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Apologetics for a New Generation: A Biblical and Culturally Relevant Approach to Talking About God (ConversantLife.comŪ)

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Sean McDowell's "Apologetics for a New Generation" is a thoroughly intellectual and completely surprising read. This book is a compilation of the writing of several apologeticists (is that a word?) who have experienced the power of the intellectual witness. What really took my breath away in the first few pages was that the main respondents to this type of witness ranges in age from the mid-teens to the late twenties! (I didn't give this age group enough credit!) Peppered between the chapters are short interviews with various other intellectuals who have experienced the logic of coming to Christ. I was thrilled to see contributions by Mark Matlock, a youth pastor who gets my daughters' attention at his conference every year, and Lee Stroebel, the author of "The Case For Christ".

The appeal of the book is that many of us Christians are unprepared to witness intellectually to anyone. We can recall our testimonies and share our faith, but that doesn't mean a hill of beans to those who are looking for facts on which to base their decision for Christ. This book introduces thoughts and resources to help us prepare to be more factual witnesses. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to be more prepared to answer why they have the faith they do.

Sean McDowell is one of a new generation of Christian apologists. He is the son of the wise and well-traveled writer Josh McDowell. It is not surprising that he produces a book that trains college and high school Christians in defending Christian truth in a winsome manner. He aims to help young people think about the big issues in life as he provides a simple and empathetic friendship-style approach for this age group.
Apologetic advice and instruction come from Dan Kimball, Brett Kunkle, Josh McDowell, Brian Godawa, and other famous Christian scholars. The diverse authors work together to assist the reader in becoming an understanding, emotionally attractive, and intelligent witness for Christ. Difficult issues, doubt, and truth are carefully examined. Yes numerous winning answers are given, but the reader is smoothly taught how to think and how to engage the world in an effective and Christi-like approach by cultivating concern and love for the lost.

Jude 3 "Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints."

The Christian distinction of the Resurrection of Christ is unmistakably declared, analyzed, and defended with a clear and plain emphasis. This is a book that will not only educate young people, but it will move them, as it instills a confidence in the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ. If you desire to be a more capable and understanding witness of biblical truth, I suggest you buy this book.


The Necessary Existence of God: The Proof of Christianity Through Presuppositional Apologetics

Sean McDowell represented on this book! It was GREAT


a must read for every believer

it will motivate your move towards evangelism and educate you in the area of apologetics. I was blessed by Sean and John's collaboration and the viewpoint on Relativism and Lee Strobel's interview and pretty much everything in the book was phenomenal!

Great book! Perfect for those working or teaching in a Youth/College Ministry, this book gives a fresh outlook on how apologetics can be effectively integrated into our culture today.

With the recent cultural shift often referred to as postmodernism, there is now an increasing presence of relativistic and pluralistic thinking in the minds of our young adults; and due to a lack of apologetical training, they are ill-equipped to defend themselves against the intellectual harassment they are likely to encounter from intelligent students and professors at the university. Our youth groups have focused on entertainment and religious experience over sound thinking for far too long, and the effects are not pretty. That is why, according to a survey done by USA Today and the Barna Group, over 70% of our nation's youth are leaving the church after graduating high school.

Why? Because they aren't being taught good reasons to believe why Christianity is true. Their faith has been stripped of it's intellectual riches, and is nothing more than a subjective and existential "philosophy of life" to many. A philosophy that has no more of an impact in one's life than what color T-shirt they choose to wear on a given day. The desire to fit in and become "open minded" has backfired and left many of our youth "empty minded" instead. The unceasing thirst for solid evidence and sound reasoning that they long for has failed to be quenched, and has left them with a "brain-dead" faith that is likely to be easily abandoned in the face of intellectual and emotional pressure from their more "intelligent" peers. In short, for years parents have sent their kids to church, week after week; thinking that, one day, they will leave the home equipped to stand strong in the faith and change the world for Christ, but in fact the exact opposite has occured - the world has changed them.

With that, apologetics has come roaring back to the front lines, as it is needed now more than ever. Indeed, if we can't effectively communicate to our youth why Christianity is true and teach them how to defend common objections raised against it, then we are at risk of losing our next generation for Christ.

But in order to effectively combat this problem, a plan is needed. A new method to communicate timeless truth to a truthless world. This book, I think, succeeds in doing just that.

I really enjoyed and learned a lot from this book. At some point in each chapter I found myself thinking "Yes! I'm so glad someone said that." Just beware, this is not a book detailing any particular apologetic argument. This book has the goal of describing the generation and culture apologists are dealing with today and how to approach that generation.

Apologetics for a New Generation edited by Sean McDowell is a collection of essays about how the study and use of apologetics has changed and needs to change to be relevant in the 21st century. Apologetics is the study and defense of Christianity and is often used to try and convince nonbelievers, but because we now live in a postmodern society, the old arguments don't work. There are a lot of great essays in this book to help not only in addressing nonbelievers, but in talking to teens, even those who do have faith. Not every essay succeeds as well as others. Some get caught up in jargon and high-minded language. Others are fascinating reading, and I finally now understand the difference between modern and postmodern thinking! This is a terrific book for youth leaders and church leaders as well as lay people interested in wanting to know how to have successful and interesting conversations about God. The overriding theme of the book is that relationships are necessary before opinions can be shared. It's a good message for everyone.

I enjoy books that have chapters written by different authors, and this one was no exception. Agreed, three or four of the chapters were blah and pretty standard fare, but this makes it easy to skip those chapters and move to the next one. The major premise of this book is that this generation of youth will be lost unless we challenge the minds and hearts of our teens. As a high school teacher in a Christian school (like McDowell), I know it is too easy for adults to say, "Ah, they want kumbaya moments along with trips to Disneyland." But that's not true. While some would never want to think their way out of a paper bag, I believe most sincere Christian youth want answers to their "why" questions in their search to find meaning to life. They don't want to follow this Christian thing just because Mom and Dad do, and rightly so. They want to follow because there really is a God who loves them and knows their name. This is why youth pastors and others who work with our teens need to consider some of the chapters in this book as we help young people own their own faith.

My favorite chapter was written by Brett Kunkle ("Truth Never Gets Old"). He nailed it with this one, as he shows why relativism is not going to satisfy the thinking person. I love the truth test he gives on page 50 and how he differentiates between opinion and truth. I also enjoyed the short interviews that Sean did with some pretty big names--those were fun interludes between chapters. The only complaint I have is that several chapters seemed out of place, with a very loose tie-in to the theme/title of the book. But, as I said, you can skip whichever chapters you want and pick out the good stuff on your own. Indeed, there is enough meat here to make a purchase worthwhile.

As it was pointed out in another review this is not a apologetics book but rather a book for apologists. It makes no arguments for the truth of Christianity other one paragraph containing four for the resurrection.

1. That Jesus did truly die.
2. The empty tomb.
3. Eyewitness testimony of a risen Jesus
4. The impact that witnessing the risen Jesus had on some.

All of these simply beg the question: How do we know these events are true? This would only be convincing for those who already believe it. Try using these arguments against a atheist or agnostic.

The author does raises five tough questions for apologists:

1. Truth: Does absolute, universal truth exist?
2. God: Can we know he exist?
3. Scripture: How can we be sure that the bible is trustworthy?
4. Jesus: Is he really the one and only savior?
5. The problem of pain: Why does a supposedly loving God allow suffering in the world?

However he provides no answers. The book is simply a self glorifying guideline on how to talk to someone about your faith. Knowing how to approach a person who has these questions does you no good if you can't give a response. In short, the author provides apologetic techniques but otherwise useless information for making the case for Christianity.

'Apologetics For A New Generation' is well worth reading for anyone who is interested in apologetics as it relates to the evangelism of younger people. It has chapters written by a number of different apologists. The general editor is Sean McDowell, the son of well known apologist Josh McDowell.

Although there is plenty of solid information relating to arguments for the Christian faith in it, the emphasis is on presenting the case in a loving manner. As McDowell (Sean) says, 'People still don't care how much you know if they don't know you care'.

There are a number of great concepts presented here including two different types of apologetics - 'The tough minded and the tender minded'. The first is the type most commonly addressed in print. It consists of the use of logic, hard evidence, and arguments. The second type has more of an emphasis on emotional and subjective approaches. Although the first type is my preference, the other certainly has its place and the various authors presented here do a great job of making that case.

The need for apologetics is critical. Surveys have revealed that upwards of seventy percent of Protestant young people walk away from the church between the ages of 18 and 22. Much of this has to do with the failure of the church to train young people in the numerous evidences and arguments for Christianity in an effective manner. This book may be a partial antidote to that.

I would encourage every youth leader and young Christian to read it. Actually, it would be better if every Christian absorbed it and acted on the advice given.

I am not that familiar with Apologetics which is why I read this book. It is a series of chapters written by different people about their view of presenting Christianity to the post-modern generation. All of the chapters were well written and had very interesting and do-able suggestions with good basic theological and realistic reasons. This is definitely not a "because I said so" or a "this is how it feels" type of response to the basic question "How do you present Christianity to today's young adults in a manner that will gain their interest and promote their faith?" Every chapter focused on a different theme answer; and I was very impressed with the thoughts that they brought forward. A great read for anyone interested in working with Christian and non-Christian youth in order to strengthen their faith.