Faith Founded on Fact

This work presents a comprehensive defense of evangelical Christianity through rigorous evidential apologetics, arguing that Christian faith rests on historically verifiable facts rather than subjective religious experience. Montgomery contends that Christianity's truth claims can be established through the same empirical methods used in legal proceedings and historical investigation, directly challenging both liberal theology's retreat into subjectivity and secular philosophy's dismissal of religious knowledge claims.

The author develops his argument through several interconnected strategies. First, he establishes epistemological foundations by defending the reliability of sense perception and inductive reasoning against radical skepticism, arguing that the same standards of evidence accepted in courts of law and historical research suffice for evaluating religious claims. Second, he presents detailed historical arguments for the reliability of the New Testament documents, employing textual criticism, archaeological findings, and comparative ancient historiography to establish their authenticity and accuracy. Third, he examines the resurrection of Jesus as the crucial test case, marshaling evidence from multiple independent sources and arguing that alternative naturalistic explanations fail to account for the historical data.

Montgomery's approach explicitly opposes several intellectual positions. He critiques existentialist theology, particularly that of Rudolf Bultmann, for abandoning historical facticity in favor of subjective faith experiences. He challenges philosophical naturalism by arguing that its a priori exclusion of supernatural explanations represents an unwarranted methodological bias. He also engages contemporary analytic philosophy, particularly addressing verificationist challenges to religious language while maintaining that Christian claims meet appropriate empirical standards.

The work's significance lies in its attempt to bridge the gap between academic historical method and evangelical faith commitments. Montgomery, drawing on his dual training in law and theology, pioneers what he calls "juridical apologetics," applying legal standards of evidence to religious questions. This methodology influences subsequent evidentialist apologetics, particularly in American evangelicalism. His insistence that faith must be grounded in publicly accessible facts rather than private religious experience shapes debates about the relationship between faith and reason, the role of historical evidence in religious belief, and the intellectual credibility of orthodox Christianity. The work represents a robust challenge to both fideistic approaches that separate faith from reason and naturalistic worldviews that exclude supernatural explanations from serious consideration.