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Christianity for the tough-minded;: Essays in support of an intellectually defensible religious commitment

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Here is the defense of Christ that will stand in a court of law. The same reasoning that a person uses to cross the street is the same that should be used to weigh the claims of Jesus Christ life, death and resurrection. When done it will be demonstrated to be true. The only man in history to have defeated death, the ultimate reality for all humans, demands that his testimony should be considered very carefully. This book is an outstanding collection of essays demonstrating this clear truth and fact.

John Warwick Montgomery (b. 1931) is one of the major philosophical apologists of the 20th century. He is also a trained lawyer, which influenced his "historical/legal" approach to Christian apologetics. He is perhaps best known as a writer for his book History and Christianity, as well as for his debates with the infamous atheist Madalyn Murray O'Hair (1967), with the "Death of God" theologian Thomas Altizer (reprinted in Montgomery's book The Suicide of Christian Theology), as well as with Joseph Fletcher, who wrote the book Situation Ethics: The New Morality (Library of Theological Ethics). (The Montgomery/Fletcher debate is reprinted in Situation ethics; true or false?: A dialogue between Joseph Fletcher and John Warwick Montgomery (Dimension books).)

The cover on my copy of this 1973 collection of essays admirably sums up the contents: "Essays written by a group of young scholars who are totally convinced that a spiritual commitment is intellectually defensible." Montgomery has gathered a collection of essays on topics such as "Philosophy and Scientific Method," "Ethics and Society," Religion and Truth," "Psychology and Religious Experience," "Literature and World-View," and "Christianity and Personal Commitment."

Here are some representative quotations from the book:

"Therefore, immortality, properly understood from a Christian standpoint, does not primarily refer to a here-and-now state within man but rather points to a future hope."

"It cannot be emphasized too strongly that every psychological bi-product of Christianity can be reproduced by LSD and by almost every other religion, including a sense of meaning in life, integration of personality, increased sensitivity to others, greater self-acceptance, psychological relief from anxiety and guilt feelings, tranquility and inner harmony. The religious experience is not unique to Christianity. The most one can infer from it is that man is so constituted that he can have this experience. What is the difference, then, between Christianity and LSD if their subjective experience and psychological products turn out to be essentially the same?"

"To Kenneth Pike, renowned scholar in linguistics ... God's universe extends too far to be comprehended by the mind merely through the provisional, abstract code of logic. And what of Miss (Ayn) Rand's claim that a thinking person must realize physical objects cannot act without cause? What omniscient perception led her to THIS grand, all-encompassing rule?"

This book will be of value to those interested in Christian apologetics.

The book answers the anti-Christians of the day; namely, atheists, Buddhists, Ayn Rand, Eric Hoffer, and so on -- i.e. 70's radicals. I ask anyone that if they find one 70's radical who is persuasive, then they are beyond any cure. Rand and Hoffer were egotistical, yes, but cogent, no. Buddhists are simply off-the-wall. Why would an apologist allocate prescious resources to answer a retard babbling on a street corner shows lack of prudence not Christian mission. Montgomery loves to list his innumerable degrees and honors on the back of his book. His book is almost a defense of John Warwick Montgomery's intellectual status rather than Jesus Christ. Why doesn't Montgomery address the Freemasonic origins of Joseph Smith, Charles Taze Russell, Mary Baker Eddy, Aliester Crowley and so on and the kabbalistic and Talmudic lifesource of anti-Christ institutions. He treats the symptoms but not the disease.