A Brief Book Notice from Books At a Glance
by Fred G. Zaspel
God has commanded us to engage in a defense of the faith, and thus defending the faith must be something God, in his wisdom, can equip us to do. Scripture is filled with admonitions to reason, know the truth, and refute errors. The need for apologetics has never been greater, and the range of issues is vast. This is a war for hearts and minds. As C.S. Lewis observed, good philosophy must exist because bad philosophy exists: we must not leave the vulnerable without helping them. This book contains 75 chapters, each written by an expert, that will help equip the saints to answer questions and contend for the faith.
Table of Contents
Preface: The Battle for Hearts and Minds
Part One: Questions About Apologetics and Truth
1. What Is Apologetics and Why Do We Need It? Norman L. Geisler
2. What About a Short History of Apologetics? John Warwick Montgomery
3. What Are Some Apologetic Approaches? H. Wayne House
4. What Is the Overall Apologetic Task? Don Deal and Joseph M. Holden
5. What Is the Relationship Between Faith and Reason? Mark M. Hanna
6. What Is Truth? Richard G. Howe
7. How Can We Know Truth? Richard G. Howe
8. What Is Conversational Apologetics? David Geisler
9. How Can We Make Apologetics Culturally Relevant? Miguel Angel Endara
10. What Is the Holy Spirit’s Role in Apologetics? Ed Hindson
Part Two: Questions About God
11. Why Does God Seem “Hidden”? Natasha Crain
12. What Are the Classical Proofs for God’s Existence? Richard G. Howe
13. What Are Some Other Arguments for God’s Existence? Thomas W. Baker
14. If God Exists, Why Is There Evil? Clay Jones
15. Canaanites, Crusades, and Catastrophes—Is God a Moral Monster? Douglas E. Potter
16. How Can a Loving God Send People to Hell? Douglas E. Potter
Part Three: Questions About Jesus
17. Who Is Jesus? Josh McDowell
18. Is There Evidence That Jesus Really Existed? Gary R. Habermas and Benjamin C.F. Shaw
19. Are the Gospel Accounts Reliable? F. David Farnell
20. What About the Alternative “Gospels”? H. Wayne House
21. How Do We Know That Jesus Is God? Ron Rhodes
22. Is There Evidence That Jesus Rose from the Dead? Gary R. Habermas and Benjamin Shaw
23. Did Christianity Copy Earlier Pagan Resurrection Stories? Edwin A. Yamauchi
24. Why Is It Important That Jesus Rose from the Dead? Phil Fernandes
25. How Did Jesus Use Apologetics? Patrick Zukeran
Part Four: Questions About the Bible
26. Are the Old Testament Manuscripts Reliable? Walter C. Kaiser Jr.
27. How Do the Dead Sea Scrolls Show the Reliability of the Old Testament Text? J. Randall Price
28. Does Archaeology Confirm the Historical Reliability of the Old Testament? Steven Collins
29. Were the New Testament Manuscripts Copied Accurately? Don Stewart and Joseph Holden
30. Is the Qur’an’s Text More Reliable Than the Biblical Text? Jay H. Smith
31. Does Archaeology Confirm the Historical Reliability of the New Testament? Brian Janeway
32. What Is the Internal Evidence for the Historical Reliability of the New Testament? H. Wayne House
33. Are There Contradictions in the Bible? Norman L. Geisler
34. What Would a Trial Lawyer Say About the Claims of the Gospels? Christopher P. Burke
35. Can Prophecy Be Used as Evidence That the Bible Is Reliable? Patty Tunnicliffe
Part Five: Questions About Science and Faith
36. What Is the Scientific Case for Intelligent Design? William A. Dembski
37. How Do We Respond to Objections to Intelligent Design? Casey Luskin
38. What Are the Top 10 Scientific Problems with Evolution? Casey Luskin
39. What About Darwin’s Doubt and the Chances of Information Emerging from Random Mutations? Stephen C. Meyer
40. How Should Christians Think About the Origins of the Universe? J.T. Bridges
41. Do We Have a Privileged Planet? Guillermo Gonzalez
42. Do Science and the Bible Conflict? Terry Mortenson
43. What Is the Relationship Between Science and Faith? Terry Mortenson
44. Has the Christian Worldview Had a Positive Impact on the Development of Science? Casey Luskin and Stephen C. Meyer
45. What Is the Scientific Evidence for Adam and Eve? J.C. Sanford
Part Six: Questions from Christians, Seekers, and Skeptics
46. Is There Any Evidence of Life After Death? Gary R. Habermas and Benjamin C.F. Shaw
47. Is It Reasonable to Believe in Heaven (and Hell)? Randy Alcorn
48. Is Jesus the Only Way to God? Phil Fernandes
49. Are Christians Intolerant and Narrow-Minded? Dillon Burroughs
50. Why Is It Important That Jesus Died on the Cross? Terry L. Miethe
51. Is Christian Belief Just Psychological Wish Fulfillment? Denise Ostermann
52. Are Miracles Possible? Richard G. Howe
53. Is It Okay for Christians to Doubt? Terry L. Miethe
54. How Do We Reason from the Scriptures with Cultists? Ron Rhodes
55. Is the Trinity a Contradiction? Ed Hindson
Part Seven: Questions About Worldviews
56. What Is Philosophy, and Why Is It Important? Richard G. Howe
57. What Is Agnosticism, and What Is Its Essential Flaw? Richard G. Howe
58. What Is Materialism, and What Is Its Essential Flaw? Mark M. Hanna
59. What Is Rationalism, and What Is Its Essential Flaw? Richard G. Howe
60. What Is Scientism, and What Is Its Essential Flaw? Douglas E. Potter
61. What Is Moral Relativism, and What Is Its Essential Flaw? Sean McDowell
62. What Is Postmodernism, and What Is Its Essential Flaw? Mark M. Hanna
63. What Is Atheism, and What Is Its Essential Flaw? David R.C. Deane
64. What Is Pantheism, and What Is Its Essential Flaw? Patrick Zukeran
65. What Is Monism, and What Is Its Essential Flaw? Dillon Burroughs
66. What Is Panentheism, and What Is Its Essential Flaw? Christopher Travis Haun
Part Eight: Questions About Apologists of the Past
67. Who Was Justin Martyr? William E. Nix
68. Who Was Augustine? William E. Nix
69. Who Was Anselm? Ralph MacKenzie
70. Who Was Thomas Aquinas? Norman L. Geisler
71. Who Was Blaise Pascal? Terry Glaspey
72. Who Was William Paley? Terry L. Miethe
73. Who Was C.S. Lewis? Terry Glaspey
74. Who Was Cornelius Van Til? David Haines
75. Who Was Francis Schaeffer? Terry L. Miethe
Quote & Unquote
- “There are many good reasons why we need apologetics. First, God commands the use of apologetics. Second, reason demands a defense. Third, the world needs apologetics. Finally, results confirm the success of apologetics.” (22)
- “There is something terribly wrong with humankind that is best explained by the fact that our natures were corrupted by the sin of Adam and Eve—the original sin.” (96)
- “Though difficulties remain with our interpretation of some passages of Scripture, it is remarkable that not one error has ever been demonstrated to have extended to the original text of the Bible.” (219)
- “It was important for Jesus to rise from the dead to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies concerning the resurrection of the Messiah. That is to say, if Jesus had not risen from the dead, then He would not have been the Jewish Messiah.” (158)
- “[Intelligent Design] is science because it uses the standard scientific method of observation, hypothesis, experiment, and conclusion.” (247)
- “It is in the person of Jesus Christ that we see both true God and true man.” (320)
- “Postmodernism rejects the following modernist beliefs: (1) absolute universal truths, and objective knowledge, (2) sufficiency of reason and science for achieving all knowledge, (3) the inevitability of progress by means of reason and science, and (4) metanarratives.” (378)
- “The most dominant Christian writer of this time was Aurelius Augustine, or Austin (354-430). His life, writings, controversies, and influence dominated the period and generations thereafter.” (413)