TH-644 Christian Apologetics

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Overview

Refer to the Videos folder for a course introduction by Dr. Heiser.

Thinking well about Scripture also means being able to answer the hard questions posed in the culture and church today. In this course, Dr. Heiser focuses on Old Testament controversies that in today’s conversation provoke criticism of the Bible as a reliable source of spiritual, theological, and historical truth. The goal is to expose how scholarly discussions, as well as amateur discussions (those in the media or online environments), misrepresent these biblical controversial topics

Objectives

After completing this course, you’ll be able to:

• Identify Old Testament controversies that provide contemporary skepticism about the Bible’s veracity.
• Discern the basis of skeptical criticism about controversial biblical topics and how to engage the issues honestly.
• Deconstruct skeptical conclusions about controversial topics and probe for points of incoherence.
• Apply rules for sound thinking to critique skeptical conclusions and formulate coherent alternatives

Instructional Materials

All instructional material is provided in the course.

_{Module 01}

Principles of Sound Thinking

Objectives 01

• Raises awareness that flawed thinking is found in hostile critiques of the Bible, whether among scholars or amateurs.
• Introduces you to logical argumentation while simultaneously exposing illogical thinking.
• Explains how exposing and addressing flawed thinking is crucial for apologetic discussion.
• Explains the importance of requiring coherence of yourself and the opposition when discussing the Bible

Pre-work 01

• Read:
  • Norman L. Geiser and Ronald M. Brooks, Come, Let Us Reason: An Introduction to Logical Thinking:
    • Chapter 6
    • Chapter 10
• Watch:
  • Mometric Academy video, Top 10 Logical Fallacies (6:55)
  • GCFLearnFree.org video, Logical Fallacies (3:34)
  • Michael FitzGerald video, Unit 5.1: Causal Reasoning - Necessary and Sufficient Conditions (9:43)
  • Michael FitzGerald video, Unit 5.3: Correlation and Causation (7:44)
  • DIRECTV commercial, Don’t Wake Up in a Roadside Ditch (0:31)

Additional Resources 01

• Article
  • What is Peer Review? from sdsu.edu

_{Module 02}

How Should We Approach the Bible? — Part 1: Assumptions

Ojectives 02

• Applies principles of sound thinking to a general orientation of how to think about the Bible.
• Illustrates how common assumptions about the Bible produce problems for understanding the Bible.

Pre-work 02

• Read:
  • Michael S. Heiser, Chapters 1-7, from the Bible Unfiltered: Approaching Scripture on Its Own Terms
• Listen:
  • The Naked Bible Podcast, Naked Bible 348: A Relevance Theory Approach (1:14:57)

Additional Resources 01

• Books
  • George Lakeoff and Mark Johnsen, Chapters 1-7, from Metaphors We Live By

_{Module 03}

How Should We Approach the Bible? — Part 2: Problems

Objectives 03

• Exposes you to the difficulties of contextual interpretation and how these difficulties produce disagreements between evangelical scholars.
• Illustrates how common assumptions about the Bible produce problems for understanding the Bible.

Pre-work 03

• Read:
  • Peter Enns, Chapter 2 excerpt, from Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament
  • Gregory K. Beale, Myth, History, and Inspiration: A Review Article of Inspiration and Incarnation by Peter Enns, from the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
  • John H. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Background Studies, from the Dictionary for Theological Interpretation of the Bible

Additional Resources 03

• Articles:
  • Peter Enns, Response to G.K. Beale’s Review Article of Inspiration and Incarnation, from the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
  • Paul Gaechter, Literary Art in the Gospel of Matthew, from chiasmusresources.org

_{Module 04}

The Pan-Babylonism Myth — Part 1: General

Objectives 04

• Informs you of the rise and demise of PanBabylonianism and how that movement has influenced amateur researchers in media and the internet.
• Exposes the weaknesses of PanBabylonianism and why modern scholars of the ancient Near East consider its claims exaggerated or inaccurate.
• Introduces you to how contemporary scholars assess the relationship between ancient Near Eastern material and the Hebrew Bible (especially Genesis).

Pre-work 04

• Read:
  • Bill T. Arnold and David B. Weisberg, Babel und Bibel und Bias, from the Bible Review
  • W.G. Lambert, A New Look at the Babylonian Background of Genesis, from The Journal of Theological Studies
  • A.R. Millard, A New Babylonian ‘Genesis’ Story, from the Tyndale Bulletin
  • Gerhard F. Hasel, The Polemic Nature of Genesis Cosmology, from The Evangelical Quarterly

Additional Resources 04

• Articles:
  • Bill T. Arnold and David B. Weisberg, A Centennial Review of Friedrich Delitzsch’s “Babel und Bibel” Lectures, from the Journal of Biblical Literature
  • Victor Hurowitz, The Genesis of Genesis, from From Babylon to Baghdad: Ancient Iraq and the Modern West
  • James K. Hoffmeier, Some Thoughts on Genesis 1&2 and Egyptian Cosmology, from the Journal of the Ancient Near Eastern Society
• Books:
  • John H. Walton, Genesis 1 as Ancient Cosmology:
    • Chapter 1
    • Chapter 3
• Graphics:
  • Indo-Aryan Migration Map

_{Module 05}

The Pan-Babylonism Myth — Part 2: Flood

Objectives 05

• Explains why the notion that the writer of Genesis stole the flood story is simplistic and ignorant of the differences in the story and its intentional artistry.
• Explains how certain features of the Genesis story might be communicating theological polemic to the original audience and might artificially produce the source divisions presumed to be behind Genesis 6-9.

Pre-work 05

• Read:
  • John H. Walton, Flood, from the Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch
  • Gordon J. Wenham, The Coherence of the Flood Narrative, from the Vetus Testamentum
  • Steven W. Holloway, What Ship Goes There: The Flood Narratives in the Gilgamesh Epic and Genesis considered in Light of Ancient Near Eastern Temple Ideology, from the Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft

_{Module 06}

Falsification of the Genesis Creation Account

Objectives 06

• Explains why the notion that only the most literal reading of Genesis 1 is required for good interpretation is flawed.
• Introduces common but flawed ideas relating to the interpretation of Genesis 1.
• Explains how the various ways Genesis 1:1-3 can be interpreted, and how the grammar produces options for answering the contention that Genesis 1 cannot be reconciled with modern cosmology.

Pre-work 06

• Read:
  • Ken Griffith, Starlight, Time, and the New Physics - A Short Review, from theaquilareport.com
  • Derek Kidner, The Story of Creation (1:1-2:3), from Genesis: An Introduction and Commentary
  • Nahum M. Sarna, Creation (1:1-2:3), from Genesis
• Watch:
  • The Naked Bible video, Genesis 1:1-3 Michael Heiser PhD NEW (1:10:51)

Additional Resources 06

• Articles:

  • Tichomis G. Tenev, John Baugmgardner, Mark Horstemeyer, A Solution for the Distant Starlight Problem Using Creation Time Coordinates, from the Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism

    NOTE: If you are into physics, you will find this defense of Hartnett’s ideas interesting.

  • Bruce K. Waltke, The Creation Account in Genesis 1:1-3, from the Bibliotheca Sacra:

    • Part II: The Restitution Theory

    • Part III: The Initial Chaos Theory and the Precreation Chaos Theory

      NOTE: Waltke’s term “restitution theory” equals “gap theory.”

• Books:
  • Weston W. Fields, Unformed and Unfilled a Critique of the Gap Theory:
    • Chapter 3
    • Chapter 4
    • Chapter 5

_{Module 07}

Historical Adam and Eve

Objectives 07

• Explains how current genetic knowledge reinforces evolutionary theory and is used as an assault on the historicity of Adam and Eve.
• Exposes you to the discussion within evangelicalism about the relationship of genetics to the historicity of Adam and Eve.
• Explains how and why some scientists who specialize in genetics embrace a historical Adam and Eve.

Pre-work 07

• Read:
  • Dennis Venema and Darrel Falk, Deleted: Does Genetics Point to a Single Couple?, from peacefulscience.org

  • Peter Enns, Conclusion, from The Evolution of Adam

    NOTE: Enns was (is still?) a defender of Venema’s position that there could not have been a historical Adam and Eve. Both are evangelicals, and Venema’s is an evolutionary creationist. Enns is in the reformed tradition, so he is among those (the majority) that take Romans 5:12 as teaching original guilt - that the guilt of Adam extends to all humans born thereafter. If you do not have a historical Adam, that idea is impossible, and so Enns concludes “Paul was wrong about Adam but right about Jesus.”

  • Michael S. Heiser, The Evolution of Adam: Additional Thoughts, from drmsh.com

    NOTE: Only read the first page, a few paragraphs. The article by Venema that “started it all” was removed from the Biologos website in 2020. You do not need to read the linked items, but the ones by Todd Wood are of special interest since Wood is a young earth creationist who is well versed in genetics. He openly notes that evolution is not a theory in crisis. There is good evidence for it. Wood’s PhD is in biology and his dissertation was on a comparison of the chimpanzee and human genomes for sameness (“homology”). Wood’s position is basically “I’m going to wait until science and a literal reading of Scripture can be aligned.” He is great to read because he is so forthright.

  • S. Joshua Swamidass, The Overlooked Science of Genealogical Ancestry, from the Perspective on Science and Christian Faith
  • S. Joshua Swamidass, Chapter 8 excerpt, from The Genealogical Adam and Eve
• Watch:
  • ReasonableFaithOrg video, Josh Swamidass on Adam and Eve Part One (28:58)
  • ReasonableFaithOrg video, Josh Swamidass on Adam and Eve Part Two (24:35)

Additional Resources 07

• Articles:
  • Michael S. Heiser, Comments on Romans 5:12
  • Todd Charles Wood, Theory and Application of Protein Homology (dissertation)
• Links:
  • Series of Posts on Romans 5:12 on drmsh.com

_{Module 08}

Old Testament Historicity: Introduction

Objectives 08

• Explains how modern historians think about history and historiography.
• Introduces you to the points of contention between scholars over Old Testament historiography.
• Exposes weaknesses and inconsistencies with criticisms of Old Testament historiography and modern historical methods.
• Illustrates how to frame the question of Old Testament historicity.

Pre-work 08

• Read:
  • V. Philips Long, Introduction, from The Art of Biblical History
  • Sandra Richter, Deuteronomistic History, from the Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books (opening paragraph)
  • Richard S. Hess, Oral Tradition and Written Tradition, from the Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books
  • S. McKenzie, Historiography, Old Testament, from the Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books
  • K.A. Kitchen, The Battle of Qadesh - The Poem, or Literary Record (2.5A), from Context of Scripture

Additional Resources 08

• Books:
  • Richard S. Hess, Introduction, from Ancient Israel’s History: An Introduction to the Issues and Sources
  • Jens Bruun Kofoed, The Old Testament as Cultural Memory, from Do Historical Matters Matter to Faith?: A Critical Appraisal of Modern and Postmodern Approaches to Scripture
  • Sandra Richter, Deuteronomistic History, from the Dictionary of the Old Testament: Historical Books (full essay)

_{Module 09}

Old Testament Historicity: Patriarchs

Objectives 09

• Explains the difficulties of establishing the patriarchal historicity, and the plausibility of the patriarchal narratives.
• Illustrates how plausibility is consistent with framing the question of Old Testament historicity.

Pre-work 09

• Read:
  • Maximalists and Minimalists, from livius.org
  • Robert D. Miller II, How Post-Modernism (and W.F. Albright) Can Save Us from Malarkey, from bibleinterp.arizona.edu
  • Kenneth A. Kitchen, The Patriarchal Age: Myth or History?, from the Biblical Archaeology Review
  • Ronald S. Hendel, Finding Historical Memories in the Patriarchal Narratives, from the Biblical Archaeology Review
  • Kenneth A. Kitchen, The Patriarchs Revisited: A Reply to Dr. Ronald S. Hendel, from The Near East Archaeological Society Bulletin
  • Nahum M. Sarna, “Abram the Hebrew” 14:13, from Genesis

Additional Resources 09

• Articles:

  NOTE: These are about the minimalism vs. maximalism debate.

  • Robert D. Miller II, Once More: Minimalism, Maximalism, and Objectivity, from bibleinterp.arizone.edu
  • Jens Bruun Kofoed, The Critical Danes and History: How to Avoid Being Hit by the Boomerang from Copenhagen, from bibleinterp.arizone.edu

• Graphics:

  • Price of Slaves in the Ancient Near East Graph
  • Covenants Chart

_{Module 10}

Old Testament Historicity: Israel in Egypt, Moses, the Exodus

Objectives 10

• Explains the difficulties of establishing the historicity of the Israelite sojourn in Egypt and the exodus from Egypt under Moses.
• Illustrates how the sojourn and the exodus from Egypt is historically plausible in light of Egyptian texts and archaeology.

Pre-work 10

• Read:
  • James K. Hoffmeier, “These Things Happened” Why Historical Exodus Is Essential for Theology, from Do Historical Matters Matter to Faith?: A Critical Appraisal of Modern and Postmodern Approaches to Scripture
  • James K. Hoffmeier, The Exodus and Wilderness Narratives, from Ancient Israel’s History: An Introduction to Issues and Sources
• Watch:
  • The Qualcomm Institute video, Brad C. Sparks - Egyptian Text Parallels to the Exodus: The Egyptology Literature (47:07)

Additional Resources 10

• Articles:
  • Jonathan Chaves, Soul and reason in literary criticism: Deconstructing the deconstructionists, from the Journal of the American Oriental Society
• Books:
  • James K. Hoffmeier, Israel in Egypt: Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition:
    • Chapter 3
    • Chapter 4
    • Chapter 5
    • Chapter 6
  • Brad C. Sparks, Egyptian Texts relating to the Exodus: Discussions of Exodus Parallels in the Egyptology Literature, from Israel’s Exodus in Transdisciplinary Perspective
• Videos:
  • Alexandria School Foundation video, Lecture 4: The Exodus and Crossing the Sea Myth or Reality (36:25)

_{Module 11}

Old Testament Historicity: Conquest of Canaan

Objectives 11

• Explains the reasons why consensus scholarship rejects the biblical version of Israel’s entrance into Canaan.
• Explains how the archaeological data is subject to more than one interpretation, and how the conquest account is read to create conflicts with archaeology.

Pre-work 11

• Read:
  • David M. Howard Jr., Historical and Cultural Context for the Book of Joshua, from Joshua
  • Bryant G. Wood, Did the Israelites Conquer Jericho? A New Looks at the Archaeological Evidence, from the Biblical Archaeology Review
  • Piotr Bienkowski, Battle Over Jericho Heats up Jericho was Destroyed in the Middle Bronze Age, Not the Late Bronze Age, from the Biblical Archaeology Review
  • Bryant G. Wood, Dating Jericho’s Destruction: Bienkowski is Wrong on All Counts, from the Biblical Archaeology Review
• Watch:
  • Aaron Shafovaloff video, Jericho and Archaeology, by Dr. Bryant Wood (52:37)

Additional Resources 11

• Articles:
  • Michael D. Lemonick, Science: Score One for the Bible, from time.com
  • Bryant G. Wood, The Biblical Date for the Exodus is 1446 BC: A Response to James Hoffmeier, from the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
  • James K. Hoffmeier, Rameses of the Exodus Narratives is the 13th Center B.C. Royal Ramesside Residence, from the Trinity Journal
  • James K. Hoffmeier, What is the Biblical Date for the Exodus? A Response to Bryant Wood, from the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
  • Richard S. Hess, Early Israel in Canaan: A Survey of Recent Evidence and Interpretations, from the Palestine Exploration Quarterly
  • Michael G. Hasel, Israel in the Mernptah Stela, from the Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research

  • Peter Van der Veen, Christoffer Theis, and Mafred Gorg, Israel in Canaan (Long) before Pharaoh Merenptah? A Fresh Look at Berlin Statue Pedestal Relief 21687, from the Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections

    NOTE: The essays by Hasel and Gorg are reference resources. They are very technical and require some knowledge of the Egyptian language. Nevertheless, it is good to be aware of the date. The main point of the material will be summarized in the lecture.

• Websites:
  • Associates for Biblical Research

_{Module 12}

The Old Testament is Unique…Right? — Part 1: Law Codes

Objectives 12

• Explains how scholars discuss the relationships between Ancient Near Eastern law codes and the Torah law codes.
• Outlines points of uniqueness in the biblical law codes, as well as differences in legal perspectives in the Torah law codes.

Pre-work 12

• Read:
  • Gordon D. Fee and Douglas K. Stuart, The Law(s): Covenant Stipulations for Israel, from How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth
  • Nahum M. Sarna, Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Law Codes (21:1-22:16), from Exodus
  • B. Johnson, Law in the Ancient Near East, from The Lexham Bible Dictionary
  • David P. Wright, Introduction: The Basic Thesis and Background, from Inventing God’s Law
  • William L. Moran, The Ancient Near Eastern Background of the Love of God in Deuteronomy, from The Catholic Biblical Quarterly
  • Dennis J. McCarthy, Notes on the Love of God in Deuteronomy and the Father-Son Relationship between Yahweh and Israel, from The Catholic Biblical Quarterly
  • Jacqueline E. Lapsley, Feeling Our Way: Love for God in Deuteronomy

Additional Resources 12

• Articles:
  • Shalom E. Holtz, Review of Inventing God’s Law by David P. Wright, from The Catholic Biblical Quarterly
  • Bruce Wells, Review of Inventing God’s Law by David P. Wright, from The Journal of Religion
• Books:
  • Samuel Greengus, Biblical and Ancient Near Eastern Law, from The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary

_{Module 13}

The Old Testament is Unique…Right? — Part 2: Sabbath

Objectives 13

• Explains how scholars discuss the ancient Near Eastern antecedents to the Sabbath.
• Outlines points of uniqueness in the biblical law codes, as well as differences in legal perspectives in the Torah law codes.

Pre-work 13

• Read:
  • Nahum M. Sarna, The Sabbath, from Exodus
  • Gerhard F. Hasel, Sabbath, from The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary
  • Roger T. Beckwith, Chapter 2, from Calendar and Chronology, Jewish and Christian: Biblical, Intertestamental and Patristic Studies
  • Cyrus H. Gordon, The Biblical Sabbath: Its Origin and Observance in the Ancient Near East

Additional Resources 13

• Books:
  • Peter T. Vog, Chapter 1 and 4 excerpts, from Interpreting the Pentateuch: An Exegetical Handbook

_{Module 14}

The Old Testament is Offensive — Part 1: Women in Ancient Israel

Objectives 14

• Explains the place of women in Israelite culture and law and the relationship of Israelite institutions to the Ancient Near East.
• Explains the logic of patriarchal culture in the Ancient Near East.
• Explains the obstacles to viewing the Old Testament Law and the Israelite social-legal system as normative for believers today, as well as the illegitimacy of such an idea.

Pre-work 14

• Read:
  • Jacob Milgrom, Numbers:
    • Adultery in the Bible and the Ancient Near East (5:11-31)
    • The Inheritance Rights of Daughters (27:1-8)
  • Carol Meyers, Discovering Eve: Ancient Israelite Women in Context:
    • Chapter 2
    • Chapter 8
  • T.M. Lemos, Were Israelite Women Chattel? Shedding New Light on an Old Question, from Worship, Women and War: Essays in Honor of Susan Niditch

Additional Resources 14

• Books:
  • Carolyn Pressler, The View of Women found in the Deuteronomic Family Laws:
    • Chapter 5
    • Chapter 6
  • Hilary Lipka, Women, Children, Slaves, and Foreigners, from The Oxford Handbook of Biblical Law
  • Susan Niditch, Chapter 3, from War in the Hebrew Bible: A Study in the Ethics of Violence

_{Module 15}

The Old Testament is Offensive — Part 2: Slavery in Ancient Israel

Objectives 15

Pre-work 15

• Read:
  • Daisy Yulin Tsai, Chapter 4, from Human Rights in Deuteronomy: With Special Focus on Slave Laws
  • Jacob Milgrom, The ‘Ger’ (15:27-29), from Numbers

Additional Resources 15

• Articles:

  • Zipporah G. Glass, Land, SlaveLabor and Law: Engaging Ancient Israel’s Economy, from the Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

    NOTE: Glass takes the position that Deuteronomy’s slave laws were not the result of humanitarian goals but were pragmatic reflection of the changes in Israel’s economy to an urban system where free labor was needed and more desirable.

• Books:
  • Daisy Yulin Tsai, Human Rights in Deuteronomy: With Special Focus on Slave Laws:
    • Chapter 2

    • Chapter 5

      NOTE: Tasi takes the position that Deuteronomy’s slave laws where humanitarian in outlook due to differences between Israelite and Ancient Near Eastern cosmology.