Ravi Zacharias (1946-2020) will be remembered for his outstanding contributions to Christian apologetics, in particular his concern to link the Gospel to rational life.
Born in the Indian city of Chennai (formerly known as Madras), Zacharias came to faith in Christ through the Ministry of Youth for Christ and quickly developed a passion for evangelism. After moving with his family to Ontario, Canada, in the late 1960s, Zacharias studied at Ontario Bible College to develop his evangelist skills. After serving as district evangelist with Christian and Missionary Alliance in Canada, southern Ontario, Zacharias studied to acquire an MDiv with Norman Geisler and John Warwick Montgomery at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. experience proved significant in convincing him that American evangelism was losing its ability to engage in intellectual problems that prevented thoughtful skeptics from returning to faith.
- After his ordination with the Christian and Missionary Alliance.
- Zacharias has served as an associate professor of evangelism and contemporary thought at the Alliance Theological Seminary in Nyack.
- New York.
- Since 1980.
- It was an important appointment at the national denomination seminar.
- Offering Zacharias the opportunity to influence a growing generation of pastors.
- However.
- It was a demanding role.
- Which left Zechariah little time for the practice of evangelization or for the development of apologetic strategies that he believed increasingly essential to engage the skeptical public.
At a conference of evangelists in Amsterdam in 1983, Zacharias felt he was called to reach out to the intellectually resistant, especially those who would shape politics and public opinion; however, there is no clear way to achieve this goal. However, after an unexpected offer of substantial financial support from businessman David Dale (? DD?) Davis, Zacharias managed to create his own ministry, Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), now based in Atlanta, Georgia. The goals were to deal with intellectual problems, which were generally not addressed, but which upset believers and prevented skeptics from taking the gospel seriously. Although the RZIM motto has gradually evolved, its basic principle remains the same: “Help the thinker to believe and the believer to think. “
For many today, these ideas are indisputable. However, they differed considerably from the main evangelical approaches to evangelization in the 1980s, which generally seemed unintelectural. The practice of reading Zacharias, by writers such as Norman Geisler, CS Lewis and Francis Schaeffer, convinced both of the importance of trying. link the gospel to rational life and the importance of developing a series of apologetic approaches adapted to the different cultural spaces of the public.
Was this latest concern behind the creation of RZIM offices in different parts of the world?Like India, Singapore, South Africa and the United Kingdom, which although they share approaches and objectives of generic excuses, each regional activity was sensitive and receptive to its own cultural location. and the various challenges and opportunities he created.
As evangelism became increasingly aware of the importance of rediscovering and reaffirming the public truth of the Gospel, Zacharias became one of the main representatives of the new concern to involve political and cultural decision-makers. in 1992, marking a significant change in the apologetic landscape. Christian writers , including Zechariah – have shown that they are able to defend the rationality and relevance of the gospel in public debate.
RZIM then began developing a series of posts addressing the questions raised about faith by intelligent unbelievers, most of which were written by Zacharias himself. Early examples include Can Man Live Without God (1994) and Deliver Us From Evil: Restoring the Soul in a Disintegrating Culture (1996). Zacharias’s approach is to show that Christianity has a rational meaning, on the one hand, and is capable of offering deeply satisfying existential answers to life’s great questions, on the other. The success of his approach led Zacharias to explore a dialogue format, inviting his readers to enter into an imaginary discussion between Christ and classical and contemporary cultural figures, in particular The Lotus and the Cross: Jesus Speaks with Buddha (2001) and Sense and sensuality: Jesús talks with Oscar Wilde (2002). Zacharias also played a key role in establishing the Oxford Center for Christian Apologetics in 2004, which offered a year-long course in apologetics for those who felt called to this ministry. The main characters associated with this center are Os Guinness and John Lennox. The Zacharias Institute, an Atlanta-based apologetics training center, opened in 2017. In addition to his extensive speaking and writing ministry, Zacharias has developed high-impact programs on radio, television, and on the web, in particular Let My People Think series, which has had a great global impact.
Zacharias is based on a series of apologetic approaches, which he weeds in his presentations. We have already noticed the importance of Geisler, Lewis and Schaeffer to him; This list can still be easily expanded to include writers such as GK Chesterton and Fyodor Dostoyevsky. However, it should not be understood that Zacharias is a derived thinker, without originality. Your 3-4-5 grid is a good example of your own distinctive approach. , which emphasizes the importance of the rationality of a worldview, while emphasizing that its existential importance cannot be overlooked. The question is not simply whether a worldview is rational; the deepest question is whether it is possible to live it.
Like most public figures, Zacharias has been controversial. His emphasis on the importance of finding common ground with his audience was evident in his decision to travel to Salt Lake City in November 2004 and talk to the Mormon Tabernacle about “Who is the Truth?”Defend Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life?It was a controversial decision that infuriated some of his supporters; however, Zechariah believed it was the right thing to do, creating an openness for the gospel. He spoke to the Mormon. Tabernacle for the second time in January 2014.
Zacharias’ legacy is substantial and evident among the many opinion-makers and politicians who see their influence as a turning point in their lives and in RZIM’s vast public ministries.