Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

apologetics

Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical

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makingsenseI benefitted from carefully reading this book:

Timothy Keller. Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical. New York: Viking, 2016.

It’s a prequel to Keller’s The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, a New York Times best seller and the modern version of C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity.

To learn why Keller wrote this prequel, read Matt Smethurst’s interview with Keller.

Then read Andrew Wilson’s review.

Then watch the talk Keller gave to employees of Google: [Read more…] about Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical

John Frame’s Apologetics: A Justification of Christian Belief

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apologeticsThe second edition of my favorite book on apologetics released last year:

John M. Frame. Apologetics: A Justification of Christian Belief. Edited by Joseph E. Torres. 2nd ed. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2015.  

This 78-page PDF sample includes the front matter, introduction, and chapter 1.

Check out these two interviews:

  1. Justin Taylor interviews John Frame
  2. Fred Zaspel interviews John Frame

And here are John Frame’s top five books on apologetics (HT: Ivan Mesa’s TGC interview):

  1. C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
  2. Cornelius Van Til, Christian Apologetics
  3. Tim Keller, The Reason for God
  4. Vern Poythress, Redeeming Science
  5. William Edgar and Scott Oliphint, eds., Apologetics Past and Present (vol. 1 | vol. 2)

My Favorite Debate on the Existence of God: Bahnsen vs. Stein

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I’ve listened to this debate over and over and over, and it doesn’t get old. It’s that stimulating.

Greg L. Bahnsen vs. Gordon Stein. “The Great Debate: Does God Exist?” University of California, Irvine, February 11, 1985.

Here’s audio of the debate with subtitles:

Related:

  1. Collision: Christopher Hitchens vs. Douglas Wilson
  2. Carson on Presuppositional vs. Evidentialist Apologetics
  3. More Bahnsen Debates
  4. Greg Bahnsen Lectures and Debates on YouTube
  5. John M. Frame. Apologetics to the Glory of God: An Introduction. Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 1994.
  6. Steven B. Cowan, ed. Five Views on Apologetics. Counterpoints. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000.
  7. K. Scott Oliphint. Covenantal Apologetics: Principles and Practice in Defense of Our Faith. Wheaton: Crossway, 2013.
  8. Justin Taylor, “The Concept of Self-Deception: A Philosophical Analysis, Everyday Illustration, and Application to Romans 1“

Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels

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CCCI read this book three months ago, but I’ve been waiting to highlight it because I wanted to see what my wife thinks of it:

J. Wallace Warner. Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels. Colorado Springs, CO: Cook, 2013.

Jenni recently listened to the audiobook, and we agree:

  1. This is an edifying book with a creative, engaging angle.
  2. The first half is far more engaging than the second half. (I carefully read the first half but ended up skimming the second half.)

We enjoy listening to detective stories (e.g., here and here), and Warner fills the first half of the book with interesting stories that illustrate how to investigate what other people claim to be true.

The author has been a detective for nearly 25 years, and he earned a master’s degree in theology from Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary.

What initially caught my eye are the glowing endorsements from people like Greg Koukl and J. P. Moreland and the foreword by Lee Strobel. [Read more…] about Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels

Carson on Presuppositional vs. Evidentialist Apologetics

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gaggingD. A. Carson, The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism  (Fifteenth Anniversary Edition; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011), 184–88:

[P]artly under the impact of postmodernism, the various “schools” of Christian apologetics have an opportunity to draw closer together than they have usually been in the past.

At the risk of oversimplification, let us restrict ourselves to presuppositionalism, rational presuppositionalism, and evidentialism. All three labels are loaded, and various proponents mean slightly different things by them. Moreover there is a tendency, especially among more popular writers, to caricature the other positions. Thus:

(1) The presuppositionalist may charge the evidentialist with superficiality. You can line up evidence to support the truth of Christianity until you have exhausted yourself by your efforts, but no amount of evidence is sufficient to compel belief. Did not Jesus himself say that even if someone came back from the dead, they would not believe? Evidentialism simply does not understand the implications of human finitude or the profound noetic effects of the Fall—and both limitations are exacerbated by postmodernism. [Read more…] about Carson on Presuppositional vs. Evidentialist Apologetics

The Importance of Argument

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I’m listening to an audio-essay of J. Gresham Machen’s “The Important of Christian Scholarship” (HT: Phil Gons), and this sentence stood out to me: “But because argument is insufficient, it does not follow that it is unnecessary.” I’ve placed it in bold below so that you can read it in context.

The Importance of Argument

Certainly a Christianity that avoids argument is not the Christianity of the New Testament. The New Testament is full of argument in defense of the faith. The Epistles of Paul are full of argument—no one can doubt that. But even the words of Jesus are full of argument in defense of the truth of what Jesus was saying. “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?” Is not that a well-known form of reasoning, which the logicians would put in its proper category? Many of the parables of Jesus are argumentative in character. Even our Lord, who spake in the plenitude of divine authority, did condescend to reason with men. Everywhere the New Testament meets objections fairly, and presents the gospel as a thoroughly reasonable thing. [Read more…] about The Importance of Argument

Collision

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collisionLast night Jenni and I watched Collision: Christopher Hitchens vs. Douglas Wilson (DVD | stream), an 87-minute film in which two witty public intellectuals debate whether Christianity is good for the world.

As we expected, the debate is fascinating, fast-paced, evenhanded, and edifying. The creative camera angles and other non-verbal aspects of the film make it even more provocative (and kind of strange).

Related:

  1. The film is based on the book Is Christianity Good for the World? A Debate (Moscow, ID: Canon, 2008).
  2. The book grew out of a six-part exchange in Christianity Today.
  3. Justin Taylor shared some thoughts after viewing the film in March.
  4. John Piper interviewed Doug Wilson for 16 minutes after showing the film at the Desiring God conference last weekend. One of Piper’s questions goes like this: “In the video you speak about having ‘copiousness.’ Describe what that is and whether you think it is important for pastors to cultivate.” I think Wilson personifies these two proverbs: “To make an apt answer is a joy to a man, / and a word in season, how good it is!” (Proverbs 15:23). “A word fitly spoken / is like apples of gold in a setting of silver” (Proverbs 25:11). Wilson’s copiousness is inspiring.

Updates:

1. John Piper evaluates Doug Wilson in the first 15.5 minutes of this video (early 2013, I think).

2. Doug Wilson reviewed Larry Alex Taunton’s The Faith of Christopher Hitchens: The Restless Soul of the World’s Most Notorious Atheist (Nashville: Nelson, 2016). Superlative review.