Abortion, the Bible, & America -- Published and available online at
                     http://www.emmausmall.org/PrintedProd.htm

(6) Psychology/Anthropology (Individuality. What does it mean to be a "somebody" rather than a "nobody"?)

     ** Biblical Inner Healing -- Published and available online at http://www.emmausmall.org/PrintedProd.html

(7) Politics (Community. How can we tame the use of coercive force to be our servant rather than our master?)

        Why Government Needs God -- the Theology of Civil Government -- putting a secure moral foundation
                        under politics and civil government.  Possible only "under God" -- without whom there is no
                                    legitimate government, only power struggle.
                        Outline available for reading at
                                 http://www.theroadtoemmaus.org/RdLb/21PbAr/Pl/Cnst/TheolOfCivilGovt.htm

(8) Gender & Sex (How gender is built into the nature of life, and of the whole cosmos.)

        Yahweh or the Great Mother - (see above, #2)

      Man & Woman in the Image of God -- a Study of Genesis 1:26-28 -- on the wide-ranging nature
                    of gender in human life. Available on audio tape.
                         Go to - http://www.theroadtoemmaus.org/EM/ShpMl/00ShpMl.htm#GENDER

** Homosexuality: Good & Right in the Image of God? Showing the problem and the solution --
how to win the sexuality wars for the glory of God, with reason and grace.
Published and available at http://www.emmausmall.org/PrintedProd.html

(9) Education (How Godly education out performs all others.) See Education Library

(10) Various Items in Bible, Atonement, Sexuality, Etc. (what needs to be the case in order for us to have a reasonable and intelligible theory of atonement and other Biblical issues?)

Go to - http://www.theroadtoemmaus.org/EM/ShpMl/00ShpMl.htm

Much more will be added, but this is good for starters, and will provide a firm ground for discovering reality. That is, of course, the whole point of apologetics -- showing that the view one holds represents reality. It is my contention that the Biblical worldview wins, hands down, on all these issues.

These are the issues for which the Road to Emmaus exists -- to resolve for Christians who believe that good thinking is a gift of the Holy Spirit, not the domain of secular philosophers, and that reason and revelation are inextricably intertwined.

[See also Master-Plan 1, Master-Plan 3, "the Narrow Way",
Intro to Apologetics, & Apologetics Library.]