2011 Year in Review: Apologetics 315

This year has gone fast. With 2012 on the horizon, it’s time to review what has happened on Apologetics315 during 2011. This year saw over one million page views and half a million visitors to the site. Thanks for being one of them.

One feature of the blog that continues to be a favorite feature is the Weekly Apologetics Bonus Links. Because there is so much going on in the world of Christian apologetics, these weekly links provide a sort of short-list of what’s happening during the week: good blog posts, events, new books, and news items. Some bloggers work hard to get on this list on a weekly basis, so you should visit them.

The Bonus Links are fed in large part by Apologetics 315’s Twitter feed, which is a great way to keep up to date with these sorts of items. The Facebook page has also grown to over 4,500 members, who enjoy a daily link to the apologetics resources. If you have not yet subscribed to these, please consider doing so. You won’t get more than one post a day on Facebook.

My favorite feature that has continued to grow in 2011 is the Apologetics 315 Interviews. This is a weekly interview with a Christian apologist, theologian, scientist, historian, author or philosopher. This year we broke the 100-interview mark. (You can subscribe to that podcast here.)

This year I interviewed 52 guests. I was thrilled to interview Alvin Plantinga, a living legend, and enjoyed a number of favorite interviews. A few that I really enjoyed this year included Craig Evans, John Warwick Montgomery, Timothy McGrew, Peter Kreeft, Craig Blomberg, Alister McGrath and Lee Strobel. I also worked with Clay Jones to produce a three-part interview about the Crusades, found here.

It was a pleasure teaming up with the blogger WinteryKnight for him to interview me a bit about apologetics. In addition, Jeremiah J. Johnston did a Skype interview with me for the Christian Thinkers Society, which I enjoyed.

Another MP3 by me which you might want to check out is Person-Sensitive Apologetics. I wrote this short essay and then recorded it to audio. It’s about how to be sensitive to your audience when doing apologetics. Check it out here.

Apologetics 315 launched a YouTube Channel this year. This is a video version of some of the Apologetics 315 Interviews. Check it out here.

Another project this year was the Read Along with Apologetics 315 project. This is a weekly, chapter-by-chapter study through Douglas Groothuis‘ excellent new book Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Christianity. This project has been going on for 15 weeks and will continue into 2012. By then anyone who wants to gain a good foundational grasp of the wide scope of Christian apologetics can use the custom-made study guide and work through the book at their own pace.

I was not able to review many books personally this year, due to finishing up a Masters of Arts in Christian Apologetics from Columbia Evangelical Seminary. (I interviewed CES’s president, Rick Walston, right here.) It was a great program, which I recommend. In the meantime, I enlisted the help of a team of book reviewers to work on tackling a growing number of books that are sure to be helpful for Christian apologists. Apologetics 315 reviewed a book every week this year.

Apologetics 315 reviewed apologetics “products” as well. Of particular note was the Biola Distance Learning Certificate, reviewed in three parts. This was a great program to take part in, so please consider doing the program yourself. Find the review here. The Metamorphosis DVD by Illustra Media was also reviewed this year.

Debates are a regular feature at Apologetics 315. Here are some featured this year:
• Walter Martin vs. Madalyn Murray O’Hair
• Douglas Jacoby vs. Robert Brotherus Debate
• William Lane Craig vs. Peter Millican
• William Lane Craig vs. Michael Tooley
• William Lane Craig vs. Stephen Law
• Greg Koukl vs John Baker
• Scott Klusendorf vs. Nadine Strossen Debate
• William Lane Craig vs. Herb Silverman Debate
• Jay Smith & Shabir Ally
• William Lane Craig vs. AC Grayling
• Dinesh D’Souza vs Bart Ehrman
• Michael Licona vs Stephen Patterson
• William Lane Craig vs. Sam Harris
• William Lane Craig vs. Lawrence Krauss
• Jay Smith & Khalil Meek
• Joe Boot vs. Clare Rowson
• William Lane Craig vs. George Williamson

Now in its second year, Reasonable Faith Belfast continued to have sessions, which included some Skype guests. These included Paul Copan on the topic Is God a Moral Monster?, and Timothy McGrew on the Gospels and Acts as History. The latter talk was notable, as it was recorded, along with the powerpoint, and provided here.

Apologetics 315 also partnered with the International Society of Women in Apologetics to feature a series of essays from women in apologetics. Those essays can be found here.

This year Apologetics 315 teamed up with New Zealand blogger and Christian philosopher Matthew Flannagan to create a podcast series on logical fallacies entitled Fallacy Friday. You can subscribe to it here.

Athanotos Christian Ministries held its annual online apologetics conference. I was able to take part, teaching a four-part series Introducing Logic and Critical Thinking.

Per tradition, I did my yearly update of my list of the Top 16 Apologetics Podcasts. There were also various book giveaways this year. And there was also a great Kindle giveaway as well. Lots of cults resources were added and featured this year. There was an apologetics quote every Sunday. Terminology Tuesday continues to crank out the weekly posts, providing a quick and concise way to assimilate common theological and apologetic terms.

Apologetics 315 supported and attended two UK-based apologetics conferences sponsored by Premier Christian Radio‘s Unbelievable? Radio Program.

Much more has happened with Apologetics 315 besides regular daily posts. Apologetics 315 was also incorporated, awaiting 501c3 status. Lord willing, this will allow for further growth, better quality and quantity or resources, and reaching more people.

Please pray for 2012 to be another good year. God bless, and thanks for reading!
– Brian Auten