Who We Are

Ratio Christi (Latin for ‘The Reason of Christ’) is a global movement that equips university students and faculty to give historical, philosophical, and scientific reasons for following Jesus Christ. Bringing together faith and reason to establish the intellectual voice of Christ in the University, Ratio Christi is planting student and faculty led apologetics clubs at universities around the world. Students, engaged in the battle for the mind, learn to defend God's existence, the reliability of the Bible, and the fact of Christ’s resurrection. We seek a Renaissance of Christian Thinking in the University.

What We Do

• Ratio Christi (Latin for ‘The Reason of Christ’) is a campus apologetics alliance which encourages and strengthens the faith of Christian students at universities around the world through the use of intellectual investigation and apologetics while sharing Christ's message and love to those that have yet to receive it.

• We seek to counter the Secular Humanist worldview that has overtaken the university and the minds of students. We have Christian apologetics clubs at secular, liberal, religious, public, and private universities around the world taking part in the battle for the mind, reversing the Humanist trend of thought by providing and equipping students with the answers, or means of getting the answers, to the pressing questions of life that shape our worldview.
• Our chapters have regular meetings where students and faculty can wrestle with ideas relating to the intellectual credibility of Christianity by encouraging dialogue and stimulating discussion. Scripture commands us not only to develop our heart, but also our minds (Matt 22:37), and Ratio Christi seeks to help university students fulfill this commandment.
• Our objective is - A Renaissance of Christian Thinking in the University. We want to re-establish a strong and reasoned presence of Christian thinking in academia. We desire to partner in taking back the mind of the University for Christ. By equipping Christian students we believe many students will not only hold onto a faith that they might otherwise abandon, but they will also begin to stand up for Christianity when it comes under fire in the classroom. Furthermore, we want to train students to be conversational evangelists that can in turn train others to defend and proclaim the Gospel.
• Ratio Christi also provides a safe and charitable venue for atheists, agnostics, skeptics, and adherents to any religion to investigate the claims of Christianity, discuss religious beliefs, and seek truth without fearing reprisal. While this is a distinctly Christian organization, any student is able to become a member and learn, debate, and explore the connection of faith and reason.
• We meet on a weekly basis to discuss apologetics and worldview from various angles. It is not lecture oriented, but discussion oriented. In this sense, it is “student-led” as students are the ones engaging ideas and engaging each other. A Chapter Director is a trained apologist who guides Ratio Christi students through weekly discussions. Chapters also aim to have annual campus-wide events at the university. These events (lectures, debates, forums, etc) share the gospel with thousands of students on any given campus. 
• Ratio Christi sees the value in other ministries that do not necessarily focus on apologetics and Christian worldview topics. We see it as vitally important that our members know of and have access to various ministries in order to have a solid worldview that relates to all of reality. More on this topic here.
• See our values here.

What We Believe

Ratio Christi Statement of Faith

Scripture

We believe the sixty-six books of the Old and New Testament Scripture alone to be inspired in all its very words by God and inerrant in the text of the original manuscripts, and that they alone are of supreme and final authority in faith and life.

God

We believe in one God who is Creator of heaven and earth, who is infinite Spirit, light, love, and truth; eternal, almighty, infallible in all things, including His omniscience and knowledge of all future events; that He is unchangeable, all wise, just, and holy; and that the triune God eternally exists in one essence and three Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God intervenes in the universe, and miracles—including predictive prophecy—are possible.

Creation

We believe in the ex-nihilo special creation of the entire space-time universe, as described in the biblical creation record, and in the direct creation of many diverse biological categories. We also believe in the historicity of the biblical record, including the special creation of Adam and Eve as the literal progenitors of all people, the literal fall and resultant divine curse on the creation.

Jesus Christ

Incarnation

We believe in Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, the Eternal Word manifested in the flesh. We believe that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, lived a sinless life, and that He is fully God and fully man, having two distinct natures co-joined in one Person.

Death

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died as a representative and substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of every human being and thus offers salvation as a free gift based on grace alone.

Resurrection

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ arose from the dead in the same physical body, though glorified, in which He had lived and died, and that His resurrection body is the pattern of that body which will be given to all believers at the return of Christ.

Ascension

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven in the same glorified physical body in which He arose, was seated at His Father's right hand, assuring us of the perfection of His work of redemption, and that He now, as Head over all things to the Church, is engaged on behalf of the saved as their only Advocate.

Return

We believe in the future, personal, literal, and bodily return of the Lord Jesus Christ for His redeemed ones.

Humanity

We believe that humans were originally created in the image and likeness of God, and that humans fell through sin; as a consequence of sin, humanity became spiritually dead with a corrupt human nature that has been transmitted to the entire human race, the Man Jesus Christ alone being excepted; and hence, that every descendant of Adam is born into the world with a nature that is corrupt.

Human Sexuality

According to the Bible, we view marriage as a conjugal, covenantal and non-incestual union, ordained by God from the creation of humanity, of one adult biologically born male and one adult biologically born female, and historically understood by the Church, to be the most basic societal institution and the exclusive institution appointed by God for sexual intimacy.

Sanctity of Human Life

We believe that all human life is created by God in His image, including pre-born babies, the aged, the physically or mentally challenged, and every other stage or condition from conception through natural death. We are therefore called to defend, protect, and value all human life (Psalm 139).

Salvation

We believe that only those who receive the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior by faith alone, apart from all good works, are justified before God, and have become children of God and, therefore, will inherit entrance to Heaven and eternal communion with God.

The Holy Spirit

We believe that the Holy Spirit, being the Third Person of the Godhead, convicts men of sin, regenerates, indwells, baptizes, seals, and sets believers apart to a holy life; that He keeps and empowers believers day by day. We believe that He is the Teacher of the Word of God through which He guides us in our daily lives.

The Final State

We believe in the eternal and everlasting blessedness of the saved, and the eternal conscious punishment of the lost.

Ordinances

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ instituted baptism and the Lord's Supper (neither necessary for justification), to be observed until He comes. 

The Church

We believe that the universal Church of Jesus Christ is composed of those who have been redeemed and washed in His blood, regenerated and sealed by the Holy Spirit, and that they are saved to worship and to serve; that it is the responsibility and privilege of all who are saved to seek to win others to Christ, to the "uttermost part of the earth"; that they should seek to live a holy life, to separate themselves from and forsake all that might dishonor God, cast discredit on His cause, or weaken their testimony.

Satan

We believe that there is a personal devil who can exert vast power but only as far as God permits him to do so; that he shall ultimately be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone and shall be tormented day and night forever. Other, both good and evil, supernatural beings exist.

Final Authority for Matters of Belief and Conduct

The Ratio Christi Statement of Faith does not exhaust the extent of our Christian belief. The Bible itself, as the inspired and infallible Word of God, is the authoritative source of Christian doctrine. With respect to faith, doctrine, practice, policy, and discipline, the board of directors is the final arbiter on the Bible’s application for the purposes of Ratio Christi as an organization.

Concerns of Apologetic Methodology

This item is not an issue of Christian doctrine but is important within the context of the goals and beliefs of Ratio Christi. As a Christian apologetics ministry, we believe that the veracity of Christianity can be supported in a number of diverse ways. We acknowledge that evidential, existential, historical, legal, philosophical, classical, and presuppositional methods for apologetics can be used in appropriate circumstances. It is our belief, however, that the Scriptures testify to the fact that man, though corrupted by sin, is still made in the image of God and has been given reasoning faculties that can be used to gain important, though limited, data from nature about reality and theology.

Thus, natural theology is possible and is a worthy pursuit for Christians. We explicitly support the use of classical apologetics when understood as a system that uses both natural revelation (nature) and special revelation (Scripture) to reason to the truth of Christianity. By starting on common ground with unbelievers (e.g., the nature of truth and reality) and building a systematic case for God, the Bible, Jesus, and the Resurrection, Ratio Christi believes that Christianity is not only the best of all possible options for truth and life, but that it has nothing to fear from vigorous opposition of ideas found on the university.

(For notes on our beliefs, go here.)