Scaling the Secular City: A Defense of Christianity [Paperback]

J. P. Moreland (Author)

Book Description

Series: Scaling the Secular City | Publication Date: February 1, 1987

Here are up-to-date arguments for God's existence and for Jesus' deity and resurrection, answers to objections to Christian theism, and discussions of four key issues.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Baker Academic (February 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801062225
• ISBN-13: 978-0801062223
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #502,310 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

95 of 104 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent defense of Christianity!, September 15, 2001

By 

Bruce H (Toronto, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scaling the Secular City: A Defense of Christianity (Paperback)

This is one of the best books I have ever read on the topic of defending Christianity rationally. That said, for a Christian new to this topic, a more entry-level book would be more helpful (e.g. Lee Strobel's two books: The Case for Christ, The Case for Faith).

The book is written to an educated audience and parts of it are difficult. The most difficult part was Moreland's discussion of the kalam cosmological argument and the mathematical part evidence therein. Moreland is an excellent scholar; in total, there are 359 footnotes where Moreland documents arguments, refers to other philosophers and so on. There is also an excellent bibliography at the end where Moreland classes the books under three categories: Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced.

Moreland covers what one would expect to find in an apologetics book:
The Cosmological Argument
The Design Argument
The Historicity of the New Testament
The Resurrection of Jesus

Much of this material can be found in hundreds of other books. In his chapter on the Cosmological Argument, Moreland focuses on a specific form of it, recently revived by William Lane Craig, namely the kalam Cosmological argument (in brief: If the universe had a beginning, then it was either caused or not-caused, if caused, then the cause is either personal or not-personal). In the Design Argument, Moreland covers different forms of Design, some of which are untouched, even if evolution is true (e.g. Design as Order, Purpose, Simplicity, Complexity, Beauty, Sense and Cognition, Information and Cosmic Constants).

Moreland's defense of the Resurrection is similar in many respects to Craig's; see my reviews of, "Jesus' Resurrection: Fact or Fiction," and, "Will the real Jesus please stand up?"

However, Moreland has several chapters that make his book stand out from the crowd:

God and the Argument from the Mind
God and the Meaning of Life
Science and Christianity
Four Final Issues

In the Mind chapter, Moreland argues for and defends the idea of substantial, immaterial human souls or minds to the existence of an original Mind or Soul (i.e. God). In the Meaning chapter, Moreland looks at the ethics dimension of the question, examines the options (e.g. Nihilism, optimistic humanism, immanent purpose and Christianity), and concludes that Christianity is not only the most rational but also provides more meaning than the competing views.

In the Science chapter, Moreland discusses philosophy of science and the creation/evolution debate. Often, there is an idea that either science and theology are working in totally different spheres of reality or that science should dictate to theology what it can and cannot do. I think Moreland makes an important advance here; his approach takes both science and the Bible seriously. He concludes the chapter with a discussion of evolution and offers a serious of reasons why creation science IS NOT a religion.

In the last chapter, he looks at four final issues; the problem of the visibility of God, the religious experience argument for God, the objection that God is merely a psychological projection and relativism. To explain the visibility problem is the view that sense God cannot be seen, one cannot know He exists; Moreland rightly exposes this as, crude empiricism. The author offers two fairly convincing arguments based on religious experience; the reader must keep in mind that even if you reject this argument, there are numerous other objective arguments that are objective in nature. Psychologists and sociologists originally came up with the idea that God is a projection of the mind, or a fulfillment of psychological needs, obviously forgot that philosophy is not their realm. Moreland responds by saying that to explain the origin of the belief does not show whether one is justified in believing it (to discredit an idea solely by pointing to its origin is to commit the genetic fallacy), and Moreland also questions the premise that people project God. Relativism is the view that there are no universal moral rules that apply to all people, all cultures and all times; for more on this topic, see my review of, Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air.

Throughout the book, Moreland considers objections to his arguments and systematically disables them. He does not make up objections, but footnotes specific books written by advocates of different philosophies. To those that claim that Christianity is intellectually bankrupt, irrational or whatever, you have a challenge to deal with. Moreland shows the intellectual strength of Christianity and makes it difficult to dismiss Christianity casually.

I would highly recommend this book to college and university students and all those who long for a robust defense of the faith.

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, June 9, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Scaling the Secular City: A Defense of Christianity (Paperback)

This book is fantastic! Moreland tackles certain issues in a thorough way, which is not attained by any other book I know of. He very clearly lays down all the arguments and all the counterarguments and his conclusions seem inescapable. Here are the chapters:
1 The cosmological argument
2 The design argument
3 God and the argument from mind
4 God and the meaning of life
5 The historicity of the New Testament
6 The resurrection of Jesus
7 Science and Christianity
8 Four final issues
The excellent treatments of these issues are however not integrated, linked together. One must already have an idea of their relevance (I can recommend here the book of N. L. Geisler, "Christian Apologetics", Baker Book House). I also would like to recommend Moreland's other books ("The Creation Hypothesis", "Jesus under fire", ...).

Bruno Granger,
The Hague, Hollan

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, December 10, 1999

By 

Jesse Kushin (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scaling the Secular City: A Defense of Christianity (Paperback)

J.P. Moreland has done an excellent job in presenting a cumulative case for the truth of Christianity. Chapter 1--The Cosmological Argument--Moreland surveys the three forms of the argument and defends the kalam version. Much of this chapter tries to establish an ultimate beginning of the universe by appealing to philosophical and scientific reasons. Moreland makes the case that it is rational to believe that the universe has a personal cause (God).Chapter 2--The Design Argument--Moreland considers different kinds of design and different forms of the design argument. The richness and force of the design argument is shown in this chapter and common objections are considered as well.Chapter 3--God and the Argument from the Mind--In this chapter, Moreland presents a case for substance dualism and critiques different forms of physicalism as insufficient in explaining the mind.Chapter 4--God and the Meaning of Life--This section examines nihilism, optimistic humanism, the immanent purpose view, and Christian theism. The first three are shown to be inconsistent and lacking in their explanatory power and scope. Christian theism is defended as providing the necessary preconditions for a meaningful life.Chapter 5--The Historicity of the New Testament--Moreland attempts to show that the New Testament documents pass general tests for historicity and can be trusted as reliable. A defense of the early dating of the Gospels and Acts is given along with helpful cultural considerations which point to the general trustworthiness of the New Testament.Chapter 6--The Resurrection of Jesus--This chapter gives the usual arguments for the resurrection including the empty tomb, appearances, and early features of the church. This section is a good outline which gives a great starting point for further research. Hellenistic influences are also briefly addressed.Chapter 7--Science and Christianity--In perhaps the most original of the eight chapters, Moreland gives an introduction to the philosophy of science and gives possible solutions for the integration of science and theology. Also, creation science (in a broad sense) is shown to have scientific merit, contrary to popular belief. A brief treatment of the creation/evolution debate is offered. However, one may wonder if Moreland may be endorsing a young-earth view, which is obviously untenable. However, Moreland doesn't seem to take a strict position on the age of the earth, rather, he argues that there is a wide variety of interpretation in Genesis.Chapter 8--Four Final Issues--In the last chapter, Moreland address the visibility (or lack thereof) of God, God as a psychological projection, religious experience, and different forms of relativism. The section on religious experience is unique and worth consideratiion, while the other three are also important. Conlusion--Moreland ties all eight chapters together and summarizes each of them._Scaling the Secular City_ is an excellent introduction to Christianity and should be considered by skeptics and believers alike to challenge and stimulate.