Norman Leo Geisler (July 21, 1932 – July 1, 2019) was an American Christian systematic theologian, philosopher, and apologist. He was the co-founder of two non-denominational evangelical seminaries (Veritas International University and Southern Evangelical Seminary ). 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. (1964) from William Tyndale College, B.A. in philosophy (1958) and M.A. in theology (1960) 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; and converted into Christianity at 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 (1963–66) and continued at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (1969–70) and Trinity College (1970–71). He was later Chairman of Philosophy of Religion at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (1970–79) and Professor of Systematic Theology at Dallas Theological Seminary (1979–88). In 1981, Geisler testified in "the Scopes II trial" (McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education). 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 (I was present during the entire trial), 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 was a key figure in founding the Evangelical Philosophical Society. He served as its first president as well as the first editor of its journal, which was then called the Bulletin of the Evangelical Philosophical Society. Additionally, he was the founder and first president of the International Society of Christian Apologetics. 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 (now Veritas International University) 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 Cate for 64 years, and together they had six children: Ruth, David, Daniel, Rhoda, Paul, and Rachel. 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.

Apologetics

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.

Outline of Geisler's Apologetic Method

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: The overview of his system was later streamlined slightly into a 12-point schema. As of 1999, it could be summarized as follows: 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 in his 2012 book Twelve Points that Show Christianity is True.

Geisler's Philosophical Argument for the Existence of God (Theism)

As an evangelical Thomist, Norman Geisler contributed the following Thomistic argument for God's existence, which was described as "his own unique contribution to the cosmological class of argument for the existence of God," and which "he developed and refined over sixty years (1956 to 2015)."

The Argument Outlined in Seven Points

==== The Argument in Eighteen Points ==== The longer form of the argument in eighteen points is as follows:

Geisler's Argument for Biblical Miracles

Geisler addressed the debate over biblical miracles in multiple works, including Miracles and the Modern Mind, Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, and Twelve Points Which Show Christianity is True. In I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be An Atheist, Geisler along with his student Frank Turek claim "since we know that God exists, miracles are possible. Any argument against miracles that can be concocted, including that of David Hume, is destroyed by that one fact. For if there is a God who can act, there can be acts of God (miracles)." This claim is reiterated in Geisler's work Miracles and the Modern Mind, where he claims "If a theistic God exists, then there is no reason to rule out the possibility of miracles." Geisler argues in Miracles and the Modern Mind that miracles are possible, credible, rational, not unscientific, identifiable, not mythological, historical, not antinatural, distinguishable, and actual. Geisler further argues miracles are essential to Christianity and are definable. Concerning whether miracles are actual, Geisler makes the claim that "[t]he very cosmological argument, by which we know God exists, also proves that a supernatural event has occurred. For if the universe had a beginning and, therefore, a Beginner [...] then God brought the universe into existence out of nothing [...] But ex nihilo creation out of nothing is the greatest supernatural event of all. [...] So, the surprising conclusion is that, if the Creator exists, then the miraculous is not only possible but actual." In Twelve Points That Show Christianity is True, Geisler presents the following criteria for a valid miracle which confirms a truth claim is genuinely from God: In Miracles and the Modern Mind, Geisler takes the above criteria and presents the following argument:

Criticism of C. S. Lewis

Geisler was a critic of C. S. Lewis' higher critical view of the miracles recorded in the Old Testament, claiming Lewis "[relegated] many Old Testament miracles to the realm of myth." In Is Man the Measure? Geisler provides C. S. Lewis' writings as an example of Christian humanism, in which Lewis' views on the Old Testament and its miracles are also subject to criticism.

Theology

Geisler was a conservative evangelical scholar who wrote a four-volume systematic theology which was later condensed into a 1,660 page one-volume tome.

Biblical Inerrancy

He defended the full inerrancy of the Bible, being one of the co-founders and framers of the "Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy" (1978) and editor of the book Inerrancy (Zondervan, 1978). His notoriety as a defender of the Bible started to grow after co-authoring (with William Nix) General Introduction to the Bible (Moody Press, 1968, 1986) and From God to Us, revised (Moody, 1974, 2012). He co-authored Defending Inerrancy with William Roach (Baker, 2013) and proceeded to start the blogsite https://defendinginerrancy.com with William Roach and others. He wrote the foreword to the book Explaining Biblical Inerrancy (Bastion Books, 2013), a compilation of all of the Chicago Statements on Biblical Inerrancy, Biblical Hermeneutics, and Biblical Application, the official ICBI commentary on the first statement by R. C. Sproul, and the official ICBI commentary on the second statement by Norm Geisler. The last book Norm wrote was Preserving Orthodoxy (Bastion Books 2017), which explains how to "maintain continuity with the historic Christian faith on Scripture" and gives Norm's perspective on the inerrancy-related controversies he had been engaged in with Robert Gundry, Clark Pinnock, and Michael Licona.

Calvinism

Geisler considered himself a "moderate Calvinist", as expressed in his book Chosen but Free (Harvest House, 2001) and Systematic Theology, in One Volume (Harvest House, 2012). Geisler in his book Chosen but Free distinguishes his moderate Calvinism in many ways from more extreme views of Calvinism, he summarises his view of the five points of Calvinism thus: This form of moderate Calvinism has been taught by multiple Dispensational Calvinists such as Lewis Sperry Chafer, John Walvoord and Charles Ryrie. Norman Geisler argued that his view of election strongly resembles also that of Thomas Aquinas.

Election

Norman Geisler spoke of election being "in according with" God's foreknowledge instead of being "based on" his foreknowledge, along with being unconditional for God, but conditional for man. To explain how he understood his doctrine of election, Geisler used the illustration of a young man contemplating on if he would propose to one of two ladies. This man then chooses to propose to the first one because he knew that she would respond to the action, while he does not propose to the second woman because he knew that she would not respond. Geisler thus believed that God effectually calls those whom he knows will respond to this call.

Perseverance of the Saints

Geisler also distinguished his view of the perseverance of the saints from the extreme Calvinist view. Geisler believed that an elect person would not be lost even if they die in sin, he strongly protested against the view that one cannot be sure that he is one of the elect until he gets to heaven. Unlike some Calvinists, Geisler understood warnings in the New Testament such as that in Hebrews 10 as pertaining to a loss of eternal rewards, instead of speaking of false believers.

Dispensationalism

Norman Geisler believed in dispensational premillennialism, however he criticized progressive dispensationalism, ultradispensationalism and hyperdispensationalism. Geisler disagreed with the rejection of the human author's meaning in biblical exegesis taught by progressive dispensationalists, saying that although God knows more about the topic and sees more implications in any given text, the text cannot mean more than the human author intended.

Philosophy

Geisler was a self-described evangelical Thomist as it pertained to his philosophical commitments. In the first volume of his Systematic Theology, Geisler affirms Thomism as superior to atomism, Platonism, and Aristotelianism as it pertains to their respective responses to the Parmenidean dilemma of the one and the many. Geisler further evaluated Thomism in light of evangelical Christianity as well as the compatibility between the two in his work, Thomas Aquinas: An Evangelical Appraisal. When interviewed by Christianity Today in 2002, Geisler gave his evaluation of Thomas Aquinas which was juxtaposed by Christianity Today against Ronald Nash's previous 1974 article wherein Nash described Aquinas as "unsuitable for a biblically centered Christian philosophy." Geisler also held that a consistent Thomist need not be a Roman Catholic, and that Thomism did not necessarily lead to Catholicism, a claim which Geisler's contemporaries, (such as R. C. Sproul), also held.

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 (antinomianism, situationalism, generalism, unqualified absolutism, conflicting absolutism, and graded absolutism), 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 (see also prima facie right). 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.

Works

The following is a list of books authored, co-authored or edited by Norman Geisler.

Publications