Introduction to
Apologetics -Books
Books I used for my lectures, roughly in order of use.
Defense of the Gospel in the New Testament by F.F. Bruce
This is a quick and easy read. The title is self-explanatory. It’s not an apologetics book so much as describing the NT
Love Your God With All Your Mind by J.P. Moreland
Moreland does an awesome job of describing the role of reason in the Christian mind. It is a great mix of theology, cultural criticism, and practicality. The book is readable and highly recommended.
Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem
This is an awesome book. This is not an apologetic book, but good apologetics requires mastery of the secular and sacred. This is a surprisingly easy read.
Scaling the
This book is really hard, but also the best. Those who haven’t taken a few philosophy
courses will find some of the chapters impossible. J.P. Moreland covers the Kalaam
cosmological argument, substance dualism of mind & body, morals and
meta-ethics, and the resurrection of Christ.
Reasonable Faith by William Lane Craig
Think of this as an easier version of Scaling the Secular City.
(Ironically, Craig is source Moreland uses.) It focuses more on the Kalaam
Cosmological argument and the resurrection of Jesus.
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
This classic is deceptively profound. A lot of people read it without realizing how little they really understood. The first part of the book includes the moral argument for God’s existence.
(I also used a bit of Immanuel Kant’s Prolegommena, but I don’t
recommend it.)
Creation Hypothesis
edited by J.P. Moreland
This is a superb collaborative work. The philosophy chapters are great, but too hard for the non-philosophy majors. The sections on physics and the design argument are powerful and easy to understand. Kurt P. Wise’s section on biology is great. Bradly and Thaxton’s work on the origin of life is also great, but they do make the error of converting enthalpy into information theory. As I said in lecture, they do not have isomorphic matrixes.
This is a pretty good book filled with solid arguments
against Darwinian evolution. It is
non-technical and should be readable by any college student.
Information Theory and Molecular Biology by Hubert Yockey
This is neither an apologetics nor Christian book, but sets
the foundation for the current Intelligent Design movement. I found my copy in the
The Design Inference by William Dembski
The book is not about apologetics, but a published thesis paper on the logic and epistemology of a design inference. The heart of the book is in symbolic logic. Don’t bother if you don’t know symbolic logic. It’s awesome if you understand it.
Mere Creation edited by William Dembski
This is a real hodge-podge of papers that are all technical
to some degree. It is an attempt to
build upon academic interest stirred by The
Creation Hypothesis. Some of it is
philosophy, but most of it is science. Some
of it is interesting, but there’s loads of detail. It does have an explanation of Dembski’s design inference that does not require a mastery
of symbolic logic. One computer science article
on the algorithm of Darwinian theory was even too hard
for me to understand.
A Ready Defense by Josh McDowell
This is one of the best books on historical apologetics. It’s actually an abbreviated version of the original Evidence That Demands a Verdict. It’s thorough enough to cover a defense of both the NT and OT. Its only drawback is that it’s a little dated. Even high school students would find it readable.
New Evidence That Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell
I read the original Evidence That Demands a Verdict and I also got this one. This is really good stuff, but there’s just way too much information for the ordinary person to plow through.
Jesus Under Fire edited by Wilkins and Moreland
This is an excellent work on arguing for the reliability of the gospels and historical Jesus. This is a collaboration of evangelical scholars. This is more scholarly than Lee Strobel’s Case for Christ. Despite being a somewhat academic work, it’s still readable by any college student, even UIC students.
Books Relevant To
Apologetics:
The God Who Is There by Francis Schaeffer
This is remarkably profound look at how ideas in philosophy have trickled down into our present-day culture. The writing is a little odd and sometimes tedious, but it really is an awesome book. Its ideas can changed the way I see art, culture, and my own beliefs. This is one way to understand what post-modernism is.
Jesus Among Other Gods by
Of the three books I’ve read by
Darwin’s Black Box by Michael Behe
The book is better if you’ve at least taken biochemistry,
better if you’ve taken a cell or molecular biology and class, and best if
you’re a doctor. It has only one good
argument. Take note that his use of the
term “complexity,” is similar, but different from the term used in information
theory.
The Structure of Scientific Revolution by Thomas Kuhn
This is the definitive work on the philosophy of Science.
Does God Exist? A debate between Kai Nielson and J.P. Moreland
The Resurrection Debate a debate between Anthony Flew and Gary Habermas
http://www.leaderu.com a good site.
My Favorite Books by Ranking