Free Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth And Apologetics Ebooks Online
Perfect as a textbook yet excellent for lay readers, this updated edition builds a positive case for Christianity by applying the latest thought to core theological themes. J. Gresham Machen once said, "False ideas are the greatest obstacles to the reception of the gospel"-which makes apologetics that much more important. Wanting to engage not just academics and pastors but Christian laypeople and seekers, William Lane Craig has revised and updated key sections in this third edition of his classic text to reflect the latest work in astrophysics, philosophy, probability calculus, the arguments for the existence of God, and Reformed epistemology. His approach-that of positive apologetics-gives careful attention to crucial questions and concerns, including: the relationship of faith and reason, the existence of God, the problems of historical knowledge and miracles, the personal claims of Christ, and the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus. He shows that there is good reason to think Christianity is true. As Craig says, "If you have a sound and persuasive case for Christianity, you don't have to become an expert in comparative religions and Christian cults. A positive justification of the Christian faith automatically overwhelms all competing world views lacking an equally strong case."
Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Crossway; 3rd edition (June 9, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1433501155
ISBN-13: 978-1433501159
Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.9 x 9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (189 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #28,518 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #104 in Books > Christian Books & Bibles > Theology > Apologetics #524 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Religious Studies > Theology
This book is good, solid mind food. People perceive, and it is sad to say that they perceive with good reason, that Christianity is mere mind-fluff, and that what is holding back Christianity is the Christians.This book is a discussion of what is behind Christianity, and provides a philosophical framework in which to defend Christianity. It is written at the college level, since it is intended to be an apologetics resource for college students. I marvel at the way that Dr. Craig brought together so many ideas from so many resources in this book. It found that I used almost every facet of my undergraduate education in understanding the ideas and evidences he used. Most helpful was my survey of philosophy and my hard science classes.This book is divided along six headings: Faith, Man, God, Creation, Sacred Scripture, and Christ. Each chapter is in turn divided along several sub-headings: the Historical Background of the question, an Assessment of the question as it currently stands, and a Practical Application, where Dr. Craig discusses how "the rubber meets the road" is discussing this issue with those curious about Christianity.This is not a bash book, nor is it a survey on "how to hate," but rather it is geared to a thoughtful and ponderous evaluation of many evidences of the truthfulness of Christianity. For example, in Chapter 2, Craig discusses the existential absurdity of life without God. He raises the question of where we get absolute values, and how life becomes meaningful if we are merely a cosmic accident or a galactic hiccup. This is the one question that the atheist, or "atheist-arguing-agnosticism" cannot answer: if there are no moral absolutes, then why not torture babies for sheer pleasure. After all, it has been done before.Then in Chapter 3, Dr.
William Lane Craig is well known inside scholarly circles. Christian scholars regard him as one of the elite. And atheist scholars, along with prominent atheist websites, feel compelled to pay a great deal of attention to the writings and debates of Craig, in my view, because he has demonstrated himself to be one of the sharpest pins to regularly burst the atheism balloon. There is no serious debate about Craig's scholarly credentials and abilities, and Reasonable Faith makes that abundantly clear.Reasonable Faith is a methodical, meticulous, sometimes impassioned defense of the existence of the Biblically based Christian God. In this book, Craig not only challenges the views of various atheist scholars (whether they reside in science, mathematical or history disciplines) but also challenges the views of deism and 'liberal Christianity'. I felt that the book represented a very logical and easy follow stairway from the issues of faith and reason, to the inescapable reasonableness of the resurrection of Jesus. In between, Craig conducts a quality appraisal of the Godless worldview and where it leads, and an outstanding analysis on the existence of God where he takes on the views of Hawking and others. Craig Blomberg contributes a very good chapter on the reliability of the New Testament, with Craig concluding with a good chapter on the self understanding of Christ and a masterful chapter on the resurrection. Each chapter provides a very compelling chronology of how the debates revolving around these topics have evolved over time, giving the reader a good sense of how thinkers on multiple sides of the issues have formed their various positions. Craig then does an assessment of this chronology in each chapter. I found this approach to be very strong and persuasive.
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