In the beginning of this first chapter, Cameron notes that the church in this century has had something of a psychology of retreat. She has had to defend herself at the same time from liberalism on the inside, and a growing secularism on the outside. So apologetics has come to take a prominent place in evangelicalism. But there is a danger: “Christian apologetics often seeks to make Christianity believable and acceptable on the worlds terms.” We must guard against an apologetics that becomes: ‘Sorry about the Scandalon, here’s my book to show that the whole thing is actually tame and uncontroversial. Sorry about the stumbling block, let’s work on fixing that road so that it does not offend.’ The gospel is intended to knock us off our feet and bring us to our knees. So while apologetics is important, we must remember that it is the Holy Spirit who changes hearts. Also, when emphasizing apologetics, we must be careful to not be “constantly seeking to reinforce our own convictions.” Always being in self-defense mode may cause us to be uncritical about our own thoughts.

“Justifying the ways of god to man has taken over from expounding those ways in every area of the evangelical church.“

Apologetics has overshadowed dogmatics. Cameron shows that our emphasis on apologetics, defending the faith, has started to subtly affect and distort the faith it is defending by placing greater emphasis on those doctrines that the culture happens to deny. Theology has come to be governed by apologetics:

“The tail has begun to wag the dog. The center of gravity of our thinking about God has been shifted from true. The need to justify ourselves before a skeptical world has distorted our theological understanding.“

In order to counter this error, Cameron suggests:

“What is needed is an awareness of the silent distortions which constantly result from this process if it is not checked. Since we can hardly lay less stress upon apologetics, we must consciously compensate for it’s distorting tendencies by deliberately giving more adequate emphasis to areas of Christian belief which are not on the apologetic front line.“

In this context, Nigel Cameron then turns to look at the Humanity of Jesus.

For more information on Are Christians Human?, look at this summery from Mars Hill Audio, or check it out on amazon here.