Welcome to the BLADE! The purpose of the BLADE is to “sharpen the mind to defend and proclaim the truth by serving the church and building the scholar.” You will find numerous resources on this site aimed at challenging your mind and strengthening your faith in Christ. You will find articles that are both academic and non-academic, book reviews on current popular and academic books, answers to questions about the Christian faith, and even pages that list good books to read that cover different aspects of Christian theology, apologetics, and ministry.
Perhaps you may be asking yourself, why another website devoted to Christian theology and apologetics? With the numerous websites and blogs by popular Christian theologians and philosophers already taking up much of cyberspace, it may seem redundant or superfluous to have yet another. Let me offer several reasons why the BLADE is an important and unique addition to the already existing websites and blogs.
First, as the purpose statement indicates, the BLADE has a two-fold focus: to defend and to proclaim truth. This means that the BLADE provides resources not only in apologetics (defending truth) but also theology (proclaiming truth). Typically, websites are exclusively devoted to apologetics or theology, not both. The BLADE, therefore, provides a wide range of resources for the Christian, considering that apologetics and theology include numerous subdivision and topics, such as philosophy, philosophical theology, ethics, worldview, and even ministry.
Second, the BLADE has two ways in which to accomplish its task of “sharpening the mind”: by serving the church and building the scholar. It is often the case that topics like theology or apologetics is far removed from the local church. This is to say, many Christians are greatly uninformed about Christian theology, not to mention that many Christians lack the ability to give a reason for “the hope” that is in them (1 Pet. 3:15). The BLADE desires to help rectify this problem by bridging the gap between scholarship and the local church. The BLADE is here to serve not only scholars pursuing academic interests, but the local church. The local church has for far too long neglected the development of the mind to understand the content of the Christian faith and to articulate why the Christian faith is reasonable and true. It is the hope of the BLADE that no matter who visits the website, academician or not, will find something to sharpen the mind to defend and proclaim truth.
Third, the BLADE has its roots in the Restoration Movement (RM), a Christian movement that began in the early 19th century which is now more known by churches that go by the name “Christian Church” or “Church of Christ.” This makes the BLADE a unique addition to the already existing websites devoted to apologetics or theology for several reasons. First, the RM is typically unknown to many Christian evangelicals and thus provides the BLADE the opportunity to introduce this Christian tradition of rich biblical scholarship and spirituality. Second, some evangelicals who may be familiar with the RM have at times misunderstood this Christian fellowship of churches. The BLADE will be a tremendous aid in helping clarify what exactly the RM believes and is about. Finally, the BLADE aims to help reshape the identity of the RM. Just like evangelicalism in general, the RM is currently suffering from an identity crisis. The BLADE desires to bring identity to the RM again—a once strong, biblical Christian tradition.
It is my hope that you find the BLADE a helpful resource in sharpening your mind to defend and proclaim truth. In the future the BLADE will add other ministries to serve the church and build the scholar, such as conferences and publications. For now, enjoy the website!
Grace,
Peter