Southern Seminary Magazine (Vol 90.1) The Light of Truth: Apologetics in the 21st Century

“How do we speak
to a culture that not
only has lower rates
of people who say
they believe in God,
but who when they
do say they believe in
God, give decreasing
importance to
what they’re saying?”
I
was astounded by conversations with
many Americans who watched the dramatic
portrayal of Queen Elizabeth’s
coronation in the first season of the
television program, The Crown. Viewers
wondered aloud where they came
up with “that strange language.” The
strange language they were referencing was right
out of the Bible. For most of history, the British
crown (and basically all the monarchies in the
Western world) explicitly claimed a biblical and
theological legitimacy. It’s not by accident that
Handel’s majestic anthem “Zadok the Priest” is
what is played the very moment that the monarch
is shrouded in mystery. The coronation even
includes an anointing with oil just as with Samuel,
Saul, and David.
When we consider our own secular society,
we must realize that the word “secular” actually
emerged from the realm of politics. In the Middle
Ages, there was a union between the throne
and the altar, and it was very well understood that
a theological justification was necessary for the
monarchy. In this context, the term “secular” began
to be used to refer to the distinctly political
power of the government as opposed to the theological
and institutional power of the church. But
even though the distinction was made, it was
made from within a Christian worldview. After
all, the “divine right of kings” only makes sense if
the legitimacy of the regime is based upon a theological
affirmation.
Today, the idea of theism doesn’t even fit the
language of most governmental regimes. And it’s
not just true in government but throughout our
society. When I was a boy, it was assumed when
new neighbors moved to your community that
you’d ask them what church they wanted to attend.
That would be considered a very rude question
these days, but you also wouldn’t be surprised if
people answered, “No church at all.” We may take
this for granted, but the reality is that it’s a stunning
change in human experience.
A Society Unbound from Theism
We live in a society marked by secularization. And
when I use that term, I’m talking about the sort
of secularism that we’ve only experienced in the
wake of the Enlightenment and the advent of modernity;
we live in a society where theism has lost
summer 2022
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