Vocational Apologetics An Argument For Using The Lutheran Understanding Of Vocation As A

281 Pages·2017·1.66 MB·English

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Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation Concordia Seminary Scholarship
2-1-2017
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Kirk Clayton
Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, [email protected]
Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.csl.edu/phd
Part of the Practical Theology Commons
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Clayton, Kirk, "Vocational Apologetics An Argument For Using The Lutheran Understanding Of Vocation As
A Form Of Enfleshed Apologetics For The Church To Engage A Cultural Setting Influenced By The
Criticism Of The New Atheists" (2017). Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation. 37.
https://scholar.csl.edu/phd/37
This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Concordia Seminary Scholarship at Scholarly
Resources from Concordia Seminary. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation by an
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[email protected].
VOCATIONAL APOLOGETICS
AN ARGUMENT FOR USING THE LUTHERAN UNDERSTANDING OF VOCATION AS A
FORM OF ENFLESHED APOLOGETICS FOR THE CHURCH TO ENGAGE A CULTURAL
SETTING INFLUENCED BY THE CRITICISM OF THE NEW ATHEISTS
A Dissertation
Presented to the Faculty of
Concordia Seminary, St. Louis,
Department of Practical Theology
in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
By
Kirk Meyer Clayton
February, 2017
Approved by
Dr. David Schmitt Advisor

Dr. Glenn Nielsen Reader

Dr. Joel Biermann Reader
© 2017 by Kirk Meyer Clayton. All rights reserved.
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Dedicated to my very patient family: my wife Lori; and our six wonderful children; Johnathan,
Matthew, Nathaniel, Abigail, Isaiah, and Samuel, who have seen much less of their husband and
father than they should have during the writing of this dissertation.

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Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory
to your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:16 (ESV)

Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.
Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi

If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the Word of
God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment
attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing him.
Attributed to Martin Luther

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CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................... vi
ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................ viii
CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................................ 1
INTRODUCTION: APOLOGETICS IN THE MIDST OF CHANGING CONTEXTS ..... 1
CHAPTER TWO ......................................................................................................................... 45
NEW ATHEISM AS A POPULAR CULTURAL CHALLENGE TO CHRISTIANITY . 45
CHAPTER THREE ................................................................................................................... 107
THE DEVELOPMENT AND SHAPE OF ENFLESHED APOLOGETICS .................. 107
CHAPTER FOUR ...................................................................................................................... 155
VOCATIONAL APOLOGETICS .................................................................................... 155
CHAPTER FIVE ....................................................................................................................... 233
CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................. 233
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................... 253
Article I. VITA ........................................................................................................................ 273
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to acknowledge and thank a few of the many people who helped to bring this
project to completion.
First, I owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Dr. David Schmitt for his thorough and
tireless guidance as my doctoral advisor. Dr. Schmitt has devoted countless hours to questioning,
challenging, and improving the arguments presented here. We have spent many afternoons
sitting in his office discussing this project throughout all its various stages, and he has spent even
more time reading through the many drafts of this paper and providing his meticulous and
perceptive comments. I have grown tremendously as a thinker and a scholar under his patient and
persistent guidance. Dr. Schmitt, thank you.
Next, I would like to thank Dr. Glenn Nielsen and Dr. Joel Biermann, the readers on this
project. Each in his own specialty area has added significantly and helpfully to this dissertation.
They have given timely and insightful guidance to bring added dimensions of thought and clarity
to the project. Whatever value this work can contribute to the task of apologetics in particular,
and to the church in general, should largely be attributed to the wisdom and guidance of these
three faithful scholars: Dr. Schmitt, Dr. Nielsen, and Dr. Biermann. (Errors and omissions, of
course, remain the sole responsibility of the author!)
Throughout the PhD process, I have had the joyful vocation of serving as pastor of Zion
Lutheran Church in Mascoutah, IL. I would like to thank the wonderful saints of God at Zion for
allowing me to pursue this academic undertaking while also serving among you full-time as your
called pastor. I hope that as I have grown intellectually, theologically, and spiritually through this
course of study, you as members of the congregation have been able to grow through the growth
of your pastor.
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Finally, I need to give a most heartfelt thanks to my longsuffering family. My wife, Lori,
has shouldered added family duties and responsibilities throughout this process, which has by
this time taken up over half of our married life. Three of our six children have been born while I
have been working on this project, and our three older children were young enough when I
entered the PhD program that they probably have no remembrance of a time when I was not
working on this project. As I have been writing on the topic of vocation, and stressing the
importance of focusing on the central vocation of family, I have often been painfully aware that
my vocation as a student has hindered my ability to fulfill the far more important vocation of
husband and father as I should. My family has started the habit of making an “A.D. List,” that is,
an “After Dissertation List.” I apologize for all the things that should not have needed to be
placed on that list in the first place, and I look forward to enjoying the things that you have
looked forward to doing together with me. Lori, Johnathan, Matthew, Nathaniel, Abigail, Isaiah,
and Samuel, thank you more than words can express. I look forward to spending a bit more time
with you as I so love to do now that this project is completed.

vii
ABSTRACT
Clayton, Kirk M. “Vocational Apologetics: An Argument for Using the Lutheran
Understanding of Vocation as a Form of Enfleshed Apologetics for the Church to Engage a
Cultural Setting Influenced by the Criticisms of the New Atheists.” Ph.D. diss., Concordia
Seminary, 2017. 252 pp.
This dissertation examines criticisms against Christianity from the New Atheists (Dawkins,
Dennett, Harris, Hitchens, and Stenger), considers problems with how the church has formulated
its apologetic response, and concludes that Martin Luther’s understanding of vocation applied to
the Christian life offers a significant contribution to shaping an apologetic response to the New
Atheism.
Apologetics is best understood as a defense, and must be a responsive discipline. For the
last several centuries apologetics has largely consisted of rational or evidential responses to
challenges arising from the Enlightenment. However, the strength of the New Atheists’
arguments lies not with their rational arguments, which are intellectually unserious, but with
their moral arguments that Christianity is evil. These moral accusations, made with strong ethical
and emotional appeals, have gained a hearing in a receptive culture. When the challenges
presented to the Christian faith are of a moral nature, as with the accusations of the New
Atheists, the apologetic response needs to demonstrate not only the truth of Christianity, but also
the goodness of Christianity. While the apologetic response to the New Atheists has been
prolific, it has been focused primarily on traditional apologetic methods such as Presuppositional
Apologetics or Evidential Apologetics, providing intellectually correct answers to what really are
moral challenges. Thus the apologetic response to the New Atheists so far has largely missed the
main force of the attacks.
This dissertation uses Aristotle’s rational, ethical, and emotional appeals to apply a
rhetorical analysis to the New Atheists’ writings in order to understand better the challenge they
pose to Christianity. The dissertation then explores the developing field of Enfleshed
Apologetics (also called Incarnational Apologetics and Lifestyle Apologetics) and argues that
this form of apologetics should be used to respond to the lifestyle-oriented challenges of the New
Atheists. Luther’s teaching on vocation provides the theological basis for developing an
enfleshed approach in which a morally exemplary Christian life becomes the apologetic answer
to the moral accusations of the New Atheists. This approach can be used alongside traditional
apologetic methods as part of an overall Cumulative Case apologetic response to the New
Atheists.
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION: APOLOGETICS IN THE MIDST OF CHANGING CONTEXTS
Throughout its history, the church has been the subject of attacks on its doctrine and
practice. The church has traditionally responded to attacks by the use of apologetics, and as the
attacks against the church have changed, so also the form of the church’s apologetic response has
changed. However, many in the church have demonstrated a general resistance to any apologetic
efforts and have not participated strongly in apologetics.1 Some have gone so far as to attempt to
put an end to apologetic efforts altogether and establish a “post-apologetic” outlook.2 Based on
some of the common understandings of the apologetic task, the hesitance to engage in
apologetics is completely understandable. However, the understanding of apologetic approaches
is changing. In particular, the field is broadening from primarily traditional apologetic methods
like Presuppositional Apologetics, Classical Apologetics, and Evidential Apologetics to include
an Enfleshed Apologetic methodology.3 In addition, the cultural context in which apologetics is
being practiced is changing, including the popularization of attacks against Christianity through

1 For an examination of the underlying causes of this phenomenon in the Lutheran Church, my own religious
affiliation, see Alvin Schmidt, “Christianity Needs More Lutheran Apologetes,” in Tough-Minded Christianity:
Honoring the Legacy of John Warwick Montgomery, ed. John Warwick Montgomery, William A. Dembski, Thomas
Schirrmacher, and James Innell Packer (Nashville: B&H Academic, 2008), 495–512.
2 See “Ambivalence about Apologetics,” in Avery Cardinal Dulles, A History of Apologetics (San Francisco:
Ignatius, 2005), 345–48.
3 The distinction between these categories will be spelled out in greater depth later, but as a brief overview,
traditional apologetic approaches are geared primarily toward the mind either through philosophy or evidences,
including both Presuppositional and Evidential Apologetic approaches, while an Enfleshed Apologetic approach
focuses on the defense of the Christian faith as embodied in the lives of Christian believers. This field focuses on
establishing the plausibility of the Christian message through a consistent lifestyle before demonstrating the
credibility of Christianity through truth claims. For further elaboration, see Timothy Phillips and Dennis Okholm,
Christian Apologetics in the Postmodern World (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1995), 15–16. See also David
Wilkinson, “The Art of Apologetics in the Twenty-First Century,” ANVIL 19, no. 1 (2002): 5 and 11, and Alister
McGrath, Mere Apologetics: How to Help Seekers and Skeptics Find Faith (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2012), 154,
where, as an extension of this thought, McGrath specifically comments that “Living out the truth can be thought of
as an ‘incarnational apologetic,’ itself a powerful witness to that truth.”
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