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Why I Am a Christian: Leading Thinkers Explain Why They Believe

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Too many Christians "feel" that the exercise of the mind is not important when it comes to the Christian faith. How wrong these believers are! In this day of easy-believism, where the intellect is forsaken for a spiritual diet of cotton candy and bon bons, it is refreshing to know that there are important Christian apologists who make it a point to write thinking pieces such as "Why I Am a Christian." Indeed, Jesus Himself said that we are to worship God with our whole heart, soul, MIND, and strength.

Although I don't remember seeing if the editors, Geisler and Hoffman, were attempting to respond to Russell's "Why I Am Not A Christian," this book certainly serves as a lob back to the atheist's court. Included in the book are essays on truth, God, miracles, the Bible, Jesus, and evil and suffering. Taking some of the better apologists who have already written on the topic at hand, the book's top two strengths were:

* William Lane Craig's chapter 4 entitled "Why I believe God exists." Using the same arguments that he used in a Willow Creek debate against an atheist in the early 1990s--Kalam, Design, and the Moral arguments--Craig's chapter is solid and is a good reference to utilize when determining strong rational arguments for the Christian faith. I think the following chapter by Geisler was very redundant and not as clear as Craig's. It would have been good had the editor perhaps narrowed his chapter since he commissioned Craig to work with the cosmological and teleological arguments.

* Although he offered very little new material, Barry Leventhal's chapter on Jesus as the Messiah was enjoyable to read. The chapter was well-laid out, fully supported, and summarized its points better than perhaps any other chapter in the book.

The book's top two weaknesses were:

* Beckwith's look at moral relativism. He tries to pack too much into too short of a chapter, and though I admire the man for his brilliant mind, I think he needed more room to complete his thoughts. Geisler does an admirable job with the next chapter (Why I believe Truth is Real and Knowable), but I don't think this issue is still fully resolved with these two chapters. Rather, I would recommend Beckwith and Greg Koukl's book entitled Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air to get a better look at this important issue.

* Chapter 7 regarding the miracles of Jesus was pretty dull and was written with little life. It seemed like Habermas could have simplified his approach with this chapter. The next chapter on divine creation by Hugh Ross had some excellent tables incorporated in it, but truly it just seemed dry. Also, not everyone will agree with Ross' view of the age of the earth--nor with Walter Bradley, a Progressive Creationist who in chapter 10 says on page 168 that the earth is at least 4 billion years old--Ross' ideas about the world being designed would not be quibbled with by the theistic thinker. However, I could see some of the Young Earth folks become offended with these chapters, and I'm wondering if perhaps the other side should have also been represented with an issue that, while important, is peripheral to the essential Christian faith.

Overall, I would say that the book as a collection of essays is worthwhile for readers who like to think, but the average lay reader would probably be best served in looking for other avenues, including Handbook of Christian Apologetics (Kreeft) or When Skeptics Ask (Geisler).

This collection represents the best essays on apologetics, a must read for any person serious on Christian faith. If one thinks that there are no new ideas from these essays, he/she might have overlooked that these essays are deep rooted in the rich apologetics tradition and built on previous scholarly research, so any reader can get a quick overview on what arguments have been put forth for the topic discussed. Having said that, the overviews are not overly simplified. They are really high quality review essays and intellectually stimulating. This book is a must unless you have read all the literature on apologetics written over the entire course human history.

Why I am a Christian edited by Norman L. Geisler and Paul K. Hoffman. As a subtitle of the book Leading Thinkers Explain Why They Believe. Six topics and sixteen subtopics are included in this book. Fourteen squarely focus on the theme of the book. The articles are focus on a particular subtopic. The first two subtopics: Why I Am Not a Moral Relativist & Why I Believe Truth is Real and Knowable is an argument for one truth. The rest of book is an argument that the Bible is the source of that truth and why I believe it to be so. This is a book for a student of some philosophy and logic, but one need not have studied it in college. Written by fourteen writers, one can tell that the topics were assigned by the editors and each writer knew what the previous writers wrote dealt with.

Part 2; Why I Believe in God
3 Why I Am not an Atheist written by J. Budzisewski
4 Why I Believe God Exists written by William Lane Crain
5 Why I Believe the God of the Bible Is the One True God written by Norman L. Geisler

If one accepts the first three arguments the rest of the argument should follow.

Part 3: Why I Believe in Miracles
6 Why I Believe in the Possibility of Miracles written by R. Douglas Geivett
7 Why I Believe the Miracles of Jesus Actually Happened written by Gary R. Haberness
8 Why I Believe in the Miracle of Devine Creation written by Hugh Ross

Truth is knowable; this is what is argued in the first part. The second part attempts to prove God exists and is the God described in the Bible. The third part is an argument for the belief in signs and wonders. It is an argument the God that exist is in control of all nature and the Human condition, except it is not. The item written by Hugh Ross is an argument for intelligent design of the universe, but not as described in Genesis. According to Him, God created the material then set the Big Bang into motion. Every else in Nature is like Darwin taught.

Part 4: Why I Believe the Bible is the Word of God
9 Why I Believe the New Testament is Historically Reliable
written by Gary R. Haberness
10 Why I Believe the Bible is Scientifically Reliable written by Walter Bradley
11 Why I Believe the Bible Alone Is the Word of God
written by Winfred Corduan

I agree with the subtitles listed but the conclusions of Walter Bradley I do not. His arguments are consistent to Hugh Ross thoughts. The thoughts are not clear with the clear meaning or the historic accuracy of the first eleven chapter of Genesis. I would think this means he does not believe these chapters are scientifically reliable.

Part 5: Why I Believe Jesus is the Messiah and The Son of God
12 Why I Believe Jesus is the Promised Messiah written by Barry Lebenthal
13 Why I Believe Jesus is the Son of God written by Peter Creft

Barry Lebenthal shares how he accepted Jesus as Messiah, Lord, and Savior. Lebenthal was born into a Jewish home and raised in the Hebrew Faith. He became A Christian when he accepted Jesus as the promised Messiah of the Jews.

Part Six: Why I Have Chosen to Follow Christ
14 Why I Still Believe In Christ, in Spite of Evil and Suffering
written by John S. Feinberg
15 Why I Have Jesus Christ Lord of My Life written by J.P. Moreland
16 Why I Believe Jesus Christ is the Ultimate Source for Meaning
Written by Ravi Zacharias

I do not think John S. Feinberg arguments are convincing. I think he is on the right track. When he argues those who believe suffering is a reason to not to believe, that person should question why God made it possible for Adam to sin therefore all mankind to merit suffering?

I found this book an interesting read even though I disagree with a good portion of the argument and compromise with the World.

The revised, expanded edition of the classic WHY I AM A CHRISTIAN: LEADING THINKERS EXPLAIN WHY THEY BELIEVE addresses all the typical questions of modern Christian believers, from issues of belief in miracles, the existence of god, and the nature and purpose of suffering to the evidences and controversies posed by evolutionary theory. Contributors are expert witnesses for Christianity, from a mechanical engineer and lawyer to scientists, philosophers, former skeptics and atheists, and more. The result is a lively, diverse dialogue from many differing viewpoints: perfect for any Christian lending library or discussion group.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I really enjoyed reading this book. I think the topics that are covered in each chapter are well done. Each topic took opposing views and gave arguments to each of the views on the topic at hand. I feel each chapter is through enough to use as a sole source to debate/reason with most lay people but may need additional resources to debate a particular topic with a "professional debater".

Overall i would recommend this book to anyone intrested in apologetics.

Many evangelical thinkers should enjoy reading the essays in this book. It is heart-warming to see Norman Geisler, a leading evangelical thinker, include in his book the writings of Peter Kreeft, a leading Catholic thinker. Committed Catholics and evangelicals have a great deal to learn from each other.

Thank you, Mr. Geisler and Mr. Hoffman, for such a splendid collection of essays.

I read just about every apologetics book I can get my hands on and in my opinion this is one of the best I've read. When someone gave it to me as a gift, judging by the title, I thought- "oh great, another introductory level apologetics book". But I was completely wrong. This book is full of top notch essays by the best Christians thinkers of our time. I highly recommend this book; every Christian should have a copy in their collection.

This book contains the testimonies of all kinds of intellectuals who have realized that God is real and are using reason to defend their belief in Him. These men come from many religious backgrounds: atheist to Islam. Interesting and well written.

This book is a fascinating and well written collection of essays by a wide variety of authors. I was inspired and fortified by their words. In this difficult and sometimes confusing world, it's great to have such well researched and thoughtful responses to contemplate for oneself, and to hopefully be better prepared to give an answer to those who ask about the Christian faith.