Surprised by Joy: Apologetics and the Imagination
The aim of apologetics, the defense of the faith, is to show why our Christian faith is true, but it can be so much more than that. It shouldn’t be just the province of scholars and saints but of ordinary men and women: parents, teachers, lay ministry leaders, pastors, and everyone who wants to develop a stronger faith, to understand why we believe, what we believe, to know our Lord better, and love him more fully.
An imaginative approach to apologetics - in cooperation with rational arguments - can be extremely valuable in helping people come to faith in Christ. To this end Linny proposes ways to create meaning for Christian language in a culture that no longer understands words like ‘sin’ or ‘salvation,’ suggests how to discern and address the manipulation of language, and shows how metaphor and narrative can work in powerful ways to communicate the truth. She applies these concepts to specific key apologetics issues, including suffering, doubt, and longing for meaning and beauty.
Linny Dey is the co-founder of the Imago School, a classical Christian school in Maynard, MA, where she served as academic Head and taught for 36 years. Before settling in Massachusetts, Linny worked with Francis Schaeffer on the film series How Should We Then Live, and then worked at the L’Abri Fellowship in Switzerland for several years. Linny is a frequent speaker to church groups and at L’Abri in Massachusetts. She has a BA from Wheaton College, Illinois, and a MAT from Fairleigh Dickinson University. Linny also served as an editor of Touchstone Magazine for many years.
