Core Apologetics: defend the truth of Christianity
Best done after Islam 101
Defend Christianity's central claims with primary sources and a steady tone. Eight core lessons covering the deity of Jesus, the Trinity, the cross, the resurrection, prophetic fulfillment, biblical reliability, the problem of evil, and exclusivity. Deeper material — minimal-facts resurrection, manuscript transmission, the moral argument, comparative monotheism — lives in Advanced Apologetics.
What you will be able to do
By the end of this track, you will be able to: state the case for Jesus's deity, the Trinity, the atonement, the resurrection, and biblical reliability with primary sources, and answer the standard moral objections to hell and Christian exclusivism.
Lessons are ordered for the best build-up, but you can open any of them. We'll mark the recommended next lesson so you always know where to pick back up.
- 1
Why Jesus must be God
15 minWalk the deity claims in their first-century Jewish categories — John 8:58, John 10:30-33, Mark 14:61-64, John 20:28, Matthew 28:18-20.
4 readingsIncludes practice - 2
The Trinity defended
15 minDistinguish 'person' from 'being,' refute tritheism, and connect the Trinity to the gospel of love.
4 readingsIncludes practice - 3
Why the atonement is just, not cruel
15 minDefend substitutionary atonement against 'divine child abuse' — God paying the just penalty himself in the Son.
3 readingsIncludes practice - 4
The resurrection: best explanation
16 minWalk the earliest creed (1 Cor 15:3-8), named witnesses, the empty tomb, and the transformation of skeptics — show why the resurrection is the best explanation of the historical evidence.
2 readingsIncludes practice - 5
The cross foretold in the prophets
16 minWalk Isaiah 53, Psalm 22, Zechariah 12:10, and Daniel 9 as a Christian foundation — centuries before Jesus, in their own context.
1 reading - 6
The Bible we have is reliable
15 minMake the positive Christian case for biblical reliability — manuscript transmission, canon, internal coherence — not only as a response to taḥrīf.
4 readingsIncludes practice - 7
The problem of evil
16 minAnswer the strongest moral, logical, and evidential versions of the problem of evil from a Christian theistic frame.
3 readings - 8
Hell, exclusivity, and the love of God
16 minEngage the standard moral objections to hell and Christian exclusivism without softening the gospel or the love of God.
3 readings