Norman Geisler


Norman Leo Geisler was an American Christian systematic theologian and philosopher. He was the co-founder of two non-denominational evangelical seminaries.
He held a Ph.D. in philosophy from Loyola University and made scholarly contributions to the subjects of classical Christian apologetics, systematic theology, the history of philosophy, philosophy of religion, Calvinism, Roman Catholicism, Biblical inerrancy, Bible difficulties, ethics, and more. He was the author, coauthor, or editor of over 90 books and hundreds of articles.
One of the primary architects of the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, Geisler was well noted within the United States evangelical community for his stalwart defense of Biblical inerrancy.

Education

Geisler's education included a Th.B. from William Tyndale College, B.A. in philosophy and M.A. in theology from Wheaton College, and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Loyola University. He had additional graduate work at Wayne State University, the University of Detroit, and Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Biography

Norman Leo Geisler was born on July 21, 1932, in Warren, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. He attended a nondenominational Evangelical church from age nine but was not converted until the age of eighteen. He immediately began attempting to share his faith with others in various evangelistic endeavors—door-to-door, street meetings, and jail service, rescue missions, and Youth for Christ venues. Some of his conversations forced him to realize that he needed to find better answers to the objections he was hearing. He subsequently earned two bachelor's degrees, two master's degrees, and a Doctorate.
Geisler's decades of degree work overlap a professorial career begun at Detroit Bible College and continued at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Trinity College. He was later Chairman of Philosophy of Religion at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Professor of Systematic Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary.
In 1981, Geisler testified in "the Scopes II trial". Duane Gish, a creationist, remarked: "Geisler was... the lead witness for the creationist side and one of its most brilliant witnesses. His testimony, in my view, effectively demolished the most important thrust of the case by the ACLU. Unfortunately, in my opinion, no testimony, and no effort by any team of lawyers, no matter how brilliant, could have won the case for the creationist side."
Geisler was formerly a president of the Evangelical Theological Society but left the ETS in 2003, after it did not expel Clark Pinnock, who advocated open theism. Geisler also founded and was first president of . Additionally, he was the founder and first president of the .
In 1997, Geisler co-authored When Cultists Ask: A Popular Handbook on Cultic Misinterpretation. He contributed to The Counterfeit Gospel of Mormonism.
In 2008, Geisler co-founded the Veritas Evangelical Seminary located in Santa Ana, California. The seminary offers master's degrees in theological studies, apologetics, biblical studies, and Divinity. Geisler served as Chancellor, Distinguished Professor of Apologetics and Theology, and occupant of the Norman L. Geisler Chair of Christian Apologetics. He retired from this post in May 2019.

Personal

Geisler was married to Barbara Jean, and together they had six children. He died of cerebral thrombosis at a hospital in Charlotte, North Carolina on July 1, 2019, 20 days before his 87th birthday. Geisler's funeral was held at Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. Ravi Zacharias gave the eulogy.

Outline of Geisler's apologetic system

Geisler is known first and foremost as a classical Christian apologist. Between 1970 and 1990 he participated in dozens of public debates and gained a reputation as a defender of theism, biblical miracles, the resurrection of Jesus, and the reliability of the Bible. The first attempt to publish an outline of his apologetic method showed up in an appendix of his 1990 book When Skeptics Ask. The appendix is titled "Reasoning to Christianity from Ground Zero" and in it we see a high-level view of the holistic system of classical apologetics he had been developing over the years. The first outline contained fourteen points of argument:
  1. There are self-evident truths.
  2. Truth corresponds to reality.
  3. Truth is knowable.
  4. One can proceed from self-evident truths to the existence of God.
  5. # The argument from Creation
  6. # The argument from morals
  7. # The argument from design
  8. God is a necessary Being.
  9. My existence is not necessary.
  10. Therefore, theism is true.
  11. # The objection from the problem of evil can be solved.
  12. # The objection to miracles can be solved.
  13. The Bible is a historically reliable document.
  14. # History is an objective study of the past.
  15. # There is great historical, archaeological, and scientific evidence to confirm the reliability of the Bible.
  16. Jesus claimed to be both fully human and fully God.
  17. He gave evidence to support this claim.
  18. # The fulfillment of prophecy
  19. # His miraculous and sinless life
  20. # His resurrection
  21. Therefore, Jesus is both fully human and fully God.
  22. Whatever God teaches is true.
  23. Jesus taught that the Old Testament was the inspired Word of God and He promised the New Testament.
  24. Therefore, both the Old and New Testaments are the inspired Word of God.
The overview of his system was later streamlined slightly into a 12-point schema. As of 1999, it could be summarized as follows:
  1. Truth about reality is knowable.
  2. Opposites cannot both be true.
  3. It is true the theistic God exists.
  4. If God exists, then miracles are possible.
  5. Miracles performed in connection with a truth claim are acts of God to confirm the truth of God through a messenger of God.
  6. The New Testament is historically reliable.
  7. As witnessed in the New Testament, Jesus claimed to be God.
  8. Jesus' claim to divinity was proven by miracles, especially the Resurrection.
  9. Therefore, Jesus is God.
  10. Because Jesus is God, whatever Jesus affirmed as true, is true.
  11. Jesus affirmed that the Bible is the Word of God.
  12. Therefore, it is true that the Bible is the Word of God and whatever is opposed to any biblical truth is false.
These same twelve steps served as the framework for the chapters of the highly popular book I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist in 2004 and for Geisler's 2012 e-book Twelve Points that Show Christianity is True.

Theology

Geisler was a conservative evangelical scholar who wrote a four-volume systematic theology.
He defended the full inerrancy of the Bible, being one of the co-founders and framers of the "Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy" and editor of the book Inerrancy. More recently, he co-authored Defending Inerrancy with William Roach. He also co-authored General Introduction to the Bible and From God to Us, revised.
Geisler considered himself a "moderate Calvinist", as expressed in his book Chosen but Free and Systematic Theology, in One Volume. On the Five Points of Calvinism, he believed:
  1. Total depravity extends to the whole person but does not destroy the image of God in fallen human beings;
  2. Election is unconditional from the standpoint of God's giving it and only one condition for humans receiving it—faith;
  3. The atonement is unlimited in its scope—Christ died for all mankind—but limited in its application to only the elect;
  4. Grace is irresistible on the willing but does not force the unwilling;
  5. All those who are regenerate will, by God's grace, persevere to the end and be saved.

    Ethics

Geisler wrote two significant books on ethics: Christian Ethics and The Christian Love Ethic. He provided his perspective on ethical options, abortion, infanticide, euthanasia, biomedical issues, capital punishment, war, civil disobedience, sexual issues, homosexuality, marriage and divorce, ecology, animal rights, drugs, gambling, pornography, birth control, and more.
Of the six major ethical systems, Geisler advocated graded absolutism, which is a theory of moral absolutism which affirms that in moral conflicts we are obligated to perform the higher moral duty. Moral absolutism is the ethical view that certain actions are absolutely right or wrong regardless of other contexts such as their consequences or the intentions behind them. Graded absolutism is moral absolutism but clarifies that a moral absolute, like "Do not kill", can be greater or lesser than another moral absolute, like "Do not lie". Graded absolutism is also called "contextual absolutism" but is not to be confused with situational ethics. The conflict is resolved in acting according to the greater absolute. That is why graded absolutism is also called the "greater good view", but is not to be confused with utilitarianism.
Geisler believed the American Revolution was not justified by the standards of either the Bible or just war theory. However, he was not a pacifist, believing that defensive wars are justified but revolutions are not.

Publications