NOTABLE CHRISTIAN APOLOGISTS
Listed Chronologically (An alphabetical listing is also available on this site)
Justin Martyr (ca. 100-ca. 165). An early apologist of the Christian faith. He was a Platonist who held that Plato was influenced by the writings of Moses. He defended Christians against Roman persecution by showing that Christians were law-abiding, that their faith is the true religion anticipated by the early prophets and philosophers, and that the religious rites conducted by Christians were reasonable and not threatening to the Roman government. His major contribution to history is that in his defense of Christian practices we gain insight into the liturgy, baptism, and Eucharist of the early church.
Irenaeus (ca. 130-ca. 200). Greek disciple of Polycarp who was a disciple of John. In Proof of the Apostolic Preaching he argued that Christianity is the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy and in Against Heresies (Refutation and Overthrow of the Gnosis Falsely So Called) he argues against the Gnostic view that all physical matter is evil, that Jesus was no a man but purely a spirit, and that there was “secret knowledge” that led to salvation. In his arguments against the Gnostics Irenaeus sets forth the reasons Christ had to become fully man to save mankind. Irenaeus was one of the first writers to rely on both the Old and New Testament Scriptures, giving us evidence that most of the present canon was considered Scripture very early in the life of the church.
Tertullian (ca. 155-220). A lawyer and the first Latin church father, Tertullian was a prolific writer, composing over 30 works. Tertullian defended the church against Roman persecution, but his most important work was on the nature of God. Tertullian coined the term “Trinity” and described the Godhead as “one substance consisting in three persons.” Tertullian also contributed to the concept of original sin by postulating that sin was biologically transmitted from Adam to all men.
Origen (ca. 185-ca. 254). One of the leading Greek thinkers of the early church, he taught at the Catechetical School at Alexandria. Origen was the author of several monumental works, including the Hexapla, which is a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew Old Testament. Origen is most famous for his work on the Trinity, which affirmed that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are each distinct members of one unity, although at times he referred to the Son and Holy Spirit as subordinate to the Father, which led to him being declared a heretic 300 years after his death. Origen, in literal obedience to Matthew 19:12, castrated himself so that he would have no temptation with his female students. He was killed under the Decian persecution of the Christians.
Eusebius (ca. 265-ca. 339). Bishop of Caesarea and the father of church history, Eusebius was a central figure in the debate regarding the nature of Christ. As to whether the Son was equal with the Father or subordinate to the Father, Eusebius took moderate and sometimes conflicting positions. He was the leader of the Council of Tyre which led to Athanasius’s exile in 335. As an advisor to Emperor Constantine, Eusebius compiled a history of the church from the death of Christ to the Council of Nicaea in 325, which served as a seminal work for future historians.
Athanasius (ca. 296-373). The Bishop of Alexandria, Athanasius was a strong defender of the Trinity and a fierce opponent of Arianism. Arianism held that Christ was not eternal, but rather was created by the Father, so that there was “when he (Christ) was not.” Arians believed that Christ was “of a substance like the father” (homoiousious) while Athanasius held that Christ was “of one substance with the Father” (homoousios) and therefore eternal. Athanasius fought against the Arians, with eventual success, most of his life. During this period Athanasius held to the position that God is one (monotheism) and yet we are saved through Christ. For this to be so, Christ must be God because only God can give men eternal salvation.
John Chrysostom (ca. 347-407). A lawyer turned monk, John was one of the greatest preachers of his day. His preaching was enhanced by the fact that he was trained in rhetoric and had memorized the entire Old and New Testaments. In 398 he became the patriarch of Constantinople and began revitalizing the clergy, paying particular attention to the materialism and corruption he saw in the church. A sharp critic of materialism, John made many enemies, including the Emperor’s wife, Eudoxia. He was exiled in 404, and in 407, he was ordered to relocate to an even more remote place of exile. He died on this arduous journey.
Augustine (354-430). Bishop of Hippo (North Africa), Augustine had an enormous and lasting influence on Christianity. His body of writings is huge and much of Christian orthodoxy today is based on the works of Augustine. Augustine spent his life thinking about the relationship between faith and reason and defending the church against heresies. Augustine lived an active and colorful life (he reputedly said, “Lord, grant me celibacy—but not yet!) and he studied a variety of philosophies and religions until converting to Christianity after reading Romans 13:13-14. Among the many contributions made to Christian orthodoxy by Augustine is the concept that sin is caused by man misusing his free will to place his own will above God’s will. Because of original sin man is incapable of a relationship with God without God’s intervening grace. God gives this grace to some, but withholds it from others. Salvation is entirely God’s work, granted rather than earned. All good comes from God and to assign good to anything other than God is sin. Among his many works his most famous are The City of God and Confessions.
Anselm (1033-1109). Benedictine monk and archbishop of Canterbury, Anselm is considered one of the greatest medieval theologians. Anselm employed rigorous logic in his thought and his writings reveal a brilliant mind. He is the father of the ontological theory of God, which holds that God must exist because by definition God is the Being “than which no greater can be thought.” Since we can conceive of God, God must exist because if He did not exist He would not be greater than the thought of God, and God is, by definition, the entity which nothing greater can be thought. In his greatest work, Why God Became Man, Anselm explained that because man sinned, only man could rectify and pay for his sin. Yet man’s sin was so great that only God could make the appropriate atonement. Therefore, God became man in Christ, to atone for man’s sin. While Anselm was a great logician, he employed his powerful intellect in the service of faith, hence his motto, “Faith seeking understanding.”
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). Italian theologian and philosopher, Aquinas, along with Augustine, is one of the foremost Christian thinkers. Aquinas wrote over ninety works on wide-ranging topics from epistemology to metaphysics. Like Augustine, Aquinas believed that faith was based on revelation in Scripture, but that faith could be proven by reason if man’s reason were not obscured by sin. Nonetheless, Aquinas held that believers should use reason to think about their faith and to argue on its behalf. Aquinas argued that certain principles of logic are known a priori, or innately, such as the concept of identity (A = A), of non-contradiction (A is not not A), of the excluded middle (A is either A or it is not A), and of causality (non-being cannot cause being). With these principles in mind Aquinas determined that God alone is being and everything else only has being. God is the only necessary being and God created the world out of nothing (ex nihilo). God is eternal and the only non-created thing. Before God created time, time did not exist. Interestingly, modern science is in agreement with much of Aquinas’ thoughts on eternity and creation. The Big Bang theory, for example, holds that the universe is not eternal, but was created at a specific time in history. Prior to the Big Bang there was no time, space, or matter. This is in agreement with Aquinas’ view that God is a supernatural being who existed outside of and prior to time, space, and matter.
John Duns Scotus (1266-1308). Franciscan theologian who taught at Oxford, Paris, and Cologne. Scotus was a scholastic and so argued using high logic and reason, in the scholastic order, opposed the view of Thomas Aquinas that faith could be proven logically. Rather, Scotus argued, that certain articles of faith were simply a matter of belief, and not of logical conclusion, such as the resurrection and the incarnation. The word “dunce” comes from the detractors of Scotus who ridiculed people they disagreed with by calling them a “duns.”
Martin Luther (1483-1546). While studying law, Luther, fearing death in a thunderstorm, promised God he would become a monk if God spared him. As a monk and professor of Bible at the University of Wittenberg, Luther attempted to secure his salvation by adhering to a very strict code of ethics, obedience to the monastic order, and ceaseless confession. This proved unsatisfactory and Luther continued to have intense emotional struggles with his own salvation until an epiphany struck him in the tower of his Augustinian monastery. It was during this “tower experience” that Luther realized that salvation was a free gift imputed to man through Christ’s righteousness. We are justified by the grace of God through the atoning death of Jesus on the cross. Our good works, then, do not cause our salvation, but rather they are a result of our salvation. God does not love us because we are good—we are good because God loves us. With this new understanding of salvation, Luther went on to criticize the Catholic Church for, among other things, selling indulgences to people with the promise that these purchases would help assure their salvation. Luther protested this and other things in his famous Ninety-five Theses. This eventually led to a major conflict between Luther and his German supporters and the Catholic Church in Rome. The end result was the Protestant Reformation, although Luther saw himself not as the creator of a new church, but as a reformer of the Catholic Church, leading her back to the Pauline doctrine of justification by faith alone.
John Calvin (1509-1564). Lawyer and founder of the Reformed and Presbyterian doctrine. While a statesman and minister, his greatest contributions were in his writings on systematic theology (Institutes of the Christian Religion), which set forth a thorough and lucid doctrine of the faith. Calvin also wrote commentaries on 23 of the Old Testament books and all of the New Testament books, save the Apocalypse of John. Among his contributions is the doctrine of sola Scriptura (that we are to rely on Scripture alone to adduce the elements of our faith, and not on priests or the church), the depravity of man (man is fallen and incapable of self-redemption), and the sovereignty of God (God is in control of all things). His position on the sovereignty of God has raised questions regarding predestination and the free will of man. Next to Martin Luther, Calvin was the most important figure of the Protestant Reformation and his impact on Christianity has been profound.
Hugo Grotius (1583-1645). Considered the “father of international law,” Grotius was a Dutch jurist who worked to apply the rule of law internationally in an attempt to stop the on-going religious wars throughout Europe. Toward this end he also strived toward ecumenicalism to such a degree that some fellow Protestants accused him of converting to Catholicism. Grotius sided with the Arminians against the Calvinists, which resulted in him being sentenced to life in prison in 1618. However, in 1621 he escaped from prison by hiding in a book chest and spent most of the rest of his life in France. Grotius’ declared that all nations are subject to the same natural laws because God created a certain natural order that even He could not alter.
Rene Descartes (1596-1650). Mathematician and philosopher who set out to believe only those things of which he was absolutely certain. In doing this he came to the conclusion that the only thing he was absolutely certain about was that he thought, and so long as he thought, he must exist: I think, therefore I am: “Ego cogito, ergo sum.” Descartes also held that God must exist, because he has in his mind the idea of a perfect being and the idea of a perfect being could not be in his mind unless a perfect being placed that thought in his mind. Critics have since demonstrated many grave weaknesses in Descartes epistemology, but his works remain important to the study of philosophy.
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662). A brilliant mathematician and scientist, Pascal invented the first mechanical calculator, engaged in foundational research on vacuums and hydraulics, and formulated theories of probability and calculus. Pascal had an epiphany late in life and he became a devout Christian. He held that faith was more a psychological matter than a logical matter and that “the heart has its reasons, of which reason knows nothing.” He is well-known for “Pascal’s wager,” which simply states that if one bets on God and loses, he has lost nothing; whereas if one bets against God and loses he has lost everything. Therefore, a rational person would opt to believe.
John Locke (1632-1704). Most famous for his political philosophy ( he espoused the social contract theory in Essay Concerning Human Understanding) which greatly influenced the American Founding Fathers, Locke was also a strong advocate of Christianity (The Reasonableness of Christianity) and spent the last years of his life entirely devoted to the study of the Scriptures. Locke held that the essential belief of Christianity is that Jesus was the Messiah, and while claiming that irrefutable proof of this is impossible, a reasonable inquiry into the facts would support Christian doctrine as highly probable.
George Berkeley (1685-1753). Irish philosopher who denied the existence of material things. Berkeley held that the only way we can be aware of anything is to have a perception, or idea of that thing. The reason we can be sure that our idea of an object is correct, is because the idea of the object is the object. The object itself does not exist outside our idea of it. Berkeley believed things continued to exist even when we were not perceiving them because God was perceiving them. He further held that Christ was fully man in the same way that we are physical beings, i.e., we are real because God has a perception of us. This eliminates the mind/body problem, and posits that all things are, in reality, simply ideas of God that appear to have material attributes, but that are in fact perceptions of ideas.
Joseph Butler (1692-1752). Butler, a prominent member of both church and state in England, was the leading critic of Deism. Deism, popular in Butler’s day, is an Enlightenment philosophy that holds God was the first cause, but otherwise is uninvolved in the workings of the universe and the life of men. Deism is an attempt to reconcile the scientific materialism of the Enlightenment with the idea of a Creator. It rejects the Trinity, the Incarnation, miracles, and other supernatural acts, and leaves God only as the first mover. Butler successfully attacked this view by showing that the God of creation is also the God of revelation and by showing that there seems to be an intricate and planned design to the universe. If God works with an intelligent design and purpose to create the universe, there is no reason to doubt His ability to act in the lives of His creation.
Thomas Reid (1710-1796). Scottish critic of David Hume, Descartes, Locke, and Berkeley, who all were skeptical that we could ever truly know reality because all we know only what we perceive, but not necessarily what is. Reid held that there are certain first principles or judgments of nature that God endows us with which permit us to know reality directly. This “common sense” allows us to know the existence of external objects, the law of cause and effect, and the moral law, among other things. These common senses need not be proven, but may be considered self-evident, because to doubt them would lead to absurd conclusions. This “common sense” realism allows us to know that things (perhaps, including ourselves) exist without having to logically prove it.
William Paley (1743-1805). Anglican graduate of Cambridge and Fellow of Christ’s College, he is famous for the teleological argument for the existence of God. This position holds that the exquisite and intricate detail of life is explained by a master craftsman. That such irreducibly complex organisms as the human eye, for example, are more consistent with an intelligent designer than with random evolution. Paley gives the famous example of a traveler finding a watch on the beach. Did the watch and all its intricate functions, evolve from nothing, or is the watch evidence of watchmaker? Paley suggests that God is the divine watchmaker. This position is attacked by atheist Richard Dawkins in The Blind Watchmaker. However, while Dawkins claims to be able to explain intricate life forms via evolution, he admits that there is no agreed upon explanation of how the cosmos could have evolved in such a way to support life.
Charles Hodge (1797-1878). Princeton professor and one of the most influential Presbyterian theologians in America. His most famous work, the three-volume Systematic Theology keeps an all-powerful God at the center of creation and salvation and critiques those who detract from an omnipotent God by relying too heavily on the powers of nature (evolution) in the process of creation or the power of man (good works) in the process of salvation.
Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855). Kierkegaard is difficult to label, and that is probably as he would have liked it. He is regarded as the founder of existentialism, although he railed against any “system” of philosophy his entire life. Kierkegaard held that existence itself, with the subjective and personal feelings that accompany life, are impossible to categorize in any purely intellectual and objective philosophy. Life consists in a series of decisions that each individual must make of their own free will. The existence of God, according to Kierkegaard, cannot be logically or objectively proven, but requires a passionate commitment to God in face of uncertainty. Kierkegaard refers to this commitment as a “leap of faith,” and he believed that this freely chosen leap of faith is the essence of authentic existence. Kierkegaard’s philosophy was significantly shaped by his relationship with Regine Olsen, a woman whom he deeply loved but broke his engagement with in an intentional act of sacrifice which Kierkegaard compared to Abraham’s willingness to kill Isaac. He spent the last years of his life in a bitter struggle against what he considered the formalism of the Dutch Lutheran Church.
Abraham Kuyper (1837-1920). Dutch theologian and politician, he became the Prime Minister in 1900. A champion of individual liberty, he was suspicious of concentrated power in either the hands of the state or business. A prolific writer, Kuyper’s greatest contributions are his works on common grace and on the kingdom of God.
B. B. Warfield (1851-1921). A strict Calvinist, Warfield chaired the theology department at Princeton University, where he criticized liberalism for its aggrandizement of man’s role in salvation and its minimization of God’s divine authority. In the battle between progressives and fundamentalists, Warfield was critical of both camps. He applauded the intellectual rigor of the progressives but rejected their conclusions. He agreed with the conclusions of the fundamentalists, particularly their position that Scripture is inerrant, but rejected their anti-intellectual approach. Warfield’s famous essay, “Inspiration,” written with A. A. Hodge in 1881, is an excellent defense of the infallibility of the Scriptures and is to this day an excellent source for conservative evangelicals on this issue.
G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936). A popular writer of both theology and fiction, Chesterton strived to entertain with his wit as well as elucidate with his wisdom. He anticipated postmodern relativism and noted that the world had become so fascinated with the faddish and novel that the only prohibition was orthodoxy. He wrote that the acid test of all religions was to ask, “What do they deny?” In his most famous work, Orthodoxy (1908), Chesterton said he set out with the intention of abandoning all conventional wisdom and finding the truth, and at the end of his journey he had discovered that the truth was hiding in front of him as orthodoxy. Chesterton’s views were prescient—today it is novel to believe in the traditional doctrines of the faith. We have come full circle.
Charles H. Dodd (1884-1973). Congregational minister and Oxford theologian, Dodd is one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century. His work included exhaustive studies of the parables and a groundbreaking interpretation of the Gospel of John. Perhaps his most original contribution was his concept of “realized eschatology,” the view that the kingdom of God is not some future event, but has already been ushered in by Christ. This view became widespread among theologians, but it has recently been successfully criticized. One criticism is that such a view is not unequivocally supported by the teachings of Christ, and that such a “realized eschatology” replaces the supernatural and eternal kingdom of God with a secular and materialist “heaven on earth.” Perhaps the best way to view the kingdom of God is that it is both present and coming—both now and not yet.
Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971). As the pastor of Detroit’s Bethel Evangelical Church, Niebuhr became concerned that industrialization would lead to social inequalities and demoralization of the working class. Later, as a professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York he developed “Christian realism,” which was an attempt to apply the teachings of Christ to modern social conditions. This led to his initial support of socialism and pacifism, but after World War II, Niebuhr abandoned these philosophies. Niebuhr is among the most popular theologians of the twentieth century, but has been criticized for politicizing the words of Christ and reducing them to a message about man and his social improvement. Some hold that Niebuhr led to the modern view of Christ as a progressive social worker rather than the divine Son of God. In an attempt to make the Gospel “relevant” to modern social problems, Niebuhr inadvertently helped to secularize Christianity and to place man at the center of the universe, and of Christ’s teachings, rather than God. A popular critique of the secularization of Christianity is found in Mark A. Stelter’s, The Gospel According to Christ.
Cornelius Van Til (1895-1987). Professor at Calvin Theological Seminary, Princeton Seminary, and Westminister Theological Seminary, Van Til is best-known for his view that secular thought and Christian thought each come with certain presuppositions. Good Christian thinking presupposes the ontological Trinity, the doctrine of creation, and the infallibility of Scripture. Secular thinking begins with the false presupposition that man can rely on autonomous reason to discern the truth. Van Til argued, often vehemently and aggressively, that all correct thinking must begin with Christian presuppositions or it will be impossible to discover the truth about reality.
C. S. Lewis (1898-1963). Arguably the most popular apologist of the twentieth century, Clives Staples Lewis was a professor of Medieval English at Cambridge. A highly successful writer of fiction (The Chronicles of Narnia) and non-fiction (Mere Christianity), Lewis had the uncanny ability to express profound theological thought into lucid and powerful language accessible to the common reader. Lewis’ Narnia books are among the best-selling children’s books ever written and his comic, Screwtape Letters, a fictional account of Satan training a demon, sold over a million copies when it was published in 1943.
F. F. Bruce (1910-1990). One of the leading theologians of the twentieth century, Bruce was an outstanding Old Testament and New Testament scholar. He authored over 50 books and hundreds of articles, mostly on the exegesis (interpretation and meaning) of the Bible. Bruce rigorously attempted to review the Scriptures without any presuppositions and to let the truth fall where it may. Most of his interpretation of the Scriptures falls in alignment with what might be considered a conservative view, although Bruce held this was a result of his studies, not a presupposition of them. One of his most original contributions is his belief that the Scriptures show an “progressive unveiling” of God and that this progressive unveiling of salvation history shows that the Old Testament and the New Testament are intricately intertwined.
Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984). Although born and educated in the United States, Schaeffer did most of his work at L’Abri, a retreat he established for Christians in Switzerland. Schaeffer was a popular apologist and critic of Western culture. Schaeffer believed that Western thought had elevated man and his alleged autonomous reason above the revealed word of God as found in the Scriptures. This worship of man, stemming from the Enlightenment, ended in nihilism, moral relativity, and secular humanism. Once man unloosed his moral foundation from God, no absolutes remained, and man was left in the abyss. Schaeffer believed the solution to this tragedy was to return to the objective moral truths found in Scripture.
Carl F. H. Henry (b. 1913). One of the leading American evangelical theologians and former editor of Christianity Today (1955-1968), Henry has written extensively, and often pessimistically, about the future of Christianity in the West. Henry believes that existential, postmodern thought has largely succeeded in transforming our culture into a secular society where many are ignorant of even our former Christian history, much less theology. The way back, according to Henry, is to remember that the “foolishness” of God is greater than the “wisdom” of the world and to embrace the infallibility of the Scriptures and the traditional Christian orthodoxy.
Wolfhart Pannenberg (b. 1928). German theologian who believes that the Christian faith is evidenced in temporal, historic events that are as available to study and confirmation as is any other historical event. He rejects the views that faith can only be found existentially or subjectively, and holds that Christianity may be affirmed by common evidence, reason, and historical analysis. For example, Pannenberg holds that the resurrection is an objective, historical fact and that evidence can be accumulated for its proof. However, he cautions that the full truth of God and history will not be known until the eschaton (last days) because we see now only dimly. Nonetheless, Christian truths are as discoverable as are any others, and Pannenberg holds that we do Christianity a disservice by treating it as a purely mystical, spiritual, and objective phenomenon.
Alvin Plantinga (b. 1932). Calvinist philosopher who has taught at Calvin College, Wayne State University, Yale, and Notre Dame. A prolific writer, his greatest contributions have come in theodicy and epistemology. His theodicy (justification for God in the face of evil) holds that God is omnipotent and omnibenevolent, yet evil still exists because God has given men free will. Men have free will so they can love God, if they choose. God could not force men to love Him, because forced love is not love. So free will is necessary. Yet free will allows men to engage in evil. Epistemologically (the nature of knowledge) Plantinga has written that beliefs in God is a “properly basic” or fundamental belief, and as such it does not need to be proven or justified. It is a belief instilled in us by God in His divine plan, and so is foundational or seminal and has no other source or reason. We can, then, rationally believe in God without proving that God exists.
Richard Swinburne (b. 1934). Oxford philosopher of science and religion, especially noted for his work on theodicy and cosmology. As a scientific philosopher, Swinburne argues that the nature of the universe, both in the fact that anything exists at all, and in the seemingly anthropic (created for human life) design of the universe, makes it more probable than not that God exists. Swinburne is one of several apologists who uses science as proof of the existence of God.
Coming Soon—Biographies of Accomplished Contemporary Apologists:
Norman Geisler
Peter Kreeft
Phillip Johnson
William Lane Craig
Craig Evans
Gary Habermas
Michael Behe
Craig Blomberg
William Dembski
Josh McDowell (b. 1939). Author of over 70 books, including the enormously influential Evidence That Demands a Verdict and More Than a Carpenter, McDowell is closely associated with Campus Crusade for Christ, a Christian organization that has evangelized to millions of college students across the world, including Marxists and Fascists. McDowell was raised in an abusive home and was an atheist until, as a college student, he set out to prove that Christianity was false. It was while gathering research for this atheist-driven project that he realized the evidence, to his surprise, favored Christianity. McDowell lives in Dallas, Texas.
J. P. Moreland (b. 1948). Moreland is a philosopher and theologian perhaps best known for his defense of Christianity against the attacks of scientific materialists. Moreland, who holds degrees in chemistry philosophy, makes a compelling case against the pretensions of scientific atheism using logic and science as his weapons of choice. Scaling the Secular City and Christianity and the Nature of Science are two of his better works. He teaches at Talbot Theological Seminary at Biola University in California.
Hugh Ross (b.
R. C. Sproul (b. 1939). Calvinist apologist, Sproul has written and spoken extensively on the sovereignty of God. His book, The Holiness of God, is an intellectually rigorous examination of God’s character. Sproul has also written intelligently on the origins of the universe, most notably in Not a Chance: The Myth of Chance in Modern Science and Cosmology. In this work, and others, Sproul rejects materialism and makes a compelling case for the intelligent design based upon the apparent “fine-tuning” of the universe. Sproul teaches at St. Andrews University in Florida and is the founder of Ligonier Ministries.
Ravi Zacharias (b. 1946). Zacharias, born in India, descends from a long-line of Hindu priests, although as a young man he rejected all gods. He attempted to kill himself at age 17 by drinking poison. While recovering in the hospital, his mother read the Gospel of John to him. Zacharias says that John 14:19 was the passage that brought him to Christ. Raised in India and educated at Cambridge, Zacharias is well-acquainted with other world religions and is therefore an outstanding international apologist. He has lectured at prominent universities in more than 50 countries and is the author of such works as Jesus Among Other Gods. His radio program, “Let My People Think!” is broadcast from Atlanta to over 1,500 stations worldwide.
An excellent resource, and one that was freely used in the above compilations, is the Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2d ed., edited by Walter A. Elwell (Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, MI,
2007).