Existential Apologetics

 
Cornerstone Festival
July 7, 2006
Friday 4:00-4:50

Cliff Williams
Department of Philosophy
Trinity College
Deerfield, IL 60015

 
Evidential apologetics: producing evidence for the truth of Christianity, giving reasons to believe that Christianity is true. Some commonly given reasons: miracles, prophecies in the Old Testament, the character of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the complex order in nature. Nearly all Christian apologetics has been evidential.  

An example of evidential apologetics: “If a single man had written a book foretelling the time and manner of Jesus’s coming and Jesus had come in conformity with these prophecies, this would carry infinite weight. But there is much more here. There is a succession of men over a period of 4,000 years, coming consistently and invariably one after the other, to foretell the same coming” (Pascal, Pensées, p. 129, section #332).  

Existential apologetics: (1) showing that having Christian faith satisfies basic human needs, or (2) showing that having Christian faith satisfies basic human needs better than adopting any other religion, or (3) showing that having Christian faith satisfies basic human needs better than any nonreligious means of attempting to satisfy them. Or: “I believe because I need to.”

The argument for (1): 1. Humans possess certain basic needs.
                                     2. These needs can be satisfied by having Christian faith.
                                     3. Therefore, it is legitimate to have Christian faith.

Some neighboring arguments:

       1. Christianity is true because it satisfies basic needs: 1. Christianity predicts that if people have the right kind of faith, their basic needs will be met. 2. The needs can in fact be met. 3. So it must be that people have the right kind of faith. 4. Thus, Christianity must be true.

      2. People would not have certain basic needs satisfied unless Christianity were true. 1. Humans possess certain basic needs. 2. It would be odd to have these needs if they could not be fulfilled. 3. So these needs can be fulfilled. 4. They cannot be fulfilled unless God exists, or unless Christianity is true. 5. So God exists, or Christianity is true.

      3. People would not have certain basic needs unless Christianity were true: 1. Humans possess certain basic needs. 2. They would not have these needs unless Christianity were true. 3. So Christianity is true.

      These arguments (1-3) are tempting once one has described basic needs.

      4. Christianity is true because it correctly describes human nature: 1. Christianity says that humans have certain basic needs. 2. Humans do in fact possess these needs.. 3. Therefore, Christianity is true.

      This argument might be a good one in a cumulative case evidential apologetics. Pascal thought so: “Man’s greatness and wretchedness are so evident that the true religion must necessarily teach us that there is in man some great principle of greatness and some great principle of wretchedness” (Pensees, p. 76, section #149).

None of these arguments is the same as the existential argument, because they try to show that Christianity is true, whereas the existential argument does not. The existential argument, however, is compatible with evidential arguments. It does not deny arguments designed to show that Christianity is true. Nor does it deny that truth is important. And it does not lead to cognitive relativism. The existential argument is also compatible with fideism. It does not deny that it is legitimate to believe that Christianity is true without sufficient evidence.

The Invisible George Objection: Existential apologetics is like arguing that it is legitimate to believe that Invisible George accompanies us wherever we go because doing so satisfies our need to feel secure. The above argument for the legitimacy of Christian faith is like this argument:

      1. We need to feel secure.
      2. Believing that Invisible George accompanies us wherever we go satisfies this need.
      3. Therefore, it is legitimate to believe that Invisible George accompanies us wherever we go.

1 and 2 do not entail 3. Believing that Invisible George satisfies our need to feel secure does not entail that there actually is an invisible person accompanying us wherever we go. Similarly, the fact that having Christian faith satisfies basic needs does not entail that Christian faith is correct.

Two replies to the Invisible George Objection:

1. Believing that Invisible George accompanies us wherever we go does not really satisfy our need to feel secure, or does not do so as well as believing in God. If believing in Invisible George really did satisfy our need to feel secure better than any other belief, then it would be legitimate to believe in him, just as it would be legitimate to have Christian faith if having it satisfied basic human needs better than adopting any other religion or better than using any nonreligious means of satisfying the needs. A problem with this reply: It does not get at the objection, which is that even if 1 and a stronger form of 2 were true, 3 would not follow. Just because having a belief satisfies a need does not entail that the belief is true.

2. The objection is correct but irrelevant. The existential argument for having Christian faith does not purport to show that Christian faith is correct in the sense of being true. It tries only to show that it is legitimate in another sense, the sense of “it works.” To give sufficient reason for having Christian faith, evidential apologetics must be added to existential apologetics. Existential arguments are insufficient by themselves.

Two further objections: 1. People do not have the basic needs asserted in the existential argument, that is, the first premise is false. 2. Having Christian faith does not satisfy those needs, or does not do so as well as adopting other means, that is, the second premise is false.

Some instances of basic needs:
      Two questions to ask of each: 1. Are they really needs? for everyone? for me? 2. Does having Christian faith satisfy them? Would having Christian faith satisfy them if it were full and genuine?

1. A craving to know God  “What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself (Pascal, Pensées, p. 75, section #148).

2. A longing for heaven  “There have been times when I think we do not desire heaven; but more often I find myself wondering whether, in our heart of hearts, we have never desired anything else. . . . All the things that have ever deeply possessed your soul have been but hints of it—tantalizing glimpses, promises never quite fulfilled, echoes that died away just as they caught your ear” (C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, Ch. 10, “Heaven”).

3. A desire to worship  “This need to kneel” (Denise Levertov, “Of Being,” in Denise Levertov, Selected Poems, p.144).

4. A desire for “fullness of life,” an abundance of good  “This need to dance” (Denise Levertov, “Of Being”). “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10).

5. Cosmic security  We want a foundation that will keep us secure even if the weather turned terrifying, the sun grew dim, or the Milky Way galaxy unraveled.

6. Awe - “An emotion in which dread, veneration, and wonder are variously mingled: as fearful reverence inspired by deity or by something sacred or mysterious, wondering reverence tinged with fear inspired by the sublime”

7. Defeat of death  “The idea of death, the fear of it, haunts the human animal like nothing else” (Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death, p. ix).

8. Meaning and purpose  If we thought that nothing matters we would live in abject desperation or kill ourselves.

9. Absolution of guilt  We sense, independently of biblical truths, that something is wrong with ourselves, and we want to know how it can be made right.

10. To be loved  We would shrivel up and die if we knew that no one loved us or that there was no hope of anyone ever loving us.

11. To love  “To love and be loved is the secret business of all human life” (Richard Rolle, The Fire of Love).

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