Tactical Faith

Equipping Christians in Alabama

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Cognitive Dissonance

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grass_roots_weekendDr. Alan Carter spoke to us at the grassroots weekend at Matt’s house about his view of Apologetics.  It was great to hear his views and listen to the back and forth that it generated amongst the group.  Alan studied philosophy under Alvin Plantinga at Notre Dame, so we value his opinions on such things immensely.

One point he raised was that, to him, one of the main imports of apologetics and christian philosophy is to encourage “cognitive dissonance.”  Rather than bringing someone to faith through our arguments, many times the effect is simply to create an uncomfortableness in the mind by exposing held beliefs that can’t rationally co-exist with evidences we see around us.

For instance, cosmological arguments may not bring someone to a belief in Jesus as God.  But, it certainly may leave people uncomfortable with atheism.

Greg Koukl might call this “leaving a stone in the shoe.”

Let’s not overlook this important polemical aspect of christian philosophy.  We don’t have to be evidentialists.  We just have to trust that God made the mind of man in a way that abhors incongruity of thought.  Our minds want the world to make sense.

Thanks again to Dr. Cart, and to all the folks that came this past weekend.  It was a great time.

Tactical Faith: Pastor Fellow

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In our ongoing effort to help bridge the gap between apologetic/theological resources and churches, we at Tactical Faith created a new position within our organization. Per board decision, we introduce Rev. Mark A Hutton as our first Pastoral Fellow at Tactical Faith. Dr. Hutton comes to us from Central Pres in Saint Louis, MO. He has almost twenty years of professional ministry as well as an impressive academic background that includes an M.Div from Beeson Divinity and a Doctorate from Covenant Theological Seminary. Dr. Hutton will be posting for us on our blog. You can also read his thoughts at his own blog http://intheperpetualruins.com/ .    Below is a more detailed description of what Dr. Mark will be doing for us at Tactical Faith.     Welcome Dr. Hutton!

Mark Hutton at Pent Farm

A Pastoral/Research/Senior Fellow is a non-paid position that contributes to the advancement of Tactical Faith’s mission by providing:

  1. Diligent and consistent prayer support.
  2. Biblical, theological and cultural insights and research from a pastoral perspective for applied apologetics within the local church context.
  3. Support to the President and Board regarding strategic planning, evaluation of ministry events and resources, as well as insights regarding ministry expansion.
  4. Contribute to teaching and training resources to help Tactical Faith in its mission to equip the local church in its call to advance the Gospel.

 

Key Areas of Research:

  1. How do pastors and leaders equip their congregation to do evangelism in the 21st century?
  2. Looking at the relationship between apologetics and the missional efforts of churches.
  3. What are the questions and challenges to the Gospel today? How do we answer them?
  4. Exploring ways to pull down the dividing wall of sacred and secular.
  5. What good does the Gospel do?
  6. Cultures impact and the response of the church.

 

Mark’s Bio

Dr. Mark Hutton received his education mostly through failure and grace. He was more formally educated at Beeson Divinity School (MDiv 2006) and Covenant Theological Seminary (DMin 2013). Originally from Tennessee, Mark served on Young Life staff for a number of years before becoming a pastor. He was ordained in 1996 and has served Presbyterian churches in TN, VA, AL and MO. He has written on the subject of outreach, parenting, hiking, food, faith, and on how to lead established churches to change – to be more outward facing. He and Sherry have been married for over twenty years and they have three awesome sons.

Tactical Faith at New Orleans Baptist Seminary

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YouTube Videos

Dr. Bob Stewart of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

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Dr. Robert B. StewartGoogle Hangout with Dr. Bob Stewart

Professor of Philosophy and Theology
Chair: Greer-Heard Chair of Faith and Culture

Dr. Bob Stewart will be doing a Google Hangout with us on the 20th of July to promote apologetics, Jesus Christ and our upcoming Salt Conference.  The Hangout will be 11am CST.  We will also be recording it and posting the video afterwards on our site.

Future Synopsis-Why and how do believers and unbelievers think?  What are the underlying ideas that both groups tend to have that unite them.  What about the ideas and beliefs that divide them.  Then of course there are doubts that both the unbeliever and the believer share in common.  For instance, unbelievers often think that faith is belief because of a total lack of evidence. Faith may go BEYOND evidence but when it does, it does so FROM evidence. Both sides often believe that if God INSPIRED the original text of the Bible, then he would supernaturally PRESERVE the text. But the Bible doesn’t teach this and the textual evidence goes against this. Things like this. People often misunderstand the nature of miracles, i.e., what is being claimed. And they also seem to think that if they have shown the instrumental cause of certain phenomena, then they have no need of a teleological cause.

Education

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas, May, 2000
  • Master of Divinity with Biblical Languages, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas, 1992
  • Bachelor of Arts, Cameron University, Lawton, Oklahoma, 1980

Robert Stewart has authored or edited several books.  He is also general editor of the Studies in Christian Apologetics monograph series from B&H Academic.  He has also published articles in numerous books and journals.  He also has spoken in university settings in North America and Europe.  He and his wife, Marilyn, have three adult children.