Heresy is any doctrine which the Bible explicitly labels as destructive, damning error. These doctrines the Bible instructs are not to be tolerated in the church. Furthermore, heresy is any doctrine which, even if not mentioned in the Bible, utterly contradicts those truths which the Bible indicates are essential for sound Christian faith.

Unfortunately, the Christian world lacks a strong intellectual presence in academic and popular culture. The reasons for this situation are multidimensional and complex. The author briefly sets forth factors that illegitimately inhibit apologetic engagement today.

The author describes this article as an attempt to set forth a balanced approach to the issue of doctrinal heresy. Bowman presents a biblical case for discerning between orthodox and heretical teachings and offers practical guidelines for doctrinal discernment. (Because the article makes no reference to specific heretical groups, it may be given to people in religious movements which discourage their followers from reading literature critical of their beliefs.)

The notion that every religion has a piece of the truth is widely accepted. The possibility of religious synthesis is often illustrated by a "wheel model" in which the various religions are pictured as individual spokes on a single wheel. The author critiques the causes and consequences of this view.

Report given by the author at the conference "Hope 21", Spring 2002, Budapest.
Could Christians prove their faith in God?

This question is especially relevant today because of the many who freely declare themselves apostles, claiming to have a role and authority equal to those held by the apostles in the early Church. But in our day does anyone have the right — almost 2,000 years since the death of John, the last of the original Twelve — to designate himself by this title? Scripture provides a clear and definitive answer to this question.