This is the second half of an exciting two-part episode of The Apologetics Podcast. Garrick and Timothy are still adventuring through time with a second-century apologist named Aristides, exploring three key points in his apologetic that addressed those that were skeptical of Christianity in his day. Aristides understood that every Christian is an apologist—and that's the truth that your intrepid cohosts are doing their best to recover.

However, the dynamic duo doesn't stay put for long as they return to their DeLorean and launch into a perilous exploration of modern civic liturgies. Soon, Garrick and Timothy find themselves face to face with an intergalactic bounty hunter immersed in an age-old honor culture. Then, they confront the deeply theological commitments of Christianity that have persisted through the centuries, calling the church of today to faithful public practice of truth. The adventure ends with a look at the stars as they wistfully long for another season of The Mandalorian. And also, why didn't the members of any 1980s power metal band think of naming themselves "Böünty Hüntër"?

Timothy Paul Jones, Ph.D., is C. Edwin Gheens Professor of Christian Ministry at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He teaches in the areas of family ministry and applied apologetics. He has authored or edited more than a dozen books, including Why Should I Trust the Bible?, The God Who Goes Before You, Perspectives on Family Ministry, In Church as It Is in Heaven, and Christian History Made Easy.

Garrick Bailey is a Ph.D. student in systematic theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, studying Herman Bavinck and Roman Catholicism under the supervision of Gregg Allison.

"Brothers and Sisters, We Are All Apologists Now" (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary Faculty Address, 2023)

The Mandolorian (Lucasfilm Ltd., 2019)

This is The Way (Auralnauts, 2023)

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Music for the podcast has been licensed through Artlist.io and performed by Cunningham Manor. Brief excerpts of music played in each program are included solely for the purposes of comment and critique as allowed under the fair-use provision of U.S. copyright law. “The fair use of a copyrighted work … for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, … scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright” (U.S. Code § 107, Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use).

In this thrilling two-part episode of The Apologetics Podcast, Garrick and Timothy go back to the future.

Or, perhaps more precisely, they go back to the second century for the sake of the future.

In the book The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, theologian Carl Trueman points out that the church's challenges of the second century A.D. provide one possible precedent for the struggles that Christians are facing in the present era. With that in mind, Garrick and Timothy travel back in time to see what contemporary Christians might learn from a second-century apologist named Aristides of Athens. It's basically like Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, except without the whole debacle in the shopping mall. In this first episode of Garrick and Timothy's excellent adventure, your intrepid cohosts learn how ancient Christians did radical civic good without bowing to the civic gods.

The Raiders of Church History segment is the softest and weakest battle so far in this season. Basically, it consists of a silk flag being flopped against a piece of rope that was once the property of a monk. Along the way, Garrick mentions "elf spots." No one knows exactly what an elf spot is, but everyone agrees that "Elf Spot" would be a great name for an acoustic emo band that wears medieval outfits and plays music at Renaissance fairs.

Timothy Paul Jones, Ph.D., is C. Edwin Gheens Professor of Christian Ministry at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He teaches in the areas of family ministry and applied apologetics. He has authored or edited more than a dozen books, including Why Should I Trust the Bible?, The God Who Goes Before You, Perspectives on Family Ministry, In Church as It Is in Heaven, and Christian History Made Easy.

Garrick Bailey is a Ph.D. student in systematic theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, studying Herman Bavinck and Roman Catholicism under the supervision of Gregg Allison.

Born This Way (Lady Gaga, 2017)

Back to The Future (1985)

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theapologeticspodcast.com

Urban Ministry Podcast

Music for the podcast has been licensed through Artlist.io and performed by Cunningham Manor. Brief excerpts of music played in each program are included solely for the purposes of comment and critique as allowed under the fair-use provision of U.S. copyright law. “The fair use of a copyrighted work … for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, … scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright” (U.S. Code § 107, Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use).

In this episode, your intrepid cohosts learn why they need to get literate.

"Bible literate," to be exact.

According to author and Bible teacher Jen Wilkin, Bible literacy is a vital tool when it comes to apologetics—and "Bible literacy" is not the same thing as "biblical literacy."

Biblical literacy means knowing about the Bible. Bible literacy requires knowing the Bible itself, and Bible literacy is part of what every Christian needs to be able to defend the faith.

In the process of getting themselves some Bible literateness, Garrick Bailey and Timothy Paul Jones talk with Jen Wilkin about why there are so few women apologists, why Timothy will never write another book about the end of time, and whether or not it's possible for there to be too many extended guitar solos. (Spoiler alert: there is no such thing as too many guitar solos or a guitar solo that's too long.) Jen offers to play xylophone with the rock band Queen, and Garrick reveals a heretofore-unknown secret about Jen's singing abilities.

In the segment known as Indiana, Jones, and the Raiders of Church History, the dynamic duo places a domesticated feline into battle against a king's shield. The cat survives, but only because of its longstanding concordat with Old Scratch himself. Timothy and Garrick also learn the word "strapwork," and "Strapwork" would be the perfect name for a New Wave of British Heavy Metal band.

Jen Wilkin is an author and Bible teacher from Dallas, Texas and the Executive Director of Care, Family, and Next Gen Ministries at the Village Church in Flower Mound, TX. She has organized and led studies for women in home, church, and parachurch contexts. An advocate for Bible literacy, her passion is to see others become articulate and committed followers of Christ, with a clear understanding of why they believe what they believe, grounded in the Word of God.

Timothy Paul Jones, Ph.D., is C. Edwin Gheens Professor of Christian Ministry at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He teaches in the areas of family ministry and applied apologetics. He has authored or edited more than a dozen books, including Why Should I Trust the Bible?, The God Who Goes Before You, Perspectives on Family Ministry, In Church as It Is in Heaven, and Christian History Made Easy.

Garrick Bailey is a Ph.D. student in systematic theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, studying Herman Bavinck and Roman Catholicism under the supervision of Gregg Allison.

Jesus (Queen, 1973)

More Than a Feeling (Boston, 2011)

Misquoting Truth (Jones, 2007)

Bohemian Rhapsody (Queen, 1975)

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Music for the podcast has been licensed through Artlist.io and performed by Cunningham Manor. Brief excerpts of music played in each program are included solely for the purposes of comment and critique as allowed under the fair-use provision of U.S. copyright law. “The fair use of a copyrighted work … for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, … scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright” (U.S. Code § 107, Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use).

You don’t have to be a jerk to be an apologist.

In fact, if you’re being a jerk, you’re not doing apologetics in a biblical way, because biblical apologetics calls Christians to defend the faith in “meekness and fear” (1 Peter 3:15b).

So how can we do apologetics without being a jerk? One of the best ways not to be a jerk is to listen to 1980s rock, which is why your intrepid cohosts have included clips from Bon Jovi and Sammy Hagar-era Van Halen in this episode. (Fun fact: Jon Bon Jovi’s last name is actually spelled “Bongiovi,” and “Böngïövï” would have been an amazing name for the band.)

But you need more than 1980s rock to grow in meekness, and that’s why this episode goes far beyond merely reminding you of the greatness of Bon Jovi and Van Halen. In this second episode in a two-part series about where to begin in apologetics, the dynamic duo provides you with their final four points about apologetics—all of which can help you to do apologetics with gentleness and reverence while listening to Bon Jovi, which is the opposite of being a jerk. Here are the four points from this episode:

4. The life of a faithful apologist is marked by meekness. 5. Faithful apologists are more interested in winning people than in winning arguments. 6. Faithful apologists use different methods to meet different challenges. 7. Faithful apologists see apologetics as a work of the whole church.

Timothy Paul Jones, Ph.D., is C. Edwin Gheens Professor of Christian Ministry at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He teaches in the areas of family ministry and applied apologetics. He has authored or edited more than a dozen books, including Why Should I Trust the Bible?, The God Who Goes Before You, Perspectives on Family Ministry, and Christian History Made Easy.

Garrick Bailey is a Ph.D. student in systematic theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, studying Herman Bavinck and Roman Catholicism under the supervision of Gregg Allison.

Living on a Prayer (Bon Jovi, 1986)

There's Only One Way to Rock (Van Halen, 1986)

Systematic Theology (John Frame, 2013)

Reformed Dogmatics (Herman Bavinck, 2003)

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Urban Ministry Podcast

Music for the podcast has been licensed through Artlist.io and performed by Cunningham Manor. Brief excerpts of music played in each program are included solely for the purposes of comment and critique as allowed under the fair-use provision of U.S. copyright law. “The fair use of a copyrighted work … for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, … scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright” (U.S. Code § 107, Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use).

This episode begins with the infancy of Jesus and ends with his resurrection.

Garrick brings up the infancy of Jesus in the Raiders of Church History segment in the most awkward of ways. This episode is the first—and hopefully the last—time that "lactation" has ever been mentioned on The Apologetics Podcast. Timothy brings the battle to a premature end by hitting Garrick in the head with the Lindisfarne Gospels.

Your intrepid cohosts quickly forgive one another, however, and move on to make three key points about what apologetics is. This episode is the first in the two-part series about what apologetics is and how to do apologetics well. Here are the three main points in this episode:

(1) Apologetics is a defense that includes evidence. (2) Apologetics calls for holiness. (3) Apologetics is centered in the hope of the resurrection.

As Garrick and Timothy unpack these three points, Billy Joel shows up to defend the Christians wrongly accused of burning Rome in A.D. 64, and Pink Floyd and Brian May prove Augustine of Hippo right about the resurrection of Jesus. The Karate Kid shows up too, but the dynamic duo isn’t quite sure why. It has something to do with the Papyrus font, and ”Päpÿrüs” would be a perfect name for a heavy metal band that translates its lyrics from fragments of ancient papyri.

Timothy Paul Jones, Ph.D., is C. Edwin Gheens Professor of Christian Ministry at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He teaches in the areas of family ministry and applied apologetics. He has authored or edited more than a dozen books, including Why Should I Trust the Bible?, The God Who Goes Before You, Perspectives on Family Ministry, and Christian History Made Easy.

Garrick Bailey is a Ph.D. student in systematic theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, studying Herman Bavinck and Roman Catholicism under the supervision of Gregg Allison.

The Apologist (R.E.M., 1998)

We Didn't Start the Fire (Billy Joel, 1989)

The Karate Kid (The Karate Kid, 1984)

Coming Back to Life (Pink Floyd, 1994)

Resurrection (Brian May, 1992)

Patreon Support

TheApologeticsPodcast.com

Urban Ministry Podcast

Music for the podcast has been licensed through Artlist.io and performed by Cunningham Manor. Brief excerpts of music played in each program are included solely for the purposes of comment and critique as allowed under the fair-use provision of U.S. copyright law. “The fair use of a copyrighted work … for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, … scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright” (U.S. Code § 107, Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use).