#37: Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air

In this episode we are discussing an idea every student is sure to encounter early and repeatedly during the college years– the idea of “relativism.” My guest is Greg Koukl, co-author of Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air and the Founder/President of Stand to Reason, a great apologetics ministry.

In this podcast we discuss:

• The prevalence of relativism on campus today (often seen as “expressive individualism”)
• Some different forms of relativism students will encounter
• Greg’s “inside/outside” distinction, which goes back to the Garden of Eden and the Fall
• How relativism is related to the idea of “truth”
• Why Christians should not talk about “their faith”
• Why we can know “that” something is true without knowing “how” it is true
• Why no one is actually a relativist, and how to help a “relativist” see this
• How to ask good questions as a way to engage in conversations about relativism (and everything else–”gardening” vs. “harvesting”)
• Understanding and discussing the new/current definition of “tolerance”
• Responding to relativism on campus (with friends, in classes, in papers, etc.)
• The importance of finding common ground in conversations
• The value of using this dialogical approach to defend all Christian truth claims

Resources mentioned during our conversation:

• Greg Kokhl, Street Smarts: Using Questions to Answer Chrisitanity’s Toughest Challenges
• J. Warner Wallace, Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels
• Greg Kokhl, The Story of Reality: How the World Began, How It Ends, and Everything Important that Happens in Between
• Greg Kokhl, Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions
• Francis Schaeffer’s Trilogy
• C.S. Lewis, Perelandra
• Randy Newman, Questioning Evangelism: Engaging People’s Hearts the Way Jesus Did
• Stand to Reason, Greg’s organization
• Greg’s podcasts

Related College Faith Resources:

• The Reasonableness of Faith: Why Students Should Study Apologetics with Paul Copan (College Faith podcast #25)
• How Asking Good Questions Helps Us Succeed with Randy Newman (College Faith podcast 10)
• Stan Wallace, “When it Comes to Weinstein et al., No One is a Moral Relativist–And That’s a Good Thing!”