New Apologetics

Skepticism about Christianity abounds. Building on the work of Charles Taylor, Ian S. Markham argues that contemporary skepticism is more a mood than an intellectual repudiation of Christian theology. In its attempt to accommodate science, the church too often opts for deistic responses that take the spiritual out of the material. Against this response, Markham argues for a rich, imaginative account of the world that is grounded in Christian revelation, and affirms spiritual causation, angels, and the reality of the saints. It is a clarion call for the Western church to learn from the church in the Global South and create a rich theology that lives up to its professed values as a genuinely inclusive church.

Ian Markham has a natural gift for writing fresh, engaging, and lively theology. His work is always pertinent for the churches and public theology, and in this brilliant book he focuses on the urgent task that faces apologetics in our age. With sciences and secularism seemingly in unassailable ascendancy, what is the future for spirituality, religion, and theology? Ian Markham marks out new terrain for the engagement of theologians, and in the process, stakes some striking new claims for faith that can form the basis for a renewed public theology. This is a fascinating book from one of the finest exponents of contextual public theology., It is a real joy to read Ian Markham’s ever charitable and ever clear prose as he pushes his readers to recognize that the ‘mood’ of modern skepticism depends on a mechanistic view of causality - a mechanistic view that the best of modern scientific writing has moved beyond. Once we see that this is so, then for Markham, we are free to—nay, compelled to— take seriously the rational and imaginative power of a universe infused with divine presence, populated by the angelic and by the communion of saints. The argument is striking and a first rate example of apologetics from the Anglican liberal tradition., Markham takes an old theme — so often found in liberal theologies — and invests new life into every theme he examines. On almost every page he manages to consider an argument, or answer a question, with freshness and insight. Indeed, parts of this book are quite extraordinary, and always deeply provocative. I am not sure I agree with everything he writes, but Markham has written a substantial, remarkably enjoyable study with genuine implications for how theological liberalism might continue to be relevant in the coming years., Rev. Ian Markham presents an intriguing argument focused on a new approach to supporting Christianity. Specifically, his argument in favor of a spiritually-infused universe offers a different perspective on the connection between the fields of science and religion. As a science and religion scholar, I am pleased with how he carefully outlines the perceived conflict between these two fields and am optimistic that his argument could push this dialogue into a new and fruitful direction.

Ian S. Markham is dean and president of Virginia Theological Seminary and a priest in the Episcopal Church.