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To Capture the Imagination of Our Culture: Reflections on Christian Apologetics

The Revd Professor Alister E. McGrath is President of the Oxford Centre for Evangelism and Apologetics and Professor of Historical Theology, Oxford University.

This article is an edited version of Alister McGrath's inaugural address as Director of the Oxford Centre for Evangelism and Apologetics, delivered in February 2005. In it he argues for the importance of apologetics in contemporary mission to our post-modern world but also raises concerns about the weakness of much modern evangelical apologetics. Through study of the apostles' speeches in Acts he highlights the importance of knowing our audience before showing the importance of theology in apologetics. He concludes with an appeal for a more holistic view of apologetics which is not limited simply to rational arguments but appeals to the imagination and the attractiveness of the gospel.

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Mary - Grace and Hope: An Evangelical Anglican Response

Dr Martin Davie is the Theological Secretary of the Council for Christian Unity and Theological Consultant to the House of Bishops. In this article he is writing in a personal capacity.

Based on a paper he originally gave to a meeting of the Churches Together in England Theology and Unity Group, who had requested an evangelical response to the recent ARCIC document Mary - Grace and Hope in Christ, Martin Davie here offers a helpful introduction to the report's contents and central conclusions. He highlights seven elements in it that evangelical Anglicans should welcome but also notes problems with its argument and, in particular, its claims to have made advances in agreement in relation to the Marian dogmas that divide Anglicans and Roman Catholics.

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Anglican Values: The Virtues and Vices of a Christian Church

The Revd Dr Graham Tomlin is Principal of St Paul's Theological Centre based at Holy Trinity, Brompton, London.

In the light of the changing face of Anglicanism and disputes as to what it means to be Anglican, Graham Tomlin here goes back to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries to find the central concerns of the Reformers that may still guide us today. By doing so he provides us with six Anglican values or commitments - Scripture, culture, modesty, accountability, politics and community - which he discusses in order to highlight both some of the virtues and some of the besetting vices of Anglicanism.

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Book Review Article - Evangelicals and Women, Equality and Authority: Two new books, two evangelical Anglican perspectives

Clare Hendry & Anne Dyer The Revd Clare Hendry is minister of pastoral care at St James' Church, Muswell Hill. She was formerly on the staff at Oak Hill Theological College where she is currently a visiting lecturer. The Revd Canon Anne Dyer is Warden of Cranmer Hall, Durham and Assistant Editor of Anvil

Ronald W Pierce, Rebecca Merrill Groothius & Gordon D Fee (eds), Discovering Biblical Equality: Complementarity without hierarchy (IVP, 2004)

Wayne Grudem, Evangelical Feminism & Biblical Truth: an analysis of 118 disputed truths (IVP, 2004).

As the Church of England prepares for several years debate about women bishops, two major studies on the subject of evangelical understandings of the role of women have recently been published by IVP. Two ordained evangelical Anglican women who hold different views - Clare Hendry and Anne Dyer - here offer their assessments of these two volumes.

 

 

 

 

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