Christian Apologetics Week Post #5: More Book Recommendations

-
There will be 2 more book reviews, obviously, so this list does not include those, or any other books featured in this week's set of reviews.


General areas of knowledge which, while not apologetics directly, will help a great deal:

History, especially Christian history and modern history (Charles Taylor Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity is quite good, though a long read.  The Story of Christianity parts 1 and 2 by Justo Gonzalez are readable textbooks on Christian history, which is the most thorough place to look for such things). 

Philosophy (Philosophy and the Christian Faith by Colin Brown is an excellent place to start; then hit the original source material). 



General Apologetics: 

Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Peter Kreeft and Ronald K. Tacelli

Anything by C.S. Lewis, most notably: Miracles and The Problem of Pain

Orthodoxy and What's Wrong With the World by G.K. Chesterton

Richard Swinburne's work is quite good; start with The Existence of God. 

Lee Strobel's work is well written and interesting, if somewhat basic.  


Science and Religion:

Dennis Danielson Creation or Evolution: Do We Have to Choose?

John H. Walton The Lost World of Genesis 1

Francis Collins The Language of God



I was hoping to create a much longer list; I will add to this I think, but this is what I've got for now. More suggestions? 




This post is part of Christian Apologetics Week.  You can find the introduction, with links to all the posts, here. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Forgiveness: A Hard Word From Luther

-
"Those who follow Christ grieve more over the sin of their offenders than over the loss or offense to themselves. And they do this that they may recall those offenders from their sin rather than avenge the wrongs they themselves have suffered. Therefore they put off the form of their own righteousness and put on the form of those others, praying for their persecutors, blessing those who curse, doing good to the evil-doers, preparing to pay the penalty and make satisfaction for their very enemies that they may be saved. This is the gospel and the example of Christ." - Martin Luther (Quoted by Miroslav Volf, Free of Charge, pg. 161-162)
Read more

Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt, and Certainty

-
Image
Leslie Newbigin, Proper Confidence: Faith, Doubt , and Certainty in Christian Discipleship. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans, 1995. 105 pgs. In this gem of a book Newbigin takes the reader on a journey away from the idea of Cartesian certainty and towards a more proper scaffolding for thought and belief. He denies the possibility of ideal certainty with no doubt and concludes that seeking this ideal can only to skepticism (of an extreme sort) and Nihilism. The thesis of this book might best best be stated as follows: the proper confidence of a Christian is not the possession of indubitable knowledge but the confidence of one who has heard and answered God's call of 'Follow me.' In order to demonstrate this point, Newbigin first examines three 'paths' whose titles, which are his first three chapter titles, seem somewhat counter-intuitive. In the first chapter, 'Faith as the Way to Knowledge,' Newbigin argues that if knowledge, and God, are ultim
Read more

A Good Tree Bears Good Fruit....

-
Image
"Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit." - Matthew 7:17-18 "One of the most powerful ways to influence the behavior of a system is through its purpose or goal. That's because the goal is the direction-setter of the system, the definer of discrepancies that require action, the indicator of compliance, failure, or success toward which balancing feedback loops work. If the goal is defined badly, if it doesn't measure what it's supposed to measure, if it doesn't reflect the real welfare of the system, then the system can't possibly produce a desirable result. Systems, like the three wishes in the traditional fairy tale, have a terrible tendency to produce exactly and only what you ask them to produce. Be careful what you ask them to produce." - Donella H. Meadows, Thinking in Systems. 
Read more