#340 Apologetics Isn't a Dirty Word: What Everyone Gets Wrong, with Douglas Groothuis

The Alisa Childers Podcast

Alisa Childers

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality, Spirituality

4.8 • 5K Ratings

🗓️ 3 November 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today I’m joined by philosopher and veteran apologist Dr. Douglas Groothuis to tackle the biggest misconceptions about Christian apologetics—what it is (and isn’t), why it matters for evangelism and discipleship, and how to respond when critics dismiss apologetics as mere talking points. We unpack methods (classical/evidential vs. presuppositional), the role of evidence and story, why humility and love are non-negotiable, and how everyday Christians can give reasons for the hope within them with both gentleness and respect.Along the way, I share updates: a new Unshaken Faith episode where Natasha and I review Jen Hatmaker’s Awake, the release of my Another Gospel?—Student Edition (with new discussion questions and side notes), and details on our final Unshaken Conference of the year in the Dallas area on November 8.------------------------------------------------------------------This video is sponsored by:BRAVE BOOKSEntertainment that Engages the Imagination for Good. Go to www.bravebooks.com/childers (http://www.bravebooks.com/childers) for more informationUse my code: CHILDERSSEVEN WEEKS COFFEETaste the Coffee that is Saving Lives.Go to www.sevenweekscoffee.com (http://www.sevenweekscoffee.com/) for more information.Use my code: ALISA--------------------------------------------------------------------To Purchase the new CD, “Beauty from the Ash”, go to www.alisachilders.com/music (http://www.alisachilders.com/music)There you can get the CD, backing tracks, string charts, rhythm charts and stems.Support us on Patreon: www.patreon.com/alisachilders (http://www.patreon.com/alisachilders)To order “Another Gospel”: www.alisachilders.com/another-gospel/ (http://www.alisachilders.com/another-gospel/)To order “Live Your Truth": www.alisachilders.com/live-your-truth-and-other-lies/ (http://www.alisachilders.com/live-your-truth-and-other-lies/)To order “The Deconstruction of Christianity”: https://alisachilders.com/the-deconstruction-of-christianity/ (https://alisachilders.com/the-deconstruction-of-christianity/)For Alisa's Merch: https://alisachilders.creator-spring.com (https://alisachilders.creator-spring.com/)To see what gear Alisa uses to record her podcast, go to:https://kit.co/alisachilders (https://kit.co/alisachilders)Potential Sponsors: https://alisachilders.com/sponsor-request-form/ (https://alisachilders.com/sponsor-request-form/)Product links are affiliate links which means if you buy something we'll receive a small commission.

Transcript

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0:00.0	And then I started to look at the comments to what I said.
0:05.0	And there were things like, oh, of course he would say that.
0:10.0	He teaches apologetics.
0:12.0	Okay.
0:14.0	I do.
0:16.0	So is that sort of like being a thief or a pathological liar, being an apologist?
0:23.6	And of course, I have no degrees in apologetics.
0:26.6	They're all in philosophy.
0:28.6	You know, you can't make someone intellectually serious if they don't want to be. Hey, everyone, welcome to the Elisa Childers podcast. I'm Elisa Childers, and I have a great
0:45.3	episode for you today. I'm actually really excited about this one because we're going to be
0:49.8	talking about objections to apologetics. Very often when you engage with progressive Christians or even
0:56.1	some atheists, they have this idea about Christian apologetics, that it's just circling the wagons
1:01.4	or repeating talking points. And I don't think people realize how robust a discipline it is.
1:06.2	So we're going to talk all about that in today's episode with Dr. Doug Groytice. I want to let you know that today's
1:11.7	episode is brought to you by Brave Books, a Christian Children's Entertainment Company.
1:15.5	That is so awesome. You can go to Bravebooks.com slash Childers for 20% off again, Bravebooks.com
1:21.3	slash Childers. All right, before we get to this episode with Doug, I want to talk about a couple of
1:27.1	upcoming announcements. So I want to let
1:29.4	you know, first of all, that we have another episode of our Unshaken Faith podcast out. You can find
1:34.3	that on YouTube. You can find it wherever you get your audio podcasts. And this is a long episode
1:40.7	where Natasha Crane and I, we read Jen Hatmaker's new bestselling book. In fact,
1:45.8	this book called Awake sold 100,000 copies, I think, in its first two weeks. So this book
	...

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