Apologetics and Christian Advocacy for Abuse Survivors

Last week’s post, Womanly Trouble, was an attempt at applying Os Guinness’ vision for the art of Christian persuasion. In today and future posts (how many is unplanned, but at least one more), I will explore the theory behind the application and how it fits the work of advocating for the vulnerable in Christ’s flock. If you care about those who have endured abuse in and by the church, or if that is you yourself and you are in a safe place where you want to help others, than these posts are for you.

I’m currently re-reading Fools Talk: Recovering the Art of Christian Persuasion by Os Guinness. Long-time readers of Once a Week may recall how this book influenced my vision for Thesis 96 as a resource for equipping Christians to advocate for abuse survivors in the church. But when I read this book two years ago, I did not read it in light of Os Guinness’ relationship with sexual abuser apologist Ravi Zacharias. Fool’s Talk was endorsed by Zacharias when it was initially published in 2015 (while the 2019 paperback reprint by IVP does not include that endorsement). Here is what Zacharias wrote, which, without wanting to make too much of this detail, is the very first endorsement listed inside my copy of the book:

“In a battle of ideas, unlike a battle between nations, the goal is not to vanquish the opponents but to win them. Making that challenge even more difficult is that oftentimes, what we win them with is what we win them to. The art and science of dialoguing and debate must bring together the message and the method in concert. No one does this better than my colleague Os Guinness…I am thrilled to see his unique thinking on these crucial subjects, co-extensive with a lifetime of doing apologetics. It is a must-read for anyone interested in engaging the skeptic or seeker. Few thinkers today rise to the level that Os does, even as he plumbs the depth of vital issues in defense of the historic Christian faith.”

Os Guinness set out to write a manual on being “Christian advocates” who persuade non-Christians of their errors and of the truth, beauty and goodness of the gospel of repentance and faith. He also wrote a manual on being “Christian advocates” who persuade Christians of their errors and of the truth, beauty and goodness of the gospel of repentance and faith.¹ Ironically, his book is a must read for anyone interested in engaging the abuser like Zacharias, as well as (and the more common conversation partner) members of the systems that keep them in power.

Here’s one summary of the need for what he calls the art of Christian persuasion:

“At best, many of us who take the good news of Jesus seriously are eager and ready to share the good news when we meet people who are open, interested or in need of what we have to share. But we are less effective when we encounter people who are not open, not interested or not needy—in other words, people who are closed, indifferent, hostile, skeptical or apathetic, and therefore require persuasion.” (17)

What fascinates me is that, throughout the book, many if not most of the biblical examples Guinness gives of those who are “closed, indifferent, hostile, skeptical or apathetic” are confessing believers. The first example the book provides for the practice of Christian persuasion is, not a Christian persuading a pagan—an insider speaking with an outsider—but an insider prophet persuading an insider king, namely, the prophet Micaiah and King Ahab in 1 Kings 22:1-28 (pp. 23-25). Later in ch. 11, “Kissing Judases,” Guinness explicitly addresses what he calls the “inside task” of apologetics (p. 226). I greatly appreciate this chapter and believe it sheds a lot of light on the rest of the book. He writes (emphasis in original),

“_Some of today’s deadliest challenges to the Christian faith come from within the church itself…_Without faithful and courageous apologists, men and women who are prepared to count the cost, the church is vulnerable to the challenges it faces internally as well as externally” (p. 210).

This might help explain why most of Guinness’ biblical examples of Christian persuasion, the art of telling God’s truth in God’s way, are directed at those within the people of God. As this pattern continues throughout the book, I want to provide some examples to help show how “the art of Christian persuasion” is necessary in the efforts of addressing abuse in today’s church.

There are many ancient sources which inspired Guinness’ title Fool’s Talk, but in chapter four, “The Way of the Third Fool,” Guinness highlights Erasmus and his 1511 book The Praise of Folly. As Guinness notes, the contextual problems Erasmus faced were twofold: “a profound crisis of authority in the late medieval world” and that “the church of his day was thoroughly worldly” (65). Both of those problems were specifically Christian/church problems. As one example, Guinness notes that

“Erasmus himself had witnessed the return of Pope Julius in his golden armor after his victory at the battle of Bologna. Was the pope, he muttered angrily, really the disciple of Jesus of Nazareth, or was he the disciple of his famous namesake Julius Caesar?” (65).

In this context where Christians were closed to direct confrontations from truth, what approach did Erasmus take?

“How did he choose to speak and write when the avenues for simple and straightforward communication were so uncompromising? He went back to the distinctive way of fool-making that can be found in the Bible” (66).

The rest of Guinness’ book is an exposition of the way of the fool in Christian advocacy for the truth. It is therefore significant that his starting point with the image of the fool is Erasmus in the 16th century, a time of pervasive and systemic religious corruption. When Guinness explains what he means by “fool maker,” the first context we should have in mind is insider apologetics vis a vis corrupt Christianity:

“The fool maker is the person who (once again) is not a fool at all, but who is prepared to be seen and treated as a fool, so that from the position of derided folly, he or she may be able to bounce back and play the jester, addressing truth to power, pricking the balloons of the high and mighty, and telling the emperor that he has no clothes” (72).

Christian persuasion is best illustrated by insider apologetics, whether that be in the pages of Scripture or in history. Therefore, what Guinness offers in Fool’s Talk is directly applicable to internal attempts for reform and renewal. In a second post I will review his chapter titled “The Anatomy of Unbelief” to show how all of the descriptions of unbelief are directly applicable to the problems of narcissism and abuse in the church.

For now, I wonder if it ever occurred to Guinness that his skill in the art of Christian persuasion could have and should have prepared him to persuade Ravi Zacharias that he had no clothes.

Quote from Os Guinness

“The truth is that many people have no interest in the truth…Self-interest and power, not truth, are the real objectives of much human debate.”

Question

What do you think about when you hear the word apologetics? How much of a stretch is it for you to think about “doing apologetics” with Christians? How does it sound to you to when you hear that addressing the problem of abuse requires the way of the fool?

1 It is also interesting to note an article by Timothy Teck Ngern Lim “Defending Apologetics: a review.” He uses Ravi Zacharias as Exhibit A of why there is much doubt today about the role of apologetics, and then proceeds to summarize and review Guinness’ book. Coincidentally, Dr. Lim’s article connecting RZ and Guinness was published in March, 2022, just months before I read Fool’s Talk for the first time.