Josh MacDowell's books are popular all over the world. His book, Evidence Requiring a Verdict, ranks 13th on the American list of best Christian literature of all time. His other famous preaching book is called More Than a Carpenter, and is devoted to the protection of the Christian worldview from atheism and other ideologies that deny Christianity.
early years
Josh MacDowell was born in Union City, Michigan in 1939 under the name Joslin. He is one of five children born to Wilmot MacDowell. His biographer Joe Musser points out that in his youth, the future preacher struggled with low self-esteem, since his father was an alcoholic and a sadist, constantly breaking down on his son. John MacDowell also mentioned that he was sexually abused in childhood (from 6 to 13 years old) by a farmer neighbor. After school, he was enrolled in the National Aviation Guard, received basic training and assumed the responsibilities for the mechanical maintenance of aircraft. After receiving a head injury, he was relieved of service.
Jurisprudence
At first, he intended to get a legal education and build a career in this area, the culmination of which would be leaving for politics, as many American lawyers do. He began preparatory studies at Kellogg Community College, a two-year-old junior college in Battle Creek, Michigan.
Coming to god
According to Josh MacDowell himself, he was an agnostic in college, and therefore decided to write a work that analyzes the historical evidence of the Christian faith in order to refute it in front of the college audience. However, he converted to Christianity after, as he said, as a result of his research, he found evidence in favor of faith, and not against it, as originally planned. He then enrolled at Wheaton College, Illinois, where he received a bachelor of arts degree. He then attended Telbot Theological Seminary at Biola University, La Mirada, California. He graduated from a field school, studying the theology of Jehovah's Witnesses, and earned a master's degree in divinity from Magna Cum Laude.
First confession
In 1982, McDowell was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Law, School of Law, Simon Greenleaf, now known as Trinity Law School, in recognition of his merits. McDowell worked for a while as a guest lecturer at this school in the 1980s. According to the official biography of Josh MacDowell, he married Dottie Youde, with whom he has four children and ten grandchildren. They still live together in California.
Preacher career
In 1964, he became the traveling representative of Campus Crusade for Christ International, an international Christian student organization created by the late Bill Bright in the 1950s. To this day, Josh MacDowell is closely associated with this organization.
McDowell's work on Campus Crusade for Christ began with his appointment as a representative of the organization in Latin America, where he interacted with both Marxist and fascist student groups. He subsequently returned to North America, where he became known as a wandering speaker, speaking in campus groups with Christian sermons.
Books and workshops
He became widely known as a Christian apologist after publishing the book Evidence Requiring a Verdict in 1972.
A significant part of his activity focused on youth problems in relationships and sexual behavior, reflected in such seminars as “Maximum Sex” and “Why Should I Give?”. These seminars were part of a campaign to promote abstinence from premarital sex. Other aspects of his intellectual and educational activities focused on issues of self-esteem (for example, the book “His image, my image”) and the development of faith and character (“Testimony of joy”). Josh MacDowell’s book, The Secret of Love, also became popular - reviews from Christians and ordinary readers were almost exclusively enthusiastic. It is dedicated to the issue of family and romantic relationships, viewed through the prism of Christian ethics.
McDowell is known for his many seminars, debates, and books on Christian apologetics. In his role as a popular apologist, McDowell has performed in the United States and many other countries, including the Republic of South Africa and Australia.
Management activities
In 1983, the ministry’s headquarters, run by Josh MacDowell at Campus Crusade for Christ International, moved to Richardson, Texas, and in October 2009 moved to nearby Plano in the same state. The ministry employs a staff of 75 people with branches located throughout the country. Among other things, McDowell is the founder of Christian projects Josh.org and Operation Carelift. Carelift is an international humanitarian aid department managed by the Global Assistance Network (GAiN) in Plano, Texas, which is a subsidiary of CCC (known as Campus Crusade for Christ until 2011). The ministry opened in 1991 in the republics of the former Soviet Union, including Russia.
Main ideas
Josh MacDowell is an American public figure and publicist all rolled into one. As a practitioner of Christian apologetics, he focused in his writings on solving the problems of faith, questions asked by non-Christians, doubts about faith and non-Christian religions. McDowell is inclined to find positive arguments to express faith in Jesus Christ, emphasizing historical and legal evidence to establish the authenticity of biblical texts and the divinity of Christ.
In books such as Evidence That Requires a Verdict, The Resurrection Factor, and He Walked Among Us, MacDowell listed all his arguments with a collection of evidence, such as archaeological discoveries, preserved biblical manuscripts filled with prophecies, and the miracle of resurrection . In More Than a Carpenter, he listed historical and legal arguments in favor of direct evidence and indirect evidence of the life and resurrection of Jesus. He used a similar argument in his debate entitled “Was Christ Crucified?” With South African Muslim Ahmed Dedat in Durban in August 1981. MacDowell argues that the evidence for Christianity in Scripture is not exhaustive, but it is sufficient.
In the late 1980s and 1990s, his apologetic writings answered questions expressed in popular books such as The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail, The Lost Years of Jesus, and the writings of the humanist George A. Wells.
MacDonwell’s apologetic approach falls under what Protestant theologians classify as “classic” and “evidence” arguments. In any of these approaches to Christian apologetics, it is assumed that the arguments defending the Christian faith can legitimately be directed at both believers and unbelievers, because the human mind is seen as capable of comprehending certain truths about God. Alleged apologetics, on the other hand, questions this methodology, arguing that since unbelievers partially suppress and resist the truth about God (as Paul says in Romans 1: 18-20), the problem of unbelief is also an ethical choice, not just a lack of evidence.
Josh MacDowell: Interesting Facts
McDowell is a prominent member of the Christian anti-cult movement, coordinating similar organizations in America and around the world. A “Christian opposition” or Christian anti-cult movement is a social movement of some Protestant evangelists and fundamentalists, as well as other Christian denominations and individual activists who oppose religious sects, which they consider “cults”.
Christian anti-cult activity is mainly associated with evangelism or fundamentalism. Representatives of this movement (including McDowell) are convinced that sects as a phenomenon fundamentally contradict the principles set forth in Holy Scripture and criticize them from religious positions. Photos of Josh MacDowell with his wife and son show us the look of a true American family man, a respectable Christian and just a good person.