Cumulative Case Apologetics

Advocates

Paul Feinberg
C.S. Lewis
C. Stephen Evans
Basil Mitchell

Advocates of the "cumulative case" method say the nature of the case for Christianity is not in any strict sense a formal argument from probability. In the words of Basil Mitchell, the cumulative case method does "not conform to the ordinary pattern of deductive or inductive reasoning." The case is more like the brief that a lawyer makes in a court of law or that a literary critic makes for a particular interpretation of a book. It is an informal argument that pieces together several lines or types of data into a sort of hypothesis or theory that comprehensively explains that data and does so better that any alternative hypothesis. Paul Feinberg says that "Christian theists are urging that [Christianity] makes better sense of all the evidence available than does any other alternative worldview, whether that alternative is some other theistic view or atheism." The data that the cumulative case seeks to explain include the existence and nature of the cosmos, the reality of religious experience, the objectivity of morality, and other certain historical facts, such as the resurrection of Jesus.

Adapted from Five Views of Apologetics-edited by Steven B. Cowan.
ISBN-0-310-22476-4- Permission of Zondervan Publishing