All Christians admire fearless apologists who publicly defend the faith, capably providing scriptural answers to the most complicated questions.  Yet how many of us envision ourselves engaging unbelievers in discussion on even a one-to-one basis?  As our culture becomes increasingly ungodly and “normal” behavior more foolish, we will encounter skeptics, agnostics, and atheists in more places than just progressive schools of higher education.   Not only that, but these worldviews will influence our own doubts and questions.  For those of us not as familiar with apologetics (the branch of theology concerned with proving Christianity’s truth) as we would like to be, Dan Dewitt has written a short primer on the subject. 

Christ or Chaos is particularly helpful to young people encountering different worldviews for the first time at college, yet it provides answers for troubling personal questions as well as those from unbelievers we converse with.  Dewitt teaches courses on apologetics, philosophy, and worldview at the undergraduate school of the Baptist Theological Seminary, but he breaks down complicated concepts into simpler language with contagiously cheerful ease. 

In the introduction, Dewitt states that every perspective on reality is based on a story with “an author, a beginning, and an end (17).”  Everyone makes assumptions based on the account he considers true.  While the biblical account is the one true history of origins, personhood, and destiny, for millions of people that story is either unknown or suspect.  In order to present the gospel, Christians must respectfully yet convincingly challenge worldviews constructed on different stories.

One fairly common cultural perception is that atheism is based on “intelligence, reason, rationality, thoughtfulness, ingenuity, science, and kindness” while Christianity depends heavily on “faith, delusion, pretending, religion, fear, pseudoscience, [and] superstition (29).”  Knowing that we do walk by faith and not by sight can make us reluctant to address this and similar ideas.  However, Dewitt uses quotes from leading atheists to demonstrate that atheism takes even more faith than Christianity.  One atheistic professor of philosophy described his view as “a leap of atheist faith,” calling other atheists to “display epistemological courage (35)” by admitting their emotional and intellectual faith commitments.

Philosophers since Aristotle have imagined the universe as eternal; the Bible depicts a certain point of beginning.   Dewitt describes the “crime scene” of the universe as “littered with evidence (49)” to a creation event. Intriguing quotes from agnostic scientists demonstrate that “any position regarding origins requires faith” and that even supposedly dispassionate scientists become “not intellectual but emotional” when evidence contradicts their beliefs (43).

Some human characteristics cannot be scientifically explained, yet they are important to everyone. Do these reflect unplanned chaos, as agnostics and atheists claim, or a cosmic “major anthem”? Among these features are beauty, love, ethics, hope, and optimism, which evolutionists see as “hardwired by evolution” into our minds—even though evolution is not supposed to be concerned with truth, but survival!  The Christian belief system is the only one able to provide consistent foundations for these qualities.

Other topics addressed include the historicity of Jesus’ life; mankind’s intrinsic knowledge of a higher power; and the problems of suffering, pain, and evil, which to some perspectives seem to render the Christian faith “irrational.”  The ongoing difficulty of reconciling God’s sovereignty and human responsibility is a “mystery” that Dewitt admits he does not understand; yet “the problem of evil fits well within the Christian framework of creation, fall, redemption, and glorification (78).”  No other worldview can provide a rational explanation, let alone a solution for it.

In the introduction, Dewitt states that the gospel is not fragile.  It can “hold its own,” and we should not be timidly concealing ourselves in “Christian echo chambers” and ignoring our broader culture’s questions and discussions of faith. (21)  Christ or Chaos is about restoring courage in the gospel’s ability to defend itself and providing an overview of further resources available.  “Small but mighty” describes this book well!