What follows is an outline of a course on apologetics and witness to be taught in a small group or Sunday School class. The items under each category are articles having been written during the existence of the project. The format would be a review of the articles, questions and answers, and class discussion.
I. Rationale for the Templeton Project.
The Biblical Foundation–Apology
II. Apology in the New Testament
Apology in the New Testament II
Apology in the New Testament III
With Gentleness and Respect
Elect Exiles of the Dispersion
Saint Paul’s Civility
The Holy Spirit as Apologist
The Apostle on Mars Hill (Areopagus)
The Gospel of Mark
III. The Early Apologists
The Letter of Mathetes to Diognetus
Athenagoras’ Plea for the Christians
Minucius Felix–Christian Apologist–The Problem with Hearsay
Aristides–An Early Christian Apologist
Justin Martyr
IV. American Civilization
Utopian Dreams
The Present Cultural Environment in America
Christ, Culture, and Christians
Self-control and American Culture
Who or What is Absurd?
A Troubled Nation
The American Olympians
An Overall Idea
The Sacred Obscure amidst the Secular
Defy and Deify
The State of the United States
Two Novels
Authority
Schooling Apologetics
V. Audience
Questions Unbelievers (especially atheists) May Ask in Dialogue
When We Differ
Waning Faith and Yearning Heart
Inside the Heart and Mind of an Atheist
Articulation of the Faith in Times of Crisis
Religious vs. Spiritual
American Nihilism
Obstacles to Christian Witness
Judgment and Apologetics
Confronting Nihilism
How to Speak to the Barbarians
Kensington
VI. Attitude
Of Self-control
Examples of Civil and Uncivil Speech
On Listening to God and One Another
Of Anger
With Gentleness and Respect
Flannery O’Connor’s “Push Back”
Humor in Dialogue
Dialogue and Personality
Is Transformation Possible?
Confused Mind and Inconstant Heart
Personality and Conversion
Humans are God vs. God is Human
A Witness’s Commitment
VII. Ethics
What is Bigotry?
Day to Day Nihilism
Values and Virtue–The Difference
Babel–A Confusion of Tongues
What Fire Cleanses?
Dogma and Bigotry
Gratitude, Humility and Wonder–Key Words for Christian Living
Who and What is Evil?
With Gentleness and Respect
Overcoming Evil without Being Overcome
Virtual or Virtuous?
Rules of the Community
Humility as the Ground of All Dialogue
Personality and Conversion
Adriel Peregrine
Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing–Kierkegaard
Who Is Responsible?
Self-awareness
Deceiving Ourselves
VIII. God and the Church’s Role
Elect Exiles of the Dispersion
Discipleship and Apologetic
Nurturing Christian Disciples
Discipleship and Apologetics
Discipleship in Matthew and Apologetics (A Series of Articles)
Encounters with Jesus in the Gospel of John (A Series)
The Great Revolution
Christian Leadership
The Power of the Invisible
Babel and Jerusalem
Christian Leadership
Witnessing and Division in the Church
Symbolism and Orthodoxy
The Misuse of the Word Eternal
To Become Like God
To an unknown God or a God Unknown
The Promise
Squeeze Out the Spiritual Life–A Dictum of Our Secular Culture
Camus, Absurdism, and the Faith of the Church
The World and the World
What is New is Old; What Is Old is New
Worship as Witness and Apology
Apologetics, Apology, and Witness
Mixed Together until the End
The City of God and the City of Man
The Nativity
Dogma–The Dirty Word
Solutions to Limited Knowledge
Unanswered Questions to the Last
The Parable of the Sower (A Series)
Can These Bones Live?
The Universe Is God or the Universe is Made by God
Can These Bones Live?
Christians Are Those Who Possess Imagination
Argument for the Existence of God–Counter-Arguments Are Unsatisfactory
Adriel Peregrine
Vexilla Regis–The Royal Banner
Apologetics and the Holy Eucharist
Prayer, based on Psalm 42
Apologetics and Doctrine
Jesus Christ
IX. Poetry
Musings during the Hours of the Night
At Present
A Press of Leaves
The Holy Sepulchre
Chaos Set Right
Emptiness
The Brazen Eagle Soars
He Turned Aside
The Lower Yellowstone River Falls
Mysterium Tremendum–A Day at Hawk Mountain
The Sanctuary Light
The Flint Hills
This outline will continue to be refined. You will receive a copy of each revision, and you are invited to comment at mgtavella@msn.com.
Michael G. Tavella
September 26, 2024
