Note: The following blog post was from a plan several years ago to develop a large series of PowerPoint presentation files on various topics related to religion and philosophy. Although I did produce a few PowerPoint files for the project, I eventually shifted focus to the construction of the multi-volume set God Theory: The Case for Supernaturalist Theism instead of putting all of that material into PowerPoint form.
28 Dec. 2014
Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Layman apologist makes plans for PowerPoint series!
Ok. Enough of the news nostalgia from yesteryear’s yesteryear.
Simply put, in the discussion online, I have noticed a gaping hole on the Christian side of things.
First of all, the Christian apologetics community has been at a disadvantage in the realm of online videos. This has been acknowledged across the board by Christian apologists, ranging from InspiringPhilosophy (who has been doing YouTube videos for a while) to many in forum discussions in the Christian Apologetics Alliance (CAA).
But some such as Robin Schumacher and I have noticed a different part of the whole hole. PowerPoints.
Robin has done her own creation of PowerPoints for an organization called “Confident Christians.”
However, I believe that the field of professionally done PowerPoints can be greatly expanded.
The Project Itself
Lord willing and time allowed, I will be editing many apologetics PowerPoints. The idea, in the big picture, is to produce a free-of-charge entire apologetics curriculum. This curriculum would include more lessons than could fit into a typical year-long high school setting (i.e., more than 170). To help facilitate this, I intend to utilize articles from CAA authors (the articles already on the internet) for the creation of PowerPoint 2013 (pptx) files. However, the research will not stop there.
As of now, this is much a work in progress. If all we can get done is the PowerPoints, then I will be satisfied with that. The PowerPoint on Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, the one on Historical Apologetics, and a few others seem to be coming along quite nicely. None have been officially released as of yet.
The PowerPoint Instruction Project itself has the goal of producing over one hundred PowerPoint files on various topics related to apologetics and special topics, the organization of those PowerPoint files into a somewhat structured network usable for teaching lessons, the Bibliographic documentation of resources used for the info of each PowerPoint in the respective PowerPoint files, and the listing of additional resources that teachers and students might desire to consult concerning the topics covered
Using Face in the Book to Lend Helping Minds
However, I have already created a small Facebook group to gain additional assistance. Though so far I have received positive feedback, and a few helpful reminders.The Facebook group for this project includes people who contribute recommended resources, review PowerPoint content and design, test the PowerPoints (perhaps in a teaching setting of some sort), or contribute additional content and advice for the PowerPoints. Members are not required to do all of the above, but they may contribute whatever toward the above that they feel is necessary or desirable.
About the PowerPoints Specifically
Each PowerPoint file will include on the title slide the name of the lesson (sometimes in question form). A bibliographical section will be included in each slide as needed, though by the time the project is finished, many of the links could be dead.
Content will be derived from books, articles, videos, and PowerPoints made by others. The content of the PowerPoints will not constitute “derivative works” that seek to simply reproduce approximates of the sources used. Rather, each PowerPoint will be created “from scratch” (likely with using a PowerPoint template for background design, however). So far, I’ve included info from articles from the likes of Luke Nix, Dr. Timothy McGrew, Jonathan McLatchie, Melissa Cain Travis, Steve Wilkinson, Nick Peters, Wintery Knight, Mikel del Rosario, Leslie Keeney, Tom Gilson, and Chris Shannon in various PowerPoint files that I have started working on.
Start Release
I intend to start releasing a few of these PowerPoints sometime in 2015. However, I do not intend to use this blog specifically to host the PowerPoints. Other venues seem better for that, such as using an organization’s already established website or creating a new website through Wix.com.
Release for public consumption will be done so as to allow for downloads of these PowerPoints.
Topics to be Covered
The topics to be covered in this project shall include philosophy (e.g., epistemology), archaeology, Bible difficulties, various stances, religions, and cults (e.g., Islam and Modern Atheism), Bible Reliability (e.g., Textual Criticism, Evidences for Gospel Reliability), Mythicism (e.g., Zeitgeist movie theory). Introductory PowerPoints on apologetics in general as well as on each major topic shall also be included. Topics connected to other issues that apologists have regularly had to explain to non-believers (e.g., Why should we pray?) may also be included as special topics. In light of the Boghossian-McGrew debate on the nature of Faith itself, at least one PowerPoint related to the topic of Faith is scheduled to appear.
Additional Comments of Note
Really, in the end, people can only do what they can do. It’s certainly possible to create goals that are unreasonable. This project will most certainly, if taken to its completion, take more than a year to complete. Each PowerPoint takes a minimum of 2 hours to create. In reality, the task requires more than that if quality PowerPoint material is desired. This means for me, over course, spending over 300 hours on this project. It also means a learning experience, even with all the years of debating on online forums under my belt.
Conclusion
A title for the product itself as a whole has not yet been finalized. Suggestions have been proposed, however.
It is my hope that skeptics and believers alike will look forward to these PowerPoints and that they will use the recommended references section of them to delve deeper into the discussion on faith, reason, and culture. In all, this is a new direction for me–not in the making of PowerPoints, but in the use of them for apologetics function.
Sincerely and best regards,
–Z. E. Kendall
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