Why Augustinian Apologetics and Logical Dialectic Are Not Enough to Defend the Reasonableness of the Christian Faith in an Increasingly-Fragmented World

Abstract

Evident to many Christians today is that contemporary Christian culture exists within a condition of severe identity crisis. Because we cannot preserve the identity of any being, including that of ourselves, without first admitting that identities other than ourselves exist independently of us, the rational starting point for anyone seeking to solve this problem must consist in admitting three evident truths: (a) beings other than ourselves (real natures) exist; (b) like us, the identity of such beings consists in being organizational wholes (wholes made up of parts); and (c) organizational unity exists in and through the harmonious relationship of the parts of an organizational whole to each other and to some chief aim, or act, the organization seeks to generate or cause (like building a house, extinguishing a fire, fighting crime or disease, or fostering psychological perfection). To preserve the identity of Christian culture, we must first recognize three things: (a) what is a Christian identity; (b) what is a cultural identity; and (c) how these two identities can be essentially merged to