There are three key Christian Apologetic arguments that I would like to carefully and critically evaluate:

• The Trilemma (“Lord, Liar, or Lunatic?”)
• The Resurrection of Jesus (as evidence for Jesus being God or the Messiah)
• Fulfilled Messianic Prophecy (as evidence for Jesus being God or the Messiah)

These are commonly used arguments so they are presented by many different Christian apologists. I prefer to stick to studying Christian apologists who are philosophers, especially philosophers who specialize in arguing in support of basic Christian beliefs. However, I do make an exception for Josh McDowell, because his writings are very popular and influential, especially concerning these three key arguments.

In the case of the argument for “Fulfilled Messianic Prophecy,” I have also made an exception for a couple of other authors because apologists who are philosophers tend not to use that argument, and because some non-philosophers have done a decent job of presenting that argument.

THREE KEY CHRISTIAN APOLOGETIC ARGUMENTS

1. The Trilemma/Quintlemma
   A. C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity, 1952, Book II, Chapter 3)
   B. Josh McDowell (Evidence that Demands a Verdict,1972, Chapter 9)
   C. Peter Kreeft & Ronald Tacelli (Handbook of Christian Apologetics, 1994 Chapter 7)
   D. Norman Geisler (I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, 2004, p.340-347)
   E. William Craig (Apologetics: An Introduction, 1984, Point 5, Subpoint 1; Reasonable Faith, 3rd edition, Chapter 7)
   F. Stephen Davis (“Was Jesus Mad, Bad, or God?” Christian Philosophical Theology, 2006, Chapter 9)
2. The Resurrection of Jesus
   A. Josh McDowell (Evidence that Demands a Verdict,1972, Chapter 10; The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict, 1999, Chapter 9; Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Updated & Expanded, 2017, Chapter 10; The Resurrection Factor, 1981; The Resurrection Factor, reprint of revised edition, 2005; Evidence for the Resurrection, co-authored with Sean McDowell, 2009)
   B. Peter Kreeft & Ronald Tacelli (Handbook of Christian Apologetics, 1994 Chapter 8)
   C. Norman Geisler (Christian Apologetics, 1976, p.346-352; When Skeptics Ask, 1990, p.118-128; I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, 2004, Chapter 12)
   D. William Craig (The Son Rises, 1981; Apologetics: An Introduction, 1984, Point 5, Subpoint 2; Jesus Under Fire, edited by Wilkins and Moreland, 1995, Chapter 6: “Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?”; Reasonable Faith, 3rd edition, 2008, Chapter 8; Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?, 2019)
   E. Gary Habermas & Michael Licona (The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, 2004)
3. Fulfilled Messianic Prophecy
   A. Peter Stoner (Science Speaks, Chapter 3, originally published in 1958, online HTML edition, revised November 2005).
   B. Josh McDowell (Evidence that Demands a Verdict, 1972, Chapter 9; The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict, 1999, Chapter 8; Evidence that Demands a Verdict, Updated & Expanded, 2017, Chapter 9)
   C. Norman Geisler (Christian Apologetics, 1976, p.339-344; When Skeptics Ask, 1990, p.114-116; I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, co-authored with Frank Turek, 2004, Chapter 13)
   D. John Ankerberg, John Weldon, and Walter Kaiser, Jr. (The Case for Jesus the Messiah, 1989)
   E. Grant Jeffrey (The Signature of God, 1996, p.170-183)