25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good thinking articles on apologetics, December 21, 2007
This review is from: Passionate Conviction: Contemporary Discourses on Christian Apologetics (Paperback)
Although most of these articles could mostly be found in their own writings published in other publications (which is typical for a book like this), the authors of Passionate Conviction do a great job overviewing some of the basics in Christian apologetics. There are six parts, including evidence for the existence of God (emphasis on cosmological and moral arguments), Jesus, comparative religion, and Postmodernism. In the first chapter, William Lane Craig writes on "In Intellectual Neutral," and he points out the encouraging point that more and more Christian thinkers are "coming out of the closet and defending the truth of the Christian worldview with philosophically sophisticated arguments in the finest secular journals and professional societies." This is awesome. Yet he later points out how Christian laypeople are not exercizing their mental faculties and need to become "intellectually engaged." He writes, "Our churches are filled with Christians who are idling in intellectual neutral." His article was a great way to get this book started, and I think many laypeople would benefit from an overview book such as this. (I highly recommend Lee Strobel's writings as other good places to start, as he deals with many of these same issues in a layperson-friendly format.) However, some of the articles are going to go over the layperson's head as several authors delve into some deeper philosophy. But, overall, I think this book would be a good primer for a Christian who wants to tackle the issues of faith and understand how we can make a better case for Christianity in the marketplace of ideas.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Little Dry And, Yet, Pretty Good? Yep., September 2, 2008
This review is from: Passionate Conviction: Contemporary Discourses on Christian Apologetics (Paperback)
Passionate Conviction is a collection of essays gathered from several Christian apologetics conferences which were held by the Evangelical Philosophical Society, "the largest society of Christian philosophers in the world". Counting the president of the society, their membership is now up to three.
That's a joke. Relax. Actually, there are a significant number of Christian philosophers.
The book is divided into six parts with each part containing at least two essays:
Part 1, Why Apologetics?
Part 2, God (which includes arguments for His existence)
Part 3, Jesus
Part 4, Comparative Religions
Part 5, Postmodernism and Relativism
Part 6, Practical Application
It is a good and helpful book, although, it is typical of books on apologetics in that the writing can be a little dry. In fact, if you will quickly fan the pages of the book you will actually get a little poof of dust. (I know, the jokes are getting worse as we go along, but I'm amusing myself, slightly.)
My favorite chapters were:
In Intellectual Neutral, by William Lane Craig. Craig argues for the importance of deep thinking and study--in other words, "the intellectual life"--to the life of faith. He quotes J. Gresham Machen, "The church is perishing to-day through the lack of thinking, not through an excess of it."
Living Smart, by J.P. Moreland. This deals with "integration" which has to do with unifying areas of our lives that involve diversity and yet, are part of the whole of who we are and what we believe as followers of Christ.
Christ in the New Age, by L. Russ Bush. It's interesting how many really old ideas have become part of what is now considered to be "New Age" thinking. It's also interesting to see how effectively New Age thinking has penetrated and influenced American culture; including the Christian church.
Reflections on McLaren and the Emerging Church, by R. Scott Smith. I found this chapter interesting because I find the "Emerging Church" movement to be interesting. I'm somewhat fascinated by what "catches on" and captures the thinking of a group of people. By the way, for a very helpful book on the subject of the Emerging Church, check out "Why We're Not Emergent", DeYoung and Kluck.
Dan Marler
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6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good Articles, But No Clear Focus, November 17, 2008
This review is from: Passionate Conviction: Contemporary Discourses on Christian Apologetics (Paperback)
"Passionate Conviction" is a compilation of essays given at the annual apologetics conference of the Evangelical Philosophical Society. These conferences aim to instruct laypersons about evangelical scholarship, and they feature the brightest minds of the evangelical scholarly community- authors such as N.T. Wright, J.P. Moreland, and Michael Murray.
The book is separated into the following 6 main categories;
-Why Apologetics?
-God
-Jesus
-Comparative Religions
-Postmodernism and Relativism
-Practical Application
Although many of the essays were well-written, Passionate Conviction lacked many important topics. For example, there is no consideration of the Problem of Evil, even though this is generally considered to be the most powerful argument against Christianity. The other problem with the book is that many of the essays seemed to be surface level treatments. I was excited to see some essays concerning eastern religions like Buddhism, but I was disappointed with the depth of the content.
The main problem with the book is its lack of coherency. It feels like a hodge-podge of essays just gathered together. Although there is some value in "Passionate Conviction," I think there are much better books out there if you are looking for an introduction to Christianity and apologetics.
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