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Hello Everyone,

I hope 2025 is off to a great start for you!

I wanted to let you know about my favorite apologetics material. It is Philosopher and Theologian Dr. William Lane Craig’s material from his Sunday school class called Defenders. He has been teaching this class for many years and is currently going through all of it for the fourth time with Defenders – Series 4. Dr. Craig says the following about Defenders:

“Having taught seminary myself, I can say pretty confidently that if you follow faithfully the entire Defenders series, you will get a much better education in Christian theology than most seminarians.”

Below are some Q&A’s about Defenders from his website. Just click on each one to read the information.

Defenders!

#636 Defenders—Where to Begin?

#140 Defenders Series II

The last series he completed was Defenders – Series 3 which can be found HERE. There are videos, audio, and transcripts covering this series. See below for an index covering all of the fantastic topics that are part of this series.

Dr. Craig is halfway through his latest series, Defenders – Series 4. That material can be found HERE. It will likely take a couple more years for him to complete the entire series so the material will continue to be released over time. The latest series is only available in the form of transcripts.

I like to use hard copies of the material so I use a service to create spiral bound notebooks for each topic. If you are interested in how to do this, feel free to contact me. I can tell you how to do this and send you the PDF files that I’ve created.

I hope this is helpful to you as we seek to fulfill 1 Peter 3:15!

Soli Deo Gloria!

 

Defenders 3 Series Index

Foundations of Christian Doctrine

Part 1: Why Study Christian Doctrine?

Part 2: Why Study Christian Apologetics?

 

Doctrine of Revelation

Part 1: Introduction to General Revelation

Part 2: Can General Revelation Lead to Salvation?

Part 3: Relationship of General Revelation to Natural Theology

Part 4: The Inspiration of Scripture

Part 5: The Properties of Inspiration

Part 6: How Can Inspiration Be Plenary, Verbal, and Confluent?

Part 7: The Authority of Scripture & Defining Inerrancy

Part 8: The Difficulties of Biblical Inerrancy

Part 9: Responding to the Difficulties of Biblical Inerrancy

Part 10: Canonicity

 

Doctrine of God

Part 1: An Introduction

Part 2: Divine Aseity

Part 3: Platonism

Part 4: Anti-Realism Views

Part 5: God’s Eternity

Part 6: God’s Relationship to Time

Part 7: Practical Application of God’s Eternity

Part 8: God’s Omnipresence

Part 9: God’s Immutability

Part 10: God’s Immutability and Incorporeality

Part 11: Anthropomorphic Language and Theophanies

Part 12: Practical Application of God’s Incorporeality | God’s Omniscience

Part 13: Systematic Study of God’s Omniscience

Part 14: Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom

Part 15: God’s Middle Knowledge

Part 16: Practical Application of Divine Omniscience / God’s Omnipotence

Part 17: Practical Application of Divine Omnipotence

Part 18: God’s Holiness

Part 19: Application of God’s Holiness

Part 20: God’s Love

Part 21: Application of God’s Love

 

Excursus on Natural Theology

Part 1: Belief In God As Properly Basic

Part 2: The Inner Witness of the Holy Spirit

Part 3: The Role of Arguments and Evidence

Part 4: Defeaters of Properly Basic Beliefs

Part 5: The Argument from Contingency

Part 6: The Argument from Contingency Part 2

Part 7: The Argument from Contingency Part 3

Part 8: The Kalam Cosmological Argument

Part 9: 1st Philosophical Argument for the Beginning of the Universe

Part 10: 2nd Philosophical Argument for the Beginning of the Universe

Part 11: Scientific Confirmation of the Beginning of the Universe

Part 12: Scientific Confirmation of the Beginning of the Universe Part 2

Part 13: 2nd Scientific Confirmation of the Beginning of the Universe

Part 14: The Teleological Argument

Part 15: The Teleological Argument Part 2

Part 16: The Teleological Argument Part 3

Part 17: The Teleological Argument Part 4

Part 18: The Moral Argument

Part 19: Questions About the Moral Argument

Part 20: The Moral Argument Part 3

Part 21: The Moral Argument Part 4

Part 22: The Moral Argument Part 5

Part 23: The Ontological Argument

Part 24: The Ontological Argument Part 2

Part 25: Q&A on the Ontological Argument

Part 26: The Ontological Argument

Part 27: Arguments Against God’s Existence

Part 28: The Presumption of Atheism

Part 29: The Hiddenness of God

Part 30: The Problem of Evil and Suffering 1

Part 31: The Problem of Evil and Suffering 2

Part 32: The Problem of Evil and Suffering 3

Part 33: The Problem of Evil and Suffering 4

Part 34: The Emotional Version of the Problem of Evil

 

Doctrine of God: Trinity

Part 1: There Is One God

Part 2: Three Distinct Persons in the Godhead

Part 3: The Deity of Christ

Part 4: The Holy Spirit

Part 5: The Historical Survey

Part 6: Historical Survey 2 | Modalism

Part 7: Historical Survey 3 | Arianism

Part 8: Historical Survey 4 | Coherence of the Doctrine

Part 9: Three Divine Persons, One God

Part 10: The Relationship Between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit

Part 11: A Plausibility Argument for the Trinity

 

Doctrine of the Holy Spirit

Part 1: Third Person of the Trinity

Part 2: Ministries of the Holy Spirit

Part 3: The Holy Spirit In the Old Covenant

Part 4: The Holy Spirit In the New Covenant

Part 5: The Baptism In the Holy Spirit

Part 6: The Filling of the Holy Spirit

 

Doctrine of Christ

Part 1: The Incarnation

Part 2: The Incarnation 2

Part 3: The Incarnation 3

Part 4: The Incarnation 4

Part 5: The Incarnation 5

Part 6: The Incarnation 6

Part 7: The Incarnation 7

Part 8: The Work of Christ 1 - Christ’s Death and Atonement

Part 9: The Work of Christ 2 - Propitiatory Sacrifices

Part 10: The Work of Christ 3 - Christ as Sacrifice

Part 11: The Work of Christ 4 - Divine Justice

Part 12: The Work of Christ 5 - Divine Justice 2

Part 13: The Work of Christ 6 - Redemption

Part 14: The Ransom Theory

Part 15: The Work of Christ 8 - Satisfaction Theory

Part 16: The Work of Christ 9 - Moral Influence Theory

Part 17: The Work of Christ 10 - Penal Substitution Theory

Part 18: The Work of Christ 11 - Atonement, Doctrinal Reflection

Part 19: The Work of Christ 12 - Atonement, Doctrinal Reflection Continued

Part 20: The Work of Christ 13 - Atonement, Doctrinal Reflection Continued

Part 21: The Work of Christ 14 - Atonement, Doctrinal Reflection Continued

Part 22: The Work of Christ 15 - Atonement, Satisfaction of Divine Justice

Part 23: The Work of Christ 16 - Atonement, Satisfaction of Divine Justice

Part 24: The Work of Christ 17 - Atonement, Redemption

Part 25: The Work of Christ 18 - The Resurrection

Part 26: The Work of Christ 19 - The Resurrection Continued

Part 27: The Work of Christ 20 - The Resurrection Continued

Part 28: The Work of Christ 21 - The Resurrection Continued

Part 29: The Work of Christ 22 - The Resurrection Continued

Part 30:  The Work of Christ 23 - The Resurrection Continued

Part 31: The Work of Christ 24 - The Post-Mortem Appearances

Part 32: The Work of Christ 25 - The Post-Mortem Appearances

Part 33: The Work of Christ 26 - Resurrection Theories

Part 34: The Work of Christ 27 - Resurrection Theories

Part 35: The Work of Christ 28 - Resurrection Theories

Part 36: The Work of Christ 29 - Facts of the Resurrection

Part 37: The Work of Christ 30 - Facts of the Resurrection

Part 38: The Work of Christ 31 - Facts of the Resurrection

Part 39: The Work of Christ 32 - Facts of the Resurrection

Part 40: The Work of Christ 33 - Facts of the Resurrection

Part 41: The Work of Christ 34 - Facts of the Resurrection

Part 42: The Work of Christ 35 - Resurrection Hypotheses

Part 43: The Work of Christ 36 - Resurrection Hypotheses

Part 44: The Work of Christ 37 - Resurrection Hypotheses

Part 45: The Work of Christ 38 - The Resurrection Hypothesis

Part 46: The Work of Christ 39 - The Resurrection Conclusion

Part 47: The Work of Christ 40 - Christian Particularism

Part 48: The Work of Christ 41 - Christian Particularism

Part 49: The Work of Christ 42 - Christian Particularism

Part 50: The Work of Christ 43 - Christian Particularism

Part 51: The Work of Christ 44 - Christian Particularism, Conclusion

 

Doctrine of Creation

Part 1: Creatio Ex Nihilo

Part 2: Does Genesis 1 Teach Creatio Ex Nihilo?

Part 3: Creatio ex Nihilo in the New Testament

Part 4: The Notion of “Bringing Something Into Being”

Part 5: Arguments for Creatio Ex Nihilo

Part 6: Objections to Creatio Ex Nihilo

Part 7: More Objections to Creatio Ex Nihilo

Part 8: Continuing Conservation

Part 9: Divine Concurrence

Part 10: Different Views of Divine Providence

Part 11: A Critical Assessment of Three Views of Divine Providence

Part 12: Arminian And Molinist Accounts of Divine Sovereignty and Human Freedom

Part 13: The Collapse of the Belief in Miracles

Part 14: Arguments Against Miracles

Part 15: The Definition of “Miracle”

Part 16: Rebutting Spinoza’s Objections to Miracles

Part 17: Hume’s Abject Failure

Part 18: Determining the Intrinsic Probability of the Resurrection

Part 19: Angels and Demons

Part 20: The Work of Angels

Part 21: The Names of Satan

Part 22: The Origin of Satan

Part 23: The Nature of Demons

Part 24: The Work of Demons

 

Excursus on Creation of Life and Biological Diversity

Part 1: Hermeneutical Principles and Concordism

Part 2: The Literal Interpretation

Part 3: A Critique of the Literal Interpretation

Part 4: The Gap and Day-Gap Interpretations

Part 5: The Day-Age Interpretation

Part 6: The Days of Divine Proclamation Interpretation

Part 7: The Literary Framework and the Functional Creation Interpretations

Part 8: A Critique of John Walton’s Functional Creation Interpretation

Part 9: A Critique of John Walton’s Functional Creation Interpretation, Part 2

Part 10: The Monotheistic Hebrew Myth Interpretation

Part 11: An Assessment of the Monotheistic Hebrew Myth Interpretation

Part 12: Examining the Supposed Parallels Between Genesis and Egyptian Myths

Part 13: Did Genesis Borrow From Babylonian Myths?

Part 14: Etiological Motifs in Genesis 2

Part 15: Genealogies in Genesis 1-11

Part 16: Genealogies in Genesis 1-11 continued

Part 17: The Genre of Mytho-History

Part 18: Is the Biblical Primeval History To Be Understood as Literally True?

Part 19: The Plasticity and Flexibility of ANE Myths

Part 20: Why Think Genesis 1-11 is Mytho-History?

Part 21: Why Read Genesis 1-3 Figuratively?

Part 22: The Central Truths Expressed in Genesis 1-11

Part 23: Adam in the New Testament

Part 24: New Testament Authors’ Use of the Literary Adam

Part 25: Paul’s Use of Adam in 1 Corinthians 15

Part 26: Paul’s Use of Adam in Romans 5

Part 27: Scientific Evidence Pertinent to the Origin and Evolution of Biological Complexity

Part 28: Is Genesis 1 in Conflict With the Theory of Evolution?

Part 29: Methodological Naturalism

Part 30: Three Aspects of the Evolutionary Paradigm

Part 31: Examining the Thesis of Common Ancestry

Part 32: Evidence for the Neo-Darwinian Mechanisms

Part 33: Inadequacies of the Neo-Darwinian Mechanisms

Part 34: Progressive Creationism – Integrating the Scientific Evidence with the Genesis Narrative

 

Doctrine of Man

Part 1: Different Approaches to Anthropology: Different Approaches to Anthropology

Part 2: Biblical Data Concerning Man as the Image of God

Part 3: Systematizing the Biblical Data

Part 4: Evaluating Construals of the Image of God

Part 5: Man as a Personal Being

Part 6: The Nature of Man – Biblical Data

Part 7: Paul’s Use of the Anthropological Terms Sarks and Psyche

Part 8: Systematizing the Biblical Data Concerning the Nature of Man

Part 9: Refuting Materialism / Monism

Part10: Refuting Reductive and Non-Reductive Physicalism

Part 11: A Challenge to Dualism-Interactionism – The Libet Experiments

Part 12: The Origin of the Soul

Part 13: The Question of the Historicity of Adam and Eve

Part 14: When Did Adam Live?

Part 15: Were Neanderthals Humans?

Part 16: Locating the Historical Adam

Part 17: Genetic Challenges to Adam and Eve

Part 18: Putting It All Together

Part 19: Man as Sinner

Part 20: The Fall of Man and the Nature of Sin

Part 21: Evaluating the Nature of Sin

Part 22: Original Sin

Part 23: Original Sin: Semi-Pelagianism, Reformation, Enlightenment, Modern Era

Part 24: Evaluating the Doctrine of Original Sin

Part 25: A Continued Evaluation of Original Sin

Part 26: Freedom of the Will

Part 27: The Catholic View of Freedom of the Will

Part 28: Freedom of the Will and Romans 10

 

Doctrine of Salvation

Part 1: The Doctrine of Election

Part 2: Election and Calvinism Continued

Part 3: Regeneration and Arminianism

Part 4: Arminianism Continued

Part 5: Evaluation of Calvinism and Arminianism

Part 6: The Mystical Union of the Believer with Christ

Part 7: The Mystical Union with Christ - Continued

Part 8: Metaphors for Mystical Union

Part 9: Application of Mystical Union to Our Lives

Part 10: Regeneration / New Birth

Part 11: How Regeneration Occurs

Part 12: Different Views of Justification

Part 13: Assessment of Competing Views of Justification

Part 14: The New Perspective on Paul

Part 15: New Perspective on Paul Continued

Part 16: Imputed Righteousness

Part 17: The Grounds, Means, and Results of Justification

Part 18: Perseverance of the Saints - Calvinism

Part 19: Perseverance of the Saints - Arminianism

Part 20: Warnings Against Apostasy

Part 21: Assessment of the Competing Views on Perseverance

 

Doctrine of the Church

Part 1: Introduction

Part 2: Baptism

Part 3: Baptism as a Sacrament

Part 4: Baptism as an Ordinance

Part 5: Baptism as an Ordinance - Continued

Part 6: Infant Baptism

Part 7: Believer’s Baptism

Part 8: The Lord’s Supper

Part 9: Transubstantiation

Part 10: The Lord’s Supper - Roman Catholic Interpretation cont’d

Part 11: Consubstantiation and Other Views

Part 12: Assessment of Competing Views on the Lord’s Supper

 

Doctrine of the Last Things

Part 1: The Second Coming of Christ

Part 2: The Rapture Interpretation

Part 3: The Rapture Interpretation Continued

Part 4: The Rapture Interpretation Concluded

Part 5: The Preterist Interpretation

Part 6: The Preterist Interpretation Continued

Part 7: The Nature of the Second Coming

Part 8: The Purpose of the Second Coming

Part 9: The Time of the Second Coming

Part 10: Delay of the Parousia

Part 11: Delay of the Parousia Continued

Part 12: Parables of the Delay of the Parousia

Part 13: Final Thoughts on the Time of the Second Coming

Part 14: Practical Application of the Second Coming of Christ

Part 15: The Millenium

Part 16: Postmillennialism & Premillennialism

Part 17: State of the Soul after Death

Part 18: State of the Soul after Death: Jesus’ Argument with the Sadducees

Part 19: Immortality in the New Testament

Part 20: The Souls of the Unrighteous Dead

 

Final Thoughts

Part 1: The Purpose of Defenders

Part 2: The Diligence of a Disciple