A ministry leader once told me there’s more evidence that Jesus was resurrected than that George Washington was the first U. S. president. He meant well, but any honest investigation into that claim would be brief.

Another ministry leader once told me we can’t investigate biblical claims about Jesus’s resurrection because historical inquiry is the wrong tool for the job. He argues we have to accept the resurrection by faith without evidence. This was another well-meant statement, but it’s not particularly comforting to those with doubts.

In Why I’m Still a Christian: After Two Decades of Conversations with Skeptics and Atheists—The Reason I Believe, Justin Brierley, host of the Unbelievable? podcast until 2023 and now The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God podcast, demonstrates an apologetic method more robust than the exaggerated confidence or resigned fideism these ministry leaders embodied. Based on two decades of interviewing skeptics and Christian apologists, Brierley offers an autobiographical account of continued faith in the face of the strongest arguments against Christianity.

Throughout the book, Brierley offers basic arguments: Christianity best explains the universe’s existence, Jesus exists and was raised from the dead, and the Christian story is worth living out. As such, it’s a useful tool for engaging nonbelievers. More significantly, Brierley provides a clear example of the personal maturity, humble grace, and intelligible argumentation that Christians should exemplify in their apologetics.

Personal Maturity

Since Brierley began podcasting in 2005, he’s interviewed dozens of vocal skeptics and vocational apologists. He’s hosted figures like Richard Dawkins, Francis Collins, Peter Atkins, and William Lane Craig. If Brierley were rude, inconsiderate, or hostile to his guests, there’s little chance he’d have been able to continue his ministry. Why I’m Still a Christian is a testament to the power of personal, honest conversations held in good faith over many years. The longevity of that ministry reflects positively on Brierley’s maturity.

Some of this maturity stems from Brierley’s confidence in Christianity. He trusts that the truth is accessible and that, in general, it’ll reveal itself. Brierley’s conviction wells up from a lifelong devotion to seeking the truth borne out in many careful conversations with people across the spectrum of belief.

People often understand apologetics as intellectual reasoning, which anyone can arrive at with relative speed. But intellectual reasoning unaccompanied by spiritual maturity would be ineffective for apologetics. As Brierley notes, “If not grounded in prayer and humility, apologetics can easily breed arrogance and intellectual idolatry. If apologetics leads only to a change in our heads and not our hearts, then we missed the real goal” (188). Truth is more believable when it accompanies a truth-filled life that’s bold but not brash, cogent but not combative.

Humble Grace

Intellectual reasoning unaccompanied by spiritual maturity would be ineffective for apologetics.

One of the key evidences of maturity in an apologist is humility. This requires a willingness to admit not having all the answers or the best answers for any question. Many podcast hosts would rank their expertise much higher after a much shorter career. Yet in his book and on his podcast, even when he’s convinced of his position, Brierley assumes the best possible motivations in his interlocutors and offers the highest praise possible for their positions.

Humility requires showing grace to those who hold the exact opposite position. Brierley regularly offers praise and grace to various members of what many call the New Atheism, including Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, who were known for being antagonistic toward Christians. For example, in his best-selling book The God Delusion, Dawkins describes God as “arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction.” Still, Brierley writes of Dawkins, “We can thank him for placing the God debate firmly back in the public square and revitalizing a Christian response through apologetics in the church” (153–54).

In the face of intentionally offensive words, Brierley doesn’t throw stones back. Instead, he follows Solomon’s wisdom: “A soft answer turns away wrath” (Prov. 15:1). The result is a robust evidential apologetic that does more than fire up the base. Instead, it offers grace to the honest doubter. Such humbly gracious apologetics is a powerful force for truth.

Intelligible Argumentation

Nevertheless, maturity and grace aren’t in themselves sufficient for effective apologetics. In the tradition of C. S. Lewis and Tim Keller, Brierley takes complex defenses of Christianity and makes them intelligible.

For example, Brierley surveys arguments that have filled many volumes about the historical Jesus, bringing clarity to confusion along with a charitable response in only a few pages. Furthermore, he takes abstract ideas like the probability of gravity’s fine-tuning and makes them concrete by comparing them to the odds of standard dice rolls. Thus, the “wiggle room that the force of gravity has” is comparable to “the chances of rolling a six eighty times in a row” (25).

Humility requires showing grace to those who hold the exact opposite position.

Despite obvious years of careful research and study, Brierley doesn’t try to show off. His goal appears more to be understood rather than admired for his level of knowledge. That’s what makes this book so helpful. He points beyond his own work to other experts’ research and writing so that readers will be inspired to challenge their assumptions about life, to seek answers for their earnest questions, to accept the credibility of Christian claims, and to ease their doubts. The autobiographical approach to this book makes the apologetic more appealing.

There’s much to commend in Brierley’s coherent arguments, but it’s more significant that the book beautifully complements his charitable and honest dialogue over the years of apologetics ministry. It’s a long-form example of the approach Peter commended to Christians: “[Be] prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” Whether in spoken or written words, Brierley answers “with gentleness and respect” (1 Pet. 3:15). Pastors, church leaders, and anyone serious about evangelism will benefit from the content and approach demonstrated in Why I’m Still a Christian.