Literary Apologetics Program
About the ACM Literary Apologetics Certificate Program
ACM’s Literary Apologetics Certificate Program is designed to ensure that our artists are theologically informed, alert to modern challenges to the faith, and understand that having a genuine Christian faith is no substitute for the need for excellence in our writing. The program is directed by Dr. Holly Ordway.
What Is Literary Apologetics?
Literary apologetics is the sharing of the truth of the Christian faith through the use of the Imagination in stories, poetry, drama, and song. Stories, poetry, and drama can help us to both comprehend the truth (with our intellect) and apprehend it (imaginatively and emotionally). Literature can open doors, challenge assumptions, and most importantly provide a glimpse of experienced truth. Stories invite readers to indeed “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).
Why We Need Literary Apologetics
Many people today have negative reactions to words like ‘Jesus’ or ‘faith’ or ‘church,’ or dismiss evangelism by saying ‘whatever works for you is fine.’ It is vitally important that we be able to show people that indeed Christianity is true, that it is reasonable to believe — but how can we do that if our audience won’t listen? We need a mode of apologetics to help get past what C.S. Lewis so aptly called the “watchful dragons” of skepticism, hostility, and indifference in our culture.
ACM’s Literary Apologetics Certificate Program
We need a new generation of Christian writers who are committed to the Christian life in thought, word, and deed, and who show forth that living truth in their work. As the director of the Literary Apologetics Certificate at Athanatos Christian Ministries, I am pleased to take part in the work of equipping writers to do this important work.
The Literary Apologetics Certificate offers a series of classes to equip writers and other artists to share the truth of Christianity through their work. The Certificate program has two main parts, the “literary” and the “apologetics,” with a total of sixteen classes divided equally between the two components. Participants may also take individual classes without signing up for the Certificate. Click here for more details about the classes.
Information for Prospective Students
All classes are entirely online, making it ideal for people with full-time work, ministry, or family responsibilities. Participants can sign up for the entire certificate program, or for individual courses.
Writers of all levels of experience are welcome: beginning, intermediate, or advanced. Because the classes are small, each participant will be receive one-on-one attention and feedback on writing projects. No apologetics background or prior degrees are required. The program is not accredited, as the focus is more practical than academic, with a focus on writing workshops with the ultimate objective of participants using the apologetics material that they have learned in published writing (in print, online, in churches, and so on).
The program is open to all who affirm the orthodox Christian faith as expressed in the Nicene Creed, the Apostles Creed, and the Athanasian Creed, whatever their church affiliation. At ACM, we acknowledge that Christians disagree on various issues, and indeed the ACM faculty do not necessarily hold the same positions on these issues; we are committed to a gracious, winsome focus on the core truths of ‘mere Christianity.’
Questions?
About ACM’s Literary Apologetics Certificate Program Director
Dr Holly Ordway is a poet, academic, and Christian apologist. She holds a PhD in English from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, an MA in English Literature from UNC Chapel Hill, and an MA in Christian Apologetics from Biola University.
She writes on the role of imagination and literature in apologetics, with special attention to the work of CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, and Charles Williams. She is the author of Not God’s Type: A Rational Academic Finds a Radical Faith.
Dr Ordway brings to ACM her skills as a writer, an apologist, and an experienced teacher of writing at the university, community college, and conference level. She has designed the overall curriculum for the Literary Apologetics Certificate as well as a number of the specific courses, and she teaches or co-teaches many of the classes, including Principles of Literary Apologetics and Wordsmithing.
