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The Case for Christianity: Strengthening Faith with Reason, Logic, and Fact

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This is the home page for the course, The Case for Christianity: Strengthening Faith with Reason, Logic, and Fact. Join us for a thought-provoking study of “On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision,” where you’ll be equipped to clearly articulate the reasons for your faith, as encouraged in 1 Peter 3:15. Each session offers practical tools, engaging discussion, and a welcoming space to explore the foundations of Christian belief. Come ready to think deeply and discover why the truth of Christianity stands up under scrutiny.

On this page, you'll find a link in the Getting Started section below to the first week of class, in which you'll learn how more about the course.

The Resources section below contains links to handouts for each week of class. Paper copies of the handouts will be provided at class time but if you would like a digital copy of the handouts in order to take notes as you read, you can access them as a Google Docs file.

The Book

In this course, we'll be walking through the book, On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision by William Lane Craig. Copies of the book will be made available to you when you come to class on Wednesday, August 20. The class will go from 6:00 pm to 7:15 pm.

Please read "Chapter 1 - What Is Apologetics?" before the 2nd week of class (August 27). More instructions regarding what to do regarding Chapter 1 can be found on the webpage, Week 2.

Location and Time

The Format and Tools of the Course

In addition to the book, On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision by William Lane Craig, other tools and resources we will use are (1) the website (what you are reading now), and (2) Class Handouts, and (3) the Class Sessions.

Overview

The course is structured such that the chapters from the book, On Guard and this Website will go hand-in-hand. You'll want this website available to you to guide you through the chapter readings.

Each week's Handout will help us to narrow down and focus on specific aspects of the chapter reading and give you the opportunity to reflect on what you read.

The Class Sessions each week will allow us to focus even more and narrow down to a few specific topics and give us, as a class, to share our thoughts.

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On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision

The book will be our guide but given the limited amount of time for class sessions, we will not "cover" every section of every chapter during our class sessions. Additionally, I'll provide additional resources, some of which we will discuss, in order to expand our understanding of the ideas and principles provided in the book.

Question: Do I have to attend class every week to make sense of the content? Although it will be helpful to attend read the material and attend each week, the chapters are independent of each other so if you miss a week, that's okay. Just come back next week!

Website

There are some features of this website that will help you navigate the content of the course more effectively. The description of the parts of the website below are described for a desktop.

Note: The interface will look different on a mobile device (smart phone or tablet) than on a desktop computer.

In the upper left-hand corner, you'll see the words, "Case for Christianity." If you click on those words, you'll be taken back to this home page, no matter what web page you are on at this site.

There is a search field on the left side.

A navigation menu is the left sidebar. You can click the > arrows to open a section to see web pages within that folder. (On a mobile device, you'll see three bars - the "hamburger" icon.)

In the upper right-hand corner, you'll see a box titled, "On this page." This contains a list of the major headings of the page you are viewing (preceded by a #). Clicking on an item in the list will take you to that section of the page. (The "On this page" section is probably not visible on a mobile device.)

In the section labeled, "Pages mentioning this page" you'll see what are called "backlinks." A backlink is link to a webpage that contains a link to the page you are viewing. (On a mobile device, the "Pages mentioning this page" will be at the bottom of the webpage.)

How to Use the Website

This website will contain the following components:

Let's look at each of these and then we'll discuss the Class Handouts and the Class Sessions.

Reading Guide


This icon will designate information about the reading from the book, On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision. I'll point out things in the reading that I think are of particular importance to pay attention to.

I'd like to encourage you to read through this page, How to Get the Most Out of Your Reading in order to help you get the most out of your readings.

Supplemental Readings and Videos


Periodically, there will be one or more required supplemental readings and/or videos that will help expand our understanding of the content of a section. Quite often, we'll discuss these readings & videos during our Class Activities.

Reflection Questions

Reflection Questions will provide an opportunity for you to think about what you have read or watched and reflect on it. I have found that writing out your thoughts and ideas brings more clarity rather than simply mentally thinking about an answer.

Some of the Reflection Questions will be for your own personal reflection. For other Reflection Questions, we'll discuss them during the Class Sessions in a Think-Pair-Share format, which is described below in the section titled, "Format of the Class Sessions."

You will find the Reflection Questions in both this website and in the Class Handouts.

Class Activities


Although during class there will be a presentation of the content, we'll also spend time discussing with one another our thoughts on the readings. Periodically, we'll use the "think-pair-share" class activity, (as described below in the section, "Format of the Class Sessions), to discuss and share our thoughts and ideas.

Some of the Reflection Questions will be discussed during the Think-Pair-Share activities, so each week, as you are proceeding through the readings, be sure to answer the Reflection Questions in the Handouts. Be sure to either bring a hard copy of the week's Handout with your answers or be able to access the Google Doc on your device (tablet or phone) during the class time.

What To Do Before Next Week's Class

This section will tell what to do in preparation for next week's class. It will include the reading assignments, as well as Reflection Questions, and will tell you in advance the class activities for the next week's class.

Class Handouts

Before each week's session, you can access a Google Docs version of a handout for the upcoming week's session. A link to each week's handout will be provided on the web page for each week. A copy of the handout will also be given in class.

By providing the handout as a Google Doc, you'll be able to type up your thoughts and ideas to the Reflection Questions. See Handouts for more instructions on how to do this.

The Class Handouts will contain two or three components: Reflection Questions, possibly some Supplemental Readings and/or Videos, and a description of the Class Activities.

Important!

As you are reading the chapter in the book, On Guard, have a copy of the handout for that week's chapter available. You can print it off, if you like. If you would like to type in your own notes, you can either use it online in Google Docs, or download in a different format (e.g., Microsoft Word, etc).

If you would like to save to your own Google Docs in your own Google Drive, follow these steps:
- Open the link provided on the web page for each week's reading. (On the website for the course, look on the left side of the page in the navigation menu, click on "Weeks")
- In the File menu in Google Docs, choose File > Make a copy.
- You can now rename it, if you like, and save it to your own Google Drive.

If you do not have a Google account, you can use File > Download to download the document as a Word, PDF, or other file type for use outside of Google Drive.

Class Sessions

Our Class Sessions will give us the opportunity to bring together everything you have learned during the previous week.

Important!

Since during class, we will discuss our thoughts on some of the Reflection Questions, you'll want to either print off a hard copy of the week's Handout containing your answers to the Reflection Questions or bring your phone or tablet to class so you can access the completed Handout on Google Docs.

Format of the Class Sessions

Each week, we'll be discussing the contents of the ten chapters of On Guard. It is not my intent to cover each chapter, but rather to uncover each chapter. Although I will do some "presenting" of the content, the focus of each session is to give you, in conjunction with your fellow learners, the opportunity to explore, discuss, clarify, and ask questions related to the content. Therefore, one type of activity we will engage is called "think-pair-share." I will pose a question, or offer to you a choice of questions. We'll divide up into groups of two or three. You'll think about your answer to the question(s). Then you'll share your thoughts with the members of your group. Lastly, thoughts from from the groups will be shared with the whole class.

Each week, we will have only a little over of hour for "class" time. So in order to make the most of the content of the course, you'll want to do the following:

My Philosophy of Teaching and Learning

As a former college educator, I have a certain philosophy of teaching and learning that will be expressed in this course. I see my role as a facilitator of learning, not a teacher. In other words, it's my intent to provide you with the resources, tools and the opportunities to help you learn.

Although the term, "student" is traditionally used for the persons in the classroom, I'd like to you to see yourself as learners. This coincides with my role as a facilitator of learning, but it also helps you see that your role is to take advantage of the resources, opportunities and tools that are provided. As a learner, try to approaches what you learn with curiosity. Be inquisitive. Don't seek to just understand the information, but contemplate and think about it so that it shapes the way you see the world. Look for and absorb insights and let those truths guide your view of the world, God, and how to relate and interact with others.

Each week, we will have only a little over an hour for "class" time. So in order to make the most of the content of the course, you'll want to do the following:

Getting Started

Go to the webpage for -- Week 1 - Introduction to the Course - Click here -- to learn about the course and how to get started.

Resources

Questions

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at thecaseforchristianity2025 at gmail dot com. (Replace the word "at" with @ and "dot" with a "." (period)).