Theology
The Augustine Way Retrieving a Vision for the Church’s Apologetic Witness Joshua D. Chatraw and Mark D. Allen
The Augustine Way recovers Augustine’s mature apologetic voice to address the challenges facing today’s church. It puts pastors and churches back at the center of apologetics, transcending popular contemporary methods with a view to a more effective witness in post-Christendom. The book focuses on Augustine’s best-known works, Confessions and The City of God , to retrieve his scriptural and ecclesial approach for a holistic apologetic witness. “How refreshing it is to find apologetics in this book being recovered in its more ancient forms, such as Augustine and his philosophical forebears represented so richly: not as an imperialistic imposition, nor as a merely dispassionate assess- ment, but as a quest for truth in its deepest sense, which draws in every element of human longing and aspiration.” —REV. CANON SARAH COAKLEY, FBA, University of Cambridge (emerita) “A superb account of how one of the world’s greatest classical theo- logians can give new depth and vitality to contemporary apologetics. This ‘apologetics of retrieval’ opens up some theologically rich and apologetically compelling approaches, which will be invaluable to us today as we face new cultural challenges. Essential reading for apologists!” —ALISTER M c GRATH, Oxford University “I teach a whole course on what makes theology Augustinian because I believe Augustine has much to offer today’s church. I therefore welcome and resonate with the thought experiment behind The Augustine Way —namely, to articulate what Augustine would likely say and do as a pastor and defender of the faith if he were alive today.” —KEVIN J. VANHOOZER, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School “This accessible retrieval of an Augustinian apologetic calls us to recenter the local congregation and to renew the polluted cultural ecosystems where we live.” —JUSTIN ARIEL BAILEY, Dordt Univer- sity; author of Reimagining Apologetics and Interpreting Your World “Readers of this book will find in its pages a Bible-shaped way of inhabiting late modernity that combines clarity with compassion, critique with constructiveness. It is a word that both the culture and the church sorely need to hear.” —CHRISTOPHER WATKIN, Monash University, Melbourne “To discover a great thinker of the past as an exciting and chal- lenging contemporary is always a wonderful moment. This book, lively, honest, humane, and wide-ranging, introduces us to one of the most brilliant of all Christian writers and lets us realize just how much good news he has to give amid the muddles and longings of our age.” —ROWAN WILLIAMS, former Archbishop of Canterbury
MAY 2023 • 208 pp. • cloth • $24.99 • 9781540962485
Joshua D. Chatraw (PhD, Southeastern Baptist Theological Semi- nary) is executive director of the Center for Public Christianity, the theologian-in-residence at Holy Trinity Anglican Church, and the lead teacher for New City Fellows in Raleigh, North Carolina. He has written or edited numerous books. Mark D. Allen (PhD, University of Notre Dame) is professor of bibli- cal and theological studies at Liberty University. He has served as a pastor and church planter for over twenty years. Chatraw and Allen are coauthors of the award-winning Apologetics at the Cross .
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