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International Academy of Apologetics,
Evangelism & Human Rights
Purpose,
Activities, and Commitment to Historic Christianity and to Academic Freedom
Purpose
To fulfill, on the eve of a new millennium, the late
Wilbur M. Smith’s "call for a vigorous apologetic" for historic Christian
faith over against secular philosophies of life, misleading religious options, and cultic
and sectarian viewpoints. The Academy takes with utmost seriousness as it’s raison
d’être the Petrine injunction: "Be ready always to give an answer [Gk., apologia
to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you" (1 Pet.
3:15). It sees this task as especially acute at a time when so many within the Church have
fallen into experiential and subjective modes of evangelism and are neglecting the
objective and factual foundations of all proper Christian proclamation; and in an era
where human rights are increasingly lauded as an ideal by the secularist but without any
solid, transcendent basis for affirming their inalienable character.
Activities
The Academy envisages a variety of means to carry out
its goals. Inter alia, it shall encourage its Fellows and supporters to lecture and
publish widely in defense of the faith once delivered to the saints; to engage in radio,
television, and internet ministries, following the Pauline principle of becoming "all
things to all people that by all means some might be saved" (1 Cor.
9:22); to promote evangelistic seminars and conferences with apologetic thrust for both
laity and clergy; to promote the introduction or reintroduction of serious apologetic
instruction into the curricula of Christian schools, Bible colleges, and theological
seminaries.
The focal center of the Academy's work lies, however, in
the training of Christian apologists, achieved primarily through Its annual summer study
sessions in Strasbourg, France. Successful participation in these sessions may lead to
certification by, or Fellow's or Diplomate's credentials from, the Academy.
Commitment to Historic Christianity and to Academic
Freedom
The Academy fully recognizes that adequate defense of
biblical faith requires a clear understanding of and commitment to the substance of
scriptural teaching -- which, in turn, demands unqualified subscription to the authority
of God's written word as constituted by the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments
and recognition of their central teaching as recovered by the Reformers of the 16th
century, namely, that "we are justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of
the law" (Gal. 2:16). To that end, all Fellows of the Academy, Faculty at its study
sessions, and members of its Advisory Board, personally commit themselves to the Academy's
Statement of Faith.
The International Academy of Apologetics, Evangelism
& Human Rights accepts the Holy Scriptures as the revealed and inerrant word of God,
the all-sufficient rule for faith and practice; and for purpose of explicating the
biblical message adopts ex corde and without mental reservation the Apostles' Creed as its
statement of fundamental beliefs, to wit:
1. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of
heaven and earth;
2. And In Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
3. Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
4. Born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius
Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried:
5. He descended into Hell, the third day He rose again
from the dead, He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God, the Father
Almighty:
6. From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the
dead.
7. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic (i.e.,
Christian, universal) Church, the Communion of Saints; the forgiveness of sins;
8. The Resurrection of the body, and the life
everlasting. Amen.
The Academy additionally commits itself to the following
hermeneutic principles for the proper understanding of biblical truth:
I. A passage of Holy Scripture is to be taken as true in
Its natural, Iiteral sense unless the context of the passage itself indicates otherwise,
or unless an article of faith established elsewhere in Scripture requires a broader
understanding of the text.
II. The prime article of faith applicable to biblical
interpretation is the attitude of Christ and His Apostles toward the Scriptures. Their
utter trust In Scripture -- in all it teaches -- must govern the interpreter's practice,
thus eliminating in principle any interpretation which sees the biblical texts as
erroneous or self-contradictory.
III. Extra-biblical linguistic and cultural
considerations must never decide the interpretation of a text, and any use of
extra-biblical material to arrive at an interpretation inconsistent with the truth of a
scriptural passage is to be rejected. Extra-biblical data can and should put critical
questions to a text., but only Scripture Itself can legitimately answer questions about
itself.
IV. Not all literary forms are consistent with
scriptural revelation. The interpreter must not appeal to destructive literary forms (such
as mythology) which cast doubt on the reliability or the morality of the Divine Author of
Scripture.
V. The interpreter should employ all tools of scholarly
research that do not make experience, reason, or feeling the basis of Interpretation. Such
practices are identified by their assumptions, which either (as in demythologizing) do
violence to articles of faith, or (like certain documentary theories) oppose the clarity
of the authentic biblical texts and the factuality of the events recorded in them, or
(like the so-called "new hermeneutic") give to the sinful cultural context, past
and present, a definitive role in the formulation of biblical teaching. These and other
unscriptural techniques are to be studiously avoided in carrying out the task of
interpretation.
VI. Harmonization of apparent scriptural difficulties
should be pursued within reasonable limits, and when the harmonization would pass beyond
such bounds, the interpreter must leave the problem open rather than, by assuming error,
impugn the absolute truthfulness of God, who inspires all Holy Scripture for our salvation
and learning. We hold with St. Augustine (De Potent., IV, 1,8): "If you chance
upon anything (in Scripture) that does not seem to be true, you must not conclude that the
sacred writer made a mistake; rather your attitude should be: the manuscript is faulty, or
the version is not accurate, or you yourself do not understand the matter."
* * *
The Academy has an open admissions policy. Qualified
students are encouraged to apply whatever their race, age, sex, nationality or religious
affiliation. No doctrinal test is required of any person attending the Academy's study
sessions. The Academy is committed to open and rigorous scholarly discourse- on
theological and doctrinal issues, as well as on all other controverted questions
(politics, etc.). Healthy and responsible scholarly debate is encouraged as a prime avenue
to the discovery of truth and justice. The Academy encourages those who are genuinely
searching for truth to benefit from its full range of activities.
From the classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th
Ed:
"ACADEMIES. The word "academy" Is derived from "the olive grove of
Academe, Plato's retirement," the birthplace of the Academic school of philosophy.
The schools of Athens after the model of the Academy continued to flourish almost without
a break for nine centuries till they were abolished by a decree of Justinian. it was not
without significance in tracing the history of the word that Cicero gave the name to his
villa near Puteoli. It was there that he entertained his cultured friends and held the
symposia which he afterwards elaborated in Academic Questions and other philosophic
and moral dialogues.
'Academy,' In its modern acceptation, may be defined as
a society or corporate body having for its object the cultivation and promotion of
literature, of science and of art, either severally or in combination..."
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