Reasons of the Heart: Emotions in Apologetics

Abstract

Contrary to the popular view that emotions are essentially non-rational feelings, emotions are evaluative perceptions that convey information. This is significant for apologetics because emotions can help us to "see" features of the world that reveal God's existence and divine attributes. Emotions about the beauty and grandeur of creation such as wonder, awe, and gratitude, and various moral emotions such as indignation, admiration, and guilt, can function as perceptual evidence for the existence and divine character of God. The distinctive emotional life of the Christian also can serve as a kind of apologetic evidence for the truth of Christianity. It thus is crucial for the Christian apologist not to neglect or ignore the emotions, but instead to learn how to cultivate accurate emotional perceptions in themselves and others so that, in the worlds of the Apostle Paul, "the eyes of (our) hearts" might be "enlightened" (Ephesians 2:18).

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 22, 2014
Accession Number
AD1015416

Entities

People

  • Adam C. Pelser

Organizations

  • United States Air Force Academy

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Behavior And Behavior Mechanisms
  • Christianity
  • Humanities
  • Perception
  • Personality
  • Religion

Readers

  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Psychological Intervention/Treatment for Stress, Anxiety, PTSD, and Related Emotional and Cognitive Health Symptoms.