About Pfander
The Pfander Center for Apologetics and Polemics team is made up of people from different nations dedicated to taking the gospel to Muslims, holding Islam to account and equipping the church to do the same. The name “Pfander” originates from a man called Karl Gottlieb Pfander, a German evangelist and pioneer who was one of the first in his field to use polemics in the Islamic world, and so the ministry was named in his honour. The ministry first started out as a think tank back in 2006, before forming as a ministry in 2010. Since then, Pfander has been known most for its evangelical work at Speaker’s Corner, sharing the Gospel with Muslims whilst also critiquing Islam and its prophet. Today Pfander is predominantly a ministry that works with the brightest and best in Islamic critical research to present the latest findings to Muslims online and around the world, but also to equip the Church so that they may be better witnesses to their Muslim neighbors.
Pfander has three primary targets:
The academic study of all issues relevant to Islam and Christianity
Engaging Muslims on key historical and theological issues
Providing resources and equipping Christians to engage Islam with the gospel
What we do
Pfander unashamedly purports that there is only one way to God, and the team behind Pfander individually and corporately have a particular vision and love for Muslims around the world. That is why the papers on this site prompt critical thinking through the foundations of Islam, so that its readers will think through the important issues of life, and thereby seek the truth.
The old ‘debate.org.uk’ website (which has continued to function since 1995) has now been revamped, enlarged, and brought over to this new ‘pfandercenter.org’ site. We hope this larger site will continue to help you in your research of Islam and provide answers where you need them. Building on research done since 1997 from the old website, this site will continually update material, as new discoveries demand new articles, and interactions with Islam prompt up-to-date responses from Christian thinkers.
This site provides a repository for articles and papers of particular interest to the UK situation, but which will also be useful to those elsewhere. It aims to stimulate genuine debate between Christians and Muslims on a wide range of topics.
Understanding other religions is often difficult, and can cause either intrigue or fear, and misunderstandings. Therefore, it is important to listen carefully and to learn about the beliefs of another religion, as well as research its very foundations. That is why Pfander is passionate about transparent and open debate between Christians and Muslims. Such discourse is rare, but it is a vital preparatory step to discovering truth. It is important for people to realise that Christianity and Islam each makes its own (often competing) truth-claims, this is the point where debate is necessary and right.
For example, Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and the second person of the Trinity. Muslims, while affording him great respect, regard him as a prophet – one of a line of prophets, the last of whom was Muhammad. These two truth claims are mutually exclusive and it is the duty of Muslims and Christians alike to ‘argue their case’, honestly, but with respect for the humanity and integrity of their counterparts. This site aims to facilitate this process.
The debate site has broken much new ground in the past, particularly in terms of facilitating a one-to-one correspondence between Muslims and Christians.
We also want to be a resource for Christians who share a concern for the salvation of their Muslim friends, if you would like to ask questions, i.e. on an Apologetical issue a Muslim friend may have asked you, or if you are a Muslim and honestly seeking the truth about God, please see the Contact Us page.
Thank you for visiting our website – Pfander hopes that it will help you to “… prepare your minds for action…” (1 Peter 1:13).
Mission
Pfander Center exists to highlight the problems within Islam, whether they be theological, historical or cultural in nature, whilst also demonstrating the transforming power of the Bible and the love of Christ. This we do to inform and evangelize our fellow Muslims, but also to equip the Church, so that Christians may be able to better know and critique Islam, whilst also contending for the Christian faith.
Statement of Faith
We affirm the Nicene Creed of 325AD, which you can find here:
https://delraybaptist.org/beliefs/creeds/the-nicene-creed-a-d-325/
We also affirm the Evangelical Alliance statement of faith, which you can find here:
https://yfc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Evangelical-Alliance-Statement-of-Faith.pdf
We are currently formulating our own written statement of faith, and this will be published to the Pfander website in due course.