Come Let Us Reason: New Essays in Christian Apologetics [Paperback]

Paul Copan (Editor), William Lane Craig (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2012

Come Let Us Reason is the third book in a series on modern Christian apologetics that began with the popular Passionate Conviction and Contending with Christianity’s Critics. The nineteen essays here raise classical philosophical questions in fresh ways, address contemporary challenges for the church, and will deepen the thinking of the next generation of apologists. Packed with dynamic topical discussions and informed by the latest scholarship, the book’s major sections are:

• Apologetics, Culture, and the Kingdom of God
• The God Question • The Gospels and the Historical Jesus
• Ancient Israel and Other Religions
• Christian Uniqueness and the World’s Religions

Contributors include J. P. Moreland (“Four Degrees of Postmodernism”), William Lane Craig (“Objections So Bad That I Couldn’t Have Made Them Up”), Gary R. Habermas (“How to Respond When God Gives You the Silent Treatment”), Craig Keener (“Gospel Truth: The Historical Reliability of the Gospels”), and Paul Copan (“Does the Old Testament Endorse Slavery?”).

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Paul Copan is a professor and the Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics at Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida. He holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Marquette University.

William Lane Craig is research professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California. His Ph.D. in Philosophy is from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: B&H Academic (April 1, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1433672200
• ISBN-13: 978-1433672200
• Product Dimensions: 5.9 x 0.7 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #396,381 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Why Human Reason came from a Reasonable Mind > Reasonless universe March 27, 2012

By Cornell

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I will continue to add on to this review as I read further, but for right now this book is excellent.

I'm happy to see some names that I've never particularly heard about to join into today's debate in regards to Christian apologetics, as well as names that I've heard about (Matthew Flannagan and MaryJo Sharp) in which I'm glad to see an essay from.

We have three elite Christian apologists in William Lane Craig, JP Moreland and Paul Copan.

Gregory Ganssle who is a Lecturer in Philosophy at Yale as well as Mark Foreman who is a professor of philosophy and religion at Liberty University

We have great Bible scholars in Gary Habermas, Mike Licona, Richard Hess and Craig Keener

One of the topics I was interested in before even reading this book was Dr. Craig's essay regarding the top 10 layman objections to the Kalam Cosmological Argument. Dr. Craig addresses these horrific arguments against the credibility of the KCA that one usually hears from village atheists which in conclusion WLC dismantles these layman criticisms with ease.

I was also looking forward to JP Moreland's 4 degrees of postmodernism as well.

The only thing missing is that we do not see anything from philosophers Alvin Plantinga, Nicholas Wolterstorff, Alexander Pruss or Richard Swinburne (though three of them are mentioned). Although it still doesn't take anything away from this book, as I'm seeing some great contributions from lesser known apologists such as Michael Edens and Barbara Pemberton.

Topics include:

The credibility of Authorship in the NT

Flaws of Naturalism

Four degrees of Postmodernism

The Divine Hiddeness of God

Did God command genocide on the Caananites?...

Was the OT God one who endorsed slavery?

Did Christianity mimic other pagan religions

Thoughts on the teachings of the Qu'ran

Terrible objections to the Kalam Cosmological Argument

Rebuttal to the Zeitgeist Movie

I'd say this book is geared for the intermediate level apologist, however a beginner can get by. It doesn't hurt for an advanced apologist or a teacher to have this wonderful writing in their library as well, as I can see this book being used in apologist classes in the near future. I can see Theologians, Philosophers and Bible Scholars (Which are all crucial to apologetics) all being interested in "Come Let Us Reason".

So far this book is living up to it's potential!!! I highly recommend to anyone who wants to gain in Wisdom and understanding, as *good* theology and philosophy does indeed matter.

"All truth is given by revelation, either general or special, and it must be received by reason. Reason is the God-given means for discovering the truth that God discloses, whether in his world or his Word. While God wants to reach the heart with truth, he does not bypass the mind."

- Jonathan Edwards Read more ›

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars new and fresh apologetics April 5, 2012

By CAM Book Reviews

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Many at first, thought that the arrival of the nasty New atheists was a curse to the world, but it turns out that the belligerent new atheists helped spur a massive resurgence of christian apologetics. the goal of destruction only helped prompt masses of people into apologetics and the world gets a tremendous amount of fresh apologetic material. And that's one of the nice things about Copan's and Craig's "Come let Us Reason," new and fresh insights from a host of apologists and philosophers.
many atheists declare that Christianity is opposed to reason. they try to tell us that faith is unreasonable--simply an illusionary. They follow Freud who said that people of faith are fearful of reason when it scrutinizes religion- he said "where questions of religion are concerned, people are guilty of every possible kind of insincerity and intellectual misdemeanor." But when I have spoken with scoffers, atheists, and agnostics, I have found the most nasty ones are guilty of logical offenses. these intellectual outlaws not only despise the scrutiny of reason and revelation, but generally throw mere bombast and then take off as they run when the heat of truth is brought to bear on their view of reality.

in "come Let us reason' you get 19 good essays that are very easy to understand and help arm you to share the truth with nonChristians. This book is endorsed by rick warren, craig hazen, and lee strobel.... It's a basic level type of book with lots of different subjects including:

* The Question of God
* apologetics and culture
* the historicity of the Gospels and Jesus Christ
* israel and Other Religions
* Christian exclusivity and the world's religions

This is an easy thing to read and to grasp with 315 pages and some mostly unknown apologists getting their national break. Good for copan and craig to help open doors while giving solid answers.
Some chapters have been dealt with by so many apologists it's way to redundant and should not have been included; like dealing with the old false idea of mystery/pagan religions having gods just like Jesus who died and rose again.

Some atheists, when asked why reason is useful, will say, "it just is--it helps with our evolutionary survival." accordingly, this sort of atheist rests on sightless faith. atheists are short of ultimate answers for reality and that shortness is exposed in this book. Unbelievers live in a world that they cannot explain.
other apologetic books with really fresh stuff are:
Truth, Knowledge and the Reason for God: The Defense of the Rational Assurance of Christianity
maybe buy: Cosmos, Creator and Human Destiny: Answering Darwin, Dawkins, and the New Atheists Read more ›

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Good read September 19, 2012

By Patrick S

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I really enjoyed reading this book. It's in depth and powerful and anyone who needs their apologetics thirst quenched will not be left wanting after reading it. I loved Part 3, "The historical Jesus and New Testament reliability. Some chapters are a bit harder and require much background understanding for example chapter 12 "Did Yaweh have a Wife?" but overall its an accessible book for those who take defending their faith seriously, I highly recommend it!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent and Relevant September 6, 2012

By Matthew

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

A great collection of apologetical essays that are interesting, relevant and easy to read due to their concise nature. I definitely recommend it

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Collection of Essays on Current Apologetical Issues for Christianity October 14, 2012

By Life Long Reader

Format:Paperback

Since the first century, the church has been involved in one way or another in the ministry of apologetics. Within the last few decades, as atheists have seemed to ramp up their religious efforts to discredit and eradicate the belief in God and Christianity more specifically, Christians have ramped up their apologetical focus with matching intensity.

Among the many contemporary apologists Paul Copan, current president of the Evangelical Philosophical Society, and William Lane Craig, perhaps the most well-known and active Christian apologists debater, have teamed up to edit a series of books that seek to address many of the contemporary issues within Christian apologetics. Passionate Conviction: Contemporary Discourses on Christian Apologetics and Contending With Christianity's Critics: Answering New Atheists and Other Objectors were the precursors to the third book in the series Come Let Us Reason: New Essays in Christian Apologetics. All three books are edited by Copan and Craig and each with different contributors.

As the subtitle indicates the book is a collection of essays (sixteen in all) which focus on the areas of apologetics and culture, God, the historical Jesus and New Testament reliability, Ancient Israel and ANE religions and Christianity and other religions such as Islam. Since there is no one theme that is developed throughout the book this review will provide some general thoughts on the book overall with some comments on specific chapters.

First, while the ministry of apologetics throughout Christian history has been dominated by men, this book features two women contributors and one chapter by Toni Allen dedicated to understanding how to train women in apologetics.... While many of the contributors many not believe in women pastors I venture to say that most if not all are welcoming to women teachers and theologians within theological institutions and religious studies programs at various Christian and secular schools. Personally I think this is fine and good. The chapter by Allen is unique and one that would serve pastors and women ministry leaders well in learning how to better train women theologically.

Second, in the third part on the historical Jesus and the reliability of the New Testament, the reader can see the far reaching and deeply entrenched effects the vast work of Bart Ehrman has had on these studies. Almost every contributor in this section interacts with him. The various contributors do a great job pointing out the smoke and mirrors in front of the hollow claims and arguments Ehrman makes. Also in the third section is a well written chapter by Mark W. Foreman in which he breaks apart the claims of the popular Zeitgeist documentary written and produced in 2007 by Peter Joseph. The essential claim of Joseph is that Christianity as a religion is nothing more than a copycat from other religions. Foreman breaks down the main claims of the film and demonstrates why most scholars have abandoned the copycat apologetic against Christianity.

Finally, as is clear, this book is an apologetics book, but a point of significance that can often be missed in books like this is the far reaching nature of apologetics that a book like this demonstrates. What I mean is, while many people have a more simple view of apologetics as the defense and proclamation of Christianity, this book, and others like it, show the reader that apologetics encompasses a defense of all of Scripture. Apologetics is more than just a defense for creation out of nothing or the historical reliability of the death and resurrection accounts in the NT. In its most broadest sense, apologetics is a defense of the entire canon of Scripture and all things contained therein. This is a sobering thought as we realize how much content we as Christians are responsible for defending. None of us can know it all but we must be willing to learn more and stretch ourselves for the sake of the lost.

Come Let Us Reason Together is a great collection of recent essays on various apologetic issues. There are no pat answers here. There is great respect for the Scriptures and for the God who inspired them. I don't expect this book to have too broad a reading but for those who venture to dig in it will prove rewarding. Read more ›