Mere Christian Apologetics

Dave Armstrong’s accessible defense of the Christian faith — written for readers across every branch of Christianity. Modeled in spirit after C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity, it focuses only on the apologetic ground that Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants hold in common.

[chapters 6, 7, and 10 are hyper-linked and can be read online. Some differences exist in the final book edit]

The present work is designed and intended as general Christian apologetics, applying to all branches of Christianity, as historically understood and believed, and (hopefully) agreeable to virtually all those of Christian persuasion who subscribe to the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds.

Many readers will note the deliberate allusion to C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity in the title. The purpose of that work was to identify and elaborate upon Christian doctrines held in common by all Christians. Similarly, my purpose is to present various aspects of Christian apologetics (or, the intellectual and rational defense of the faith) which virtually all Christians accept.

I am a Catholic, yet most of the chapters in this book were actually written when I was an evangelical Protestant apologist. The fact that I didn’t feel any need at all to change the contents after I converted to Catholicism, is an indication, I think, that in these areas, there is large-scale agreement among the different communions of Christianity.

Traditional, “orthodox” Christians (that is, those who hold to the traditional beliefs of their own denomination) – sadly — disagree on many things, but they also agree on much. This book is devoted to the latter category of topics, and as such, contains nothing specifically or distinctively Catholic (with which other Christians would disagree).