The "Four Horsemen" of modern atheism—authors famed in the 1990s and early 2000s for their acerbic attacks on the existence of God and the value of religion—have mostly ridden out of sight. Social commentator Christopher Hitchens and philosopher Daniel Dennett have died. Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins has quieted down on scorning God and returned to writing on genetics. Neuroscientist Sam Harris has his YouTube channel, "A Dose of Reason," featuring current and decades-old clips.

As these authors' once-bestselling books aged, fewer pastors, theologians, and social commentators felt the need to rebut atheist voices with books of apologetics—reasoned arguments for the existence of God, the essential need for Christ, and the vital role of religion in a sinful world.

Until now. Publishers in recent years have seen apologetics back in fashion in a new way that reflects a shift away from battling culture, embracing it instead as a tool for evangelism.

"We are seeing a new interest in cultural apologetics because a whole new set of questions is being asked about Christianity by this generation," says Jon Farrar, Tyndale associate publisher. "In the past, questions revolved around truth. Today, people are asking questions about whether Christianity and the Bible are good—as in good for humanity."

Farrar sees philosopher and theologian John Marriott and pastor Shawn Wicks taking on that question in their forthcoming book, Is It Really the Good Book?: Restoring Your Faith in the Bible by Questioning Your Assumptions About It (Tyndale Elevate, Mar.). The forward to their book is by Christian broadcaster Justin Brierley, author of a 2023 book for Tyndale, The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God: The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God: Why New Atheism Grew Old and Secular Thinkers Are Considering Christianity Again. This is because, Farrar says, "They have discovered secular humanism as way too shallow to account for the complexities of life."

The Shallow Waters of Secularism

The mission field of the discontent, disconnected, disappointed Christians is vast. "We’re living amid the largest religious transformation in American history," says Collin Hansen, the lead editor of The Gospel After Christendom: An Introduction to Cultural Apologetics (Zondervan Reflective, Sept. 16). "Forty million Americans have left the church in the last 25 years. Many other Western countries have already seen similar declines. But that’s not the only challenge. After the fall of Christendom, believers in countries now face a strange mixture of apathy and antagonism toward the gospel. Many of our neighbors view Christianity as yesterday’s news, but also as the source of today’s problems."

Hansen is VP of content for the Gospel Coalition, author of a biography of the late pastor Timothy Keller, and now serves as the executive director of the Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics, established in 2023. The other editors of this collection of essays by theologians, philosophers, pastors, and scholars are Skylar Flowers, associate program director for the Keller Center, and Ivan Mesa, editorial director for the Gospel Coalition.

The field of cultural apologetics is rooted, Hansen says, in Keller's teaching that “the job of the missionary is to enter sympathetically the worldview/story of the culture yet challenge and retell the culture’s story so they see their story will only have a happy ending in Jesus.” Now, the center in his name has drawn together authors for The Gospel After Christendom which, Hansen says, "defines cultural apologetics, explains its biblical and historical grounding, and demonstrates how it is an important resource for the church today."

Seeking the True, Good, And Beautiful

In his introduction to the book, Hansen explains that cultural apologetics pays attention to how Jesus taught with illustrations from daily life. "Culture is religion," he writes. "It is how we pursue meaning and understanding from life."

Hansen thinks the time is ripe for this approach. "There's an increasing sense that modern life is unlivable, whether it be technology or politics or anxiety or whatever combination," he says. "And so, people are looking for a way of life that is not only true, certainly that's an important part, but is good and is beautiful."

Today's Christian cultural apologists argue for paying attention to the most important things that are happening to each one of us right now, which Hansen believes are usually the things that we're not talking about. They're the assumptions that universal longing for peace, for grace, for forgiveness, for beauty, he says, and cultural apologetics can guide people "to see these things in Christianity and see that secularism is not going to give these to them."

There is still an appetite for the old style of playing defense, according to Lee Strobel, author of The Case for Christ (Zondervan), a book which has not budged from the bestseller list for 27 years. But Strobel has long seen change coming. He predicted in 2019 that apologetics is heading for a golden age. This spring, he took his turn in the cultural apologetics lane with Seeing the Supernatural: Investigating Angels, Demons, Mystical Dreams, Near-Death Encounters, and Other Mysteries of the Unseen World (Zondervan).

"Eight out of ten Americans believe in something supernatural, and I wanted to use this curiosity as a bridge into talking about evidence for the supernatural realm as described in the Bible," Strobel says. "In our very self-interested culture, where feelings often trump facts and where many people are wondering if Christianity remains personally relevant, I do see a growing role for cultural approaches to defending the faith."