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Theologian Norman Geisler dies at age 86

Theologian and Christian apologist Norman Geisler, the author of dozens of books and the co­founder of two seminaries, has died at age 86. His family an­nounced his death on July 1 on his website.

In April, Southern Evangelical Seminary near Charlotte, North Caro­lina, announced Geisler was retiring from his teaching duties “due to health reasons.” Geisler cofounded that seminary in 1992.

In a tribute in the Christian Post, SES president Richard Land said Geisler “has been the ‘go to’ authority for more than two generations of evangelical seminary students who were looking for a bold, erudite, and uncompromisingly faithful defense of the inerrant, infallible Word of God and the historical doctrines of the Christian faith.”

Geisler founded the International Society of Christian Apologetics in 2006. Two years later, he cofounded Veritas Evangelical Seminary, a school in Santa Ana, California, now known as Veritas International University.

In the 1970s and 1980s, he was a prominent nationwide debater on topics ranging from abortion to creationism to the existence of God. A tweet from Defending Inerrancy, an initiative of scholars who believe the Bible is without error, described Geisler as the “greatest champion of full biblical inerrancy” in the last quarter of the 20th century and the first quarter of the 21st. —Religion News Service