I was wondering what Christian apologists have been helpful to anyone on this forum. I have been through times that I have had serious doubts about God and Christ and the works of Gary Habermas have been a great help to me. He specializes in the Resurrection as a historical event. He presents a minimal facts case using only facts that the vast majority of published critical biblical scholars, Christian and Non-Christian, agree upon. He then uses these facts to discount alternative theories and show that the Resurrection is the best explanation of the data. He also has done work dealing with what we can know about Christ from history.
As a side note, I think the case for Chrisitianity has been hurt by apologetics that have employed poor science and/or logic. I feel that many discoveries of science have been reacted to harshly because of misunderstandings. For example, the Earth revolving around the sun. This may have challenged the faith of those who felt the Earth was the center of the universe. Past misunderstandings of science and even possibly the Bible may have led to people questioning the compatibility of an old universe and Christianity for example. This may even be the case with evolution. Whatever the case may be, our quest should be for the truth and not just what we currently believe.
Christian Apologists That Have Helped
Christian Apologists That Have Helped
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Reason:
Reason:
Ravi Zacharias had some influance on me. He tends to make his point using storytelling, which is unique for an academic. William Lane Craig is another one, although he's a little too cerebral for most people. After too much Dr. Craig my brain starts to hurt so I take him in small doses. 
I also agree that bad arguments, whether from Christians or non-Christians, can be rather annoying and should not be presented. Many well-intentioned Christians have put forth terrible arguments. I remember presenting some terrible arguments myself about a decade ago that I wouldn't touch with a 10-foot stick nowadays.
Steve Gregg has also had some influence on me in this area. He seems to use a mix of personal testimony and scholarly facts, both of which make a strong case on their own. I remember Steve talking about a prophetic incident at a truck stop while he was on the Rational Response Squad and the volatile hosts were not sure how to handle a guy who just seemed.... honest. Of course, they thought the incident was a coincidence but even they probably knew that was a cop-out reponse.
I also agree that bad arguments, whether from Christians or non-Christians, can be rather annoying and should not be presented. Many well-intentioned Christians have put forth terrible arguments. I remember presenting some terrible arguments myself about a decade ago that I wouldn't touch with a 10-foot stick nowadays.
Steve Gregg has also had some influence on me in this area. He seems to use a mix of personal testimony and scholarly facts, both of which make a strong case on their own. I remember Steve talking about a prophetic incident at a truck stop while he was on the Rational Response Squad and the volatile hosts were not sure how to handle a guy who just seemed.... honest. Of course, they thought the incident was a coincidence but even they probably knew that was a cop-out reponse.
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
Reason:
Reason:
-
_SoaringEagle
- Posts: 285
- Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2005 10:40 pm
- Location: Louisville, KY
The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition Authored by Paul Rhodes Eddy and Gregory A. Boyd should be more than a delight to own and read. go here to see more specifically what it comprehends.
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
Reason:
Reason:
kallin1985, I want you to know that you are not alone. I went through some struggles myself recently and have acquired quite a list of apologetics resources that I've personally benefited from. Many Christians experience doubts from time to time; for whatever reason instead of dealing with any I had as they came, I saved them up for one big colossal crisis that lasted for the better part of a year from about the last quarter of 2006 until about the middle of 2007. I've come through with my faith intact (strengthened, in fact), but it was not without a lot of pain and confusion. The experience, however, has probably changed my life permanently (for the better, because now my faith is vibrant and real now that I've thought about it enough to know what I'm committing to). But enough about me.
JC already mentioned Ravi Zacharias and William Lane Craig. Both of them are favorites of mine. Yes Craig can be rather intense sometimes, but that actually is the sort of stuff I relish (and exactly what I needed). Not all of his material is of the ultra-intellectual variety, though. I have a book of his in my library in which he puts the cookies on the bottom shelf; it is called "Hard Questions, Real Answers." I'm also really enjoying his "Defenders" podcast right now:
http://www.reasonablefaith.org/site/Pag ... sting_main
It's a series of Sunday School lessons he gave at his home church on the basics of apologetics.
Ravi Zacharias is excellent, too, but his approach is more of a from-the-heart type. He blends the intellectual with the emotional for a rather compelling effect. One interesting thing he does is to take the ideas expressed by Existentialist philosophers and show what awful conclusions can result from the denial of God's existence. He always seems to be saying to unbelieving challengers: "Think about what you are saying!" (In fact I'm sure he has used that phrase on many occasions--I can hear his voice saying it in my head as I write this). He doesn't usually present arguments that are well oiled with mechanically scientific precision and obvious logical steps, but he does get you to think, and his method--though different from that of other apologists--is very effective. (I'm not saying that he isn't logical or precise; just that he goes beyond just having sound arguments and puts them where the rubber meets the road).
Another person who's material I enjoy is Alvin Plantinga. He is not an apologist per se, but rather a professional philosopher who is a Christian theist. In fact he is well respected as one of the more well known philosophers in this day, even within secular circles. He has an excellent and compelling argument that pits evolution against atheism and asserts that the two are mutually exclusive. I suspect he is a theistic evolutionist, but that is really beside the point with that argument. Even if you are a strict YEC, the argument is still useful because it shows atheism to be internally inconsistent (IOW, you perhaps can assert the existence of God without special creation as theistic evolutionists do, but its much more difficult to assert atheism without evolution). His specialty in philosophy is in the area of Epistemology, which is very relevant to questions about the confidence you have in your belief system. Somewhere I have a reference to an audio interview with Dr. Plantinga on a podcast called "The SciPhi Show" in which he describes his Evolutionary argument. I'll try to dig up that reference. If Dr. Craig makes your brain hurt, however, Dr. Plantinga will make your head melt. It is extremely intense. He is a protestant himself (Dutch Reformed) and somewhat Calvinistic, although he teaches at a Catholic university (Notre Dame).
If you want something that is a much lighter fare, try JP Holding. His work is made public primarily through his web site www.tektonics.org. He takes to task a lot of pop skeptics like those who try to assert that Jesus never existed, that Christianity is just regurgitated paganism, apostate ex-Christians-turned-atheists, etc. He was of enormous help to me during my own crisis. I established an email correspondence with him during that time and I owe him a debt of gratitude. He also has a really good book review section where he gives some pretty good opinions on books related to his field of study. His background is in library sciences.
Someone who I've also really enjoyed is Doug Groothuis (I think its pronounced "Grotier"). He teaches at Denver Seminary and specializes in philosophical apologetics. He has a really good lecture series in audio format on basic apologetics. I downloaded them some time ago from www.apollos.ws. I went there just now to get the reference, but it appears you now have to have a logon at apollos.ws, which you didn't need before. I'll have to sign up over there at some point and get the link information--don't have time right now, though.
Speaking of Denver Seminary, another good product of that school is Craig Blomberg. He isn't exactly an apologist either, but an excellent New Testament scholar whose material can equip you to meet the challenges thrown at Christianity from an archaeological and textual angle. He did some work debunking The Da Vinci Code.
A couple more obscure ones that I really enjoy are: Joe Boot and Bruce Little. Joe Boot works with Ravi Zacharias' ministries. He isn't very prolific, but he wrote an excellent but short book called "Why I Still Believe." I highly recommend it. It's not difficult reading, and won't take long to read, but it had a powerful impact on me. Bruce Little is a pastor who himself went through a period of searching and came out stronger in the end and ended up studying philosophy of religion. He's done some work on the so-called "Problem of Evil" and wrote a book called "A Creation Order Theodicy: God and Gratuitous Evil." I've not read his book, but I've listened to several of his messages on audio format, and he's really good.
Last but not least, of course, there's our esteemed proprietor here, Steve Gregg. He's not, as I understand it, exactly an "apologist," but he is an excellent Bible teacher and his material tends to have an "apologetic" effect in that he shows the Bible to be a well-crafted, coherent, meaningful, cohesive work that bears witness to divine authorship. That certainly is good for something (and I would almost have to say that his material has done almost as much for me as the actual apologists listed above).
And then, of course there's the classics: C.S. Lewis (I don't think I have to tell you who he is), G. K. Chesterton, and Francis Schaefer. All three of them are very much worth the time to read. Chesterton's good for a few good chuckles, too, as he had a delightful sense of humor and wit.
I've got a lot more where that came from. I've collected over the last year and a half probably about close to 30GB of mp3 files of apologetics related material in audio format. (I fortunately have a portable mp3 player with a capacity of 120GB -- another 30GB of it is music). I don't have a lot of time to do as much reading as I'd like, so I end up doing a lot of listening while I do other things (driving, manual chores at home, etc.).
A few web resources that are very useful are:
www.tektonics.org
www.bethinking.org
www.reasonablefaith.org
www.leaderu.com
www.apollos.ws
www.veritas.org
Also, if you are at all inclined toward either Science Fiction or Philosophy, you'll enjoy this podcast: www.thesciphishow.com . The proprietor, Jason Rennie, is a Christian, and the subject is where Science Fiction and Philosophy meet, and from a Christian perspective. Actually, I'm not really a big science fiction fan myself, but I did really enjoy some of his episodes where he managed to secure interviews with some big names in apologetics, philosophy, and science, from both points of view: both atheist and Christian. He has interviewed William Lane Craig, Alvin Plantinga, Peter Van Inwagen (also a well-known Christian philosopher), well-known scientists including Frank Tippler, Michael Behe (of Darwin's Black Box fame), PZ Meyers (an outspoken atheist scientist), etc., as well as a number of well known science fiction authors. Lately he seems to have stuck with mostly sci fi authors, so I've started to loose interest, but some of the episodes earlier in the archive are very interesting.
Well, I could keep going and going, but I've already taken more time and more screen space than I should have, so I'll stop.
JC already mentioned Ravi Zacharias and William Lane Craig. Both of them are favorites of mine. Yes Craig can be rather intense sometimes, but that actually is the sort of stuff I relish (and exactly what I needed). Not all of his material is of the ultra-intellectual variety, though. I have a book of his in my library in which he puts the cookies on the bottom shelf; it is called "Hard Questions, Real Answers." I'm also really enjoying his "Defenders" podcast right now:
http://www.reasonablefaith.org/site/Pag ... sting_main
It's a series of Sunday School lessons he gave at his home church on the basics of apologetics.
Ravi Zacharias is excellent, too, but his approach is more of a from-the-heart type. He blends the intellectual with the emotional for a rather compelling effect. One interesting thing he does is to take the ideas expressed by Existentialist philosophers and show what awful conclusions can result from the denial of God's existence. He always seems to be saying to unbelieving challengers: "Think about what you are saying!" (In fact I'm sure he has used that phrase on many occasions--I can hear his voice saying it in my head as I write this). He doesn't usually present arguments that are well oiled with mechanically scientific precision and obvious logical steps, but he does get you to think, and his method--though different from that of other apologists--is very effective. (I'm not saying that he isn't logical or precise; just that he goes beyond just having sound arguments and puts them where the rubber meets the road).
Another person who's material I enjoy is Alvin Plantinga. He is not an apologist per se, but rather a professional philosopher who is a Christian theist. In fact he is well respected as one of the more well known philosophers in this day, even within secular circles. He has an excellent and compelling argument that pits evolution against atheism and asserts that the two are mutually exclusive. I suspect he is a theistic evolutionist, but that is really beside the point with that argument. Even if you are a strict YEC, the argument is still useful because it shows atheism to be internally inconsistent (IOW, you perhaps can assert the existence of God without special creation as theistic evolutionists do, but its much more difficult to assert atheism without evolution). His specialty in philosophy is in the area of Epistemology, which is very relevant to questions about the confidence you have in your belief system. Somewhere I have a reference to an audio interview with Dr. Plantinga on a podcast called "The SciPhi Show" in which he describes his Evolutionary argument. I'll try to dig up that reference. If Dr. Craig makes your brain hurt, however, Dr. Plantinga will make your head melt. It is extremely intense. He is a protestant himself (Dutch Reformed) and somewhat Calvinistic, although he teaches at a Catholic university (Notre Dame).
If you want something that is a much lighter fare, try JP Holding. His work is made public primarily through his web site www.tektonics.org. He takes to task a lot of pop skeptics like those who try to assert that Jesus never existed, that Christianity is just regurgitated paganism, apostate ex-Christians-turned-atheists, etc. He was of enormous help to me during my own crisis. I established an email correspondence with him during that time and I owe him a debt of gratitude. He also has a really good book review section where he gives some pretty good opinions on books related to his field of study. His background is in library sciences.
Someone who I've also really enjoyed is Doug Groothuis (I think its pronounced "Grotier"). He teaches at Denver Seminary and specializes in philosophical apologetics. He has a really good lecture series in audio format on basic apologetics. I downloaded them some time ago from www.apollos.ws. I went there just now to get the reference, but it appears you now have to have a logon at apollos.ws, which you didn't need before. I'll have to sign up over there at some point and get the link information--don't have time right now, though.
Speaking of Denver Seminary, another good product of that school is Craig Blomberg. He isn't exactly an apologist either, but an excellent New Testament scholar whose material can equip you to meet the challenges thrown at Christianity from an archaeological and textual angle. He did some work debunking The Da Vinci Code.
A couple more obscure ones that I really enjoy are: Joe Boot and Bruce Little. Joe Boot works with Ravi Zacharias' ministries. He isn't very prolific, but he wrote an excellent but short book called "Why I Still Believe." I highly recommend it. It's not difficult reading, and won't take long to read, but it had a powerful impact on me. Bruce Little is a pastor who himself went through a period of searching and came out stronger in the end and ended up studying philosophy of religion. He's done some work on the so-called "Problem of Evil" and wrote a book called "A Creation Order Theodicy: God and Gratuitous Evil." I've not read his book, but I've listened to several of his messages on audio format, and he's really good.
Last but not least, of course, there's our esteemed proprietor here, Steve Gregg. He's not, as I understand it, exactly an "apologist," but he is an excellent Bible teacher and his material tends to have an "apologetic" effect in that he shows the Bible to be a well-crafted, coherent, meaningful, cohesive work that bears witness to divine authorship. That certainly is good for something (and I would almost have to say that his material has done almost as much for me as the actual apologists listed above).
And then, of course there's the classics: C.S. Lewis (I don't think I have to tell you who he is), G. K. Chesterton, and Francis Schaefer. All three of them are very much worth the time to read. Chesterton's good for a few good chuckles, too, as he had a delightful sense of humor and wit.
I've got a lot more where that came from. I've collected over the last year and a half probably about close to 30GB of mp3 files of apologetics related material in audio format. (I fortunately have a portable mp3 player with a capacity of 120GB -- another 30GB of it is music). I don't have a lot of time to do as much reading as I'd like, so I end up doing a lot of listening while I do other things (driving, manual chores at home, etc.).
A few web resources that are very useful are:
www.tektonics.org
www.bethinking.org
www.reasonablefaith.org
www.leaderu.com
www.apollos.ws
www.veritas.org
Also, if you are at all inclined toward either Science Fiction or Philosophy, you'll enjoy this podcast: www.thesciphishow.com . The proprietor, Jason Rennie, is a Christian, and the subject is where Science Fiction and Philosophy meet, and from a Christian perspective. Actually, I'm not really a big science fiction fan myself, but I did really enjoy some of his episodes where he managed to secure interviews with some big names in apologetics, philosophy, and science, from both points of view: both atheist and Christian. He has interviewed William Lane Craig, Alvin Plantinga, Peter Van Inwagen (also a well-known Christian philosopher), well-known scientists including Frank Tippler, Michael Behe (of Darwin's Black Box fame), PZ Meyers (an outspoken atheist scientist), etc., as well as a number of well known science fiction authors. Lately he seems to have stuck with mostly sci fi authors, so I've started to loose interest, but some of the episodes earlier in the archive are very interesting.
Well, I could keep going and going, but I've already taken more time and more screen space than I should have, so I'll stop.
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
Reason:
Reason:
Thanks for all the resources, Jared! You have a real gift of boiling things down and helping guys like me get some much-needed basic introductions.
By His Grace,
Gregg
By His Grace,
Gregg
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
Reason:
Reason:
This discussion has been on my mind and I've been wanting to get back to it, but haven't had a chance.
GreggEva, thank you for the compliment! I'm glad I can be a blessing to someone else. If you want, to save you effort, if you're interested in the material I can put all the audio I've downloaded onto some DVD's and send it to you. (BTW, I misspoke when I said I had 30GB of audio; its more like 10GB. I had that 30GB figure in my head because that's how much music I have.) It's still sort of a work in progress; at one point I started to make an html file to go along with it that explained who all the presenters are and what angles they're coming from, but the task was too big and I haven't had time to work on it.
I need to clarify that I was slightly inaccurate in describing Plantinga's argument. It is actually an argument against Naturalism; although there is much overlap, Naturalism is not identical with Atheism. However, for all practical purposes, the argument still works the same way. It is presented in lecture form here:
http://www.veritas.org/media/talks/354
And in an interview form on the Sci Phi Show here:
http://thesciphishow.com/?p=42
The Doug Groothuis stuff is here:
http://www.relyonchrist.com/lecture.htm
Here are some more thinkers I like as well; while some are straight-up apologists, others are just Christian intellectuals who have some interesting ideas (so, although they have not set out specifically with a strictly "apologetics ministry" in mind, they never the less end up being apologists, sort of like what I was trying to say above about Steve).
- Jay Budziszewski - (I'm still struggling to figure out how to pronounce his name, BTW) - He is a law professor who promotes a philosophy of law called "Natural Law." His main point is that this "Natural Law" that seems to be inherent to human consciousness and conscience is something that is put there by God, and he produces a form of the Moral Argument out of it. He had personally been an Atheist and followed atheistic ideas to their logical conclusion and ended up in Nihilism. One day he sort of woke up and realized the absurdity of that viewpoint, and embraced Christianity.
- Alister McGrath - A former Atheist, now an Evangelical Anglican Christian. He is a professor at Oxford University and was once a scientist with a background in chemistry. If I'm not mistaken, I think he has debated Richard Dawkins. Now he is primarily known as a theologian, but he has written a couple of books contra-Dawkins. He also wrote one I have on my shelf called The Twilight of Atheism, which is an interesting history of atheistic thought in western civilization from the time of the Romans to the present, told from a Christian intellectual's perspective.
- Glenn Miller (no, not the trombone player from the 1940's--this is a different Glenn Miller
). He's sort of an amateur web-based apologist, and his material is a little rough. He has a web site called "The Christian Think Tank" (http://www.christian-thinktank.com/) which contains hundreds of articles he has written answering objections and concerns. All of the articles, unfortunately, however, appear to be long-winded, unfinished rough drafts, but they still contain a lot of information and interesting ideas. In particular one idea he had which has helped me make sense of some things is the idea that the idea of "sacrifices" in the OT (and by extension the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross) was sort of like paying a fine (like you do when you go to court after having been pulled over for speeding). This makes a lot more sense than the pagan idea of the gods delighting in seeing an animal slaughtered or the deity somehow eating the flesh, etc. I could elaborate on that but will refrain for now. Miller's web site is also good for the extensive bibliography he has there which includes all the reference material he drew his research from.
- Michael Ramsden - a preacher on Ravi Zacharias' staff. I really like listening to him. It's been a while since I've listened to his messages, so I can't recall the content off hand, but I do remember it being a blessing. I guess I should go back and re-listen to some of that material.
- AE Wilder-Smith - He was a very influential Young Earth Creationist scientist and overall Christian apologist. He was influential on some of the prominent Intelligent Design proponents (William Dembski, although he does not take a YEC stance on origins, credits Wilder-Smith as having influenced him to develop the Intelligent Design ideas). Although Dr. Wilder-Smith has been with the Lord for some time, there is a web site dedicated to him which contains a number of talks he delivered at some Calvary Chapel church out in California (http://www.wildersmith.org/).
- NT Wright - Anglican bishop, evangelical, prominent and well-respected New Testament scholar and historian and a member of British parliament. He has done quite a bit of work on the resurrection and on the cultural setting of the New Testament. There is an "unofficial" web site for him at http://www.ntwrightpage.com/.
- Tom Gilson - A very intelligent blogger who runs the web site
http://www.thinkingchristian.net/ . It's been a while since I've strolled around in the blogosphere, so I haven't visited his site in some time. But its good stuff.
- Paul Copan - I have a couple of his books on my shelf. One is called What if You're Wrong?. The other is called That's Just Your Interpretation. They're pretty good. Check them out.
I also like this blog: http://www.whyfaith.com/ run by a young seminary student who seems to really have his act together.
Here are a few that I recommend with some caution:
- Gary Habermas (mentioned in the OP of this thread). Habermas's material is very good, especially with regard to the "historical" Jesus, evidence for the resurrection, etc. Where he makes me a bit nervous, however, is when he starts using NDE's ("Near Death Experiences") as an apologetic for the idea of a non-corporeal afterlife. I'm not so sure that's the best thing to be using as an apologetic. However, his work on the resurrection of Jesus, etc., is first-rate. He was very influential in persuading Antony Flew to move from Atheism to Theism (albeit a very weak form). Habermas also wrote some good books on doubt which were extremely helpful to me. He has a web site: http://www.garyhabermas.com/. Some of his books on doubt are available for free as e-books on his web site.
- JP Moreland - is an excellent apologist who focuses on a philosophical approach. He, too, however uses NDE's as an apologetic, which I have problems with.
- Peter Kreeft - Kreeft is a Roman Catholic, which I am not, so I would have a number of differences with his theology. His material is nonetheless helpful and interesting, though I can't say that I can endorse everything he says. As someone who argues against Atheism, he is effective. He also has some interesting material on C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. He has a paper on his web site called "Sex in Heaven?" which I think is rather bizarre. His web site is here: http://www.peterkreeft.com/home.htm
Well, I guess I've written enough for now. (I had all this to say, which is why it took me so long to get back to this).
kallin, I've been so long-winded here, I fear I have hijacked your thread. Forgive me if that seems the case. When something is on my mind and I get on a roll, its hard for me to stop.
--Jared
GreggEva, thank you for the compliment! I'm glad I can be a blessing to someone else. If you want, to save you effort, if you're interested in the material I can put all the audio I've downloaded onto some DVD's and send it to you. (BTW, I misspoke when I said I had 30GB of audio; its more like 10GB. I had that 30GB figure in my head because that's how much music I have.) It's still sort of a work in progress; at one point I started to make an html file to go along with it that explained who all the presenters are and what angles they're coming from, but the task was too big and I haven't had time to work on it.
I need to clarify that I was slightly inaccurate in describing Plantinga's argument. It is actually an argument against Naturalism; although there is much overlap, Naturalism is not identical with Atheism. However, for all practical purposes, the argument still works the same way. It is presented in lecture form here:
http://www.veritas.org/media/talks/354
And in an interview form on the Sci Phi Show here:
http://thesciphishow.com/?p=42
The Doug Groothuis stuff is here:
http://www.relyonchrist.com/lecture.htm
Here are some more thinkers I like as well; while some are straight-up apologists, others are just Christian intellectuals who have some interesting ideas (so, although they have not set out specifically with a strictly "apologetics ministry" in mind, they never the less end up being apologists, sort of like what I was trying to say above about Steve).
- Jay Budziszewski - (I'm still struggling to figure out how to pronounce his name, BTW) - He is a law professor who promotes a philosophy of law called "Natural Law." His main point is that this "Natural Law" that seems to be inherent to human consciousness and conscience is something that is put there by God, and he produces a form of the Moral Argument out of it. He had personally been an Atheist and followed atheistic ideas to their logical conclusion and ended up in Nihilism. One day he sort of woke up and realized the absurdity of that viewpoint, and embraced Christianity.
- Alister McGrath - A former Atheist, now an Evangelical Anglican Christian. He is a professor at Oxford University and was once a scientist with a background in chemistry. If I'm not mistaken, I think he has debated Richard Dawkins. Now he is primarily known as a theologian, but he has written a couple of books contra-Dawkins. He also wrote one I have on my shelf called The Twilight of Atheism, which is an interesting history of atheistic thought in western civilization from the time of the Romans to the present, told from a Christian intellectual's perspective.
- Glenn Miller (no, not the trombone player from the 1940's--this is a different Glenn Miller
). He's sort of an amateur web-based apologist, and his material is a little rough. He has a web site called "The Christian Think Tank" (http://www.christian-thinktank.com/) which contains hundreds of articles he has written answering objections and concerns. All of the articles, unfortunately, however, appear to be long-winded, unfinished rough drafts, but they still contain a lot of information and interesting ideas. In particular one idea he had which has helped me make sense of some things is the idea that the idea of "sacrifices" in the OT (and by extension the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross) was sort of like paying a fine (like you do when you go to court after having been pulled over for speeding). This makes a lot more sense than the pagan idea of the gods delighting in seeing an animal slaughtered or the deity somehow eating the flesh, etc. I could elaborate on that but will refrain for now. Miller's web site is also good for the extensive bibliography he has there which includes all the reference material he drew his research from.- Michael Ramsden - a preacher on Ravi Zacharias' staff. I really like listening to him. It's been a while since I've listened to his messages, so I can't recall the content off hand, but I do remember it being a blessing. I guess I should go back and re-listen to some of that material.
- AE Wilder-Smith - He was a very influential Young Earth Creationist scientist and overall Christian apologist. He was influential on some of the prominent Intelligent Design proponents (William Dembski, although he does not take a YEC stance on origins, credits Wilder-Smith as having influenced him to develop the Intelligent Design ideas). Although Dr. Wilder-Smith has been with the Lord for some time, there is a web site dedicated to him which contains a number of talks he delivered at some Calvary Chapel church out in California (http://www.wildersmith.org/).
- NT Wright - Anglican bishop, evangelical, prominent and well-respected New Testament scholar and historian and a member of British parliament. He has done quite a bit of work on the resurrection and on the cultural setting of the New Testament. There is an "unofficial" web site for him at http://www.ntwrightpage.com/.
- Tom Gilson - A very intelligent blogger who runs the web site
http://www.thinkingchristian.net/ . It's been a while since I've strolled around in the blogosphere, so I haven't visited his site in some time. But its good stuff.
- Paul Copan - I have a couple of his books on my shelf. One is called What if You're Wrong?. The other is called That's Just Your Interpretation. They're pretty good. Check them out.
I also like this blog: http://www.whyfaith.com/ run by a young seminary student who seems to really have his act together.
Here are a few that I recommend with some caution:
- Gary Habermas (mentioned in the OP of this thread). Habermas's material is very good, especially with regard to the "historical" Jesus, evidence for the resurrection, etc. Where he makes me a bit nervous, however, is when he starts using NDE's ("Near Death Experiences") as an apologetic for the idea of a non-corporeal afterlife. I'm not so sure that's the best thing to be using as an apologetic. However, his work on the resurrection of Jesus, etc., is first-rate. He was very influential in persuading Antony Flew to move from Atheism to Theism (albeit a very weak form). Habermas also wrote some good books on doubt which were extremely helpful to me. He has a web site: http://www.garyhabermas.com/. Some of his books on doubt are available for free as e-books on his web site.
- JP Moreland - is an excellent apologist who focuses on a philosophical approach. He, too, however uses NDE's as an apologetic, which I have problems with.
- Peter Kreeft - Kreeft is a Roman Catholic, which I am not, so I would have a number of differences with his theology. His material is nonetheless helpful and interesting, though I can't say that I can endorse everything he says. As someone who argues against Atheism, he is effective. He also has some interesting material on C.S. Lewis and Tolkien. He has a paper on his web site called "Sex in Heaven?" which I think is rather bizarre. His web site is here: http://www.peterkreeft.com/home.htm
Well, I guess I've written enough for now. (I had all this to say, which is why it took me so long to get back to this).
kallin, I've been so long-winded here, I fear I have hijacked your thread. Forgive me if that seems the case. When something is on my mind and I get on a roll, its hard for me to stop.
--Jared
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
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Reason:
Here's my top favorite "apologetic" authors, though I'm sure not all would consider themselves apologists in the proper sense. I've starred my absolute favorites.
C.S. Lewis*
N.T. Wright*
G. K. Chesterton
Peter Kreeft
Craig Blomberg
Ben Witherington III
Hugh Ross
Blaise Pascal
Michael L. Brown
An eclectic group, to be sure.
C.S. Lewis*
N.T. Wright*
G. K. Chesterton
Peter Kreeft
Craig Blomberg
Ben Witherington III
Hugh Ross
Blaise Pascal
Michael L. Brown
An eclectic group, to be sure.
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
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Reason:
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_chriscarani
- Posts: 153
- Joined: Mon Nov 28, 2005 6:47 pm
- Location: Ft Collins, CO
He is not really an Apologist, however he presents a compelling theory for a Christian God. I recommend his book called "The Language of God" by: Francis Collins. He headed the human genome project during the Clinton administration and believes, as a scientist and Christian, God is the answer for the "mysteries" of the universe.
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
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Reason:
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_featheredprop
- Posts: 36
- Joined: Thu Apr 20, 2006 4:41 pm
- Location: PA
I really appreciated this thread ... after reading everyone's favorites, I did some Google-ing and discovered quite a few mp3 files (free) by a number of these apologists. Because I spend so much time driving I love finding audio files that I can listen to throughout the day. Some of them were very good. In particular, I have been enjoying some of the debates by William Lane Craig.
Thanks everyone ...
peace,
dane
Thanks everyone ...
peace,
dane
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
Reason:
Reason:
"God - He'll bloody your nose and then give you a ride home on his bicycle..." Rich Mullins 1955-1997
Hmmmm....
I just noticed this thread by way of: "last post by: my friend Dane."
(I owe you an email, Brother Dane, will soon),
A Catholic buddy of mine; he keeps talking about Scott Hahn; how he became a Catholic (formerly Presbyterian); and how Hahn has a good series on Revelation (book of).
Anyways, I googled Hahn (to try to find his Rev. stuff) and found (click):
MP3 EWTN, Catholic Answers Live, and MP3 Debates
I heard a couple of the Hahn talks..."standard Catholic fare," so to speak.
(But please don't tell my Catholic friend I said that!), lol.
What excited me was several debates I've never been able to find were on this site!
Namely, Wm. Lane Craig Vs. Bart Ehrman, J.D. Crossan, Gerd Ludeman, and J.S. Spong.
Also, an N.T. Wright Vs. J.D. Crossan (with a Craig post-debate critique).
Old Walter Martin debates are here...Evans, Blomberg, Ankerberg, Habermas, others.
Plus, the modern-day Gnostic, Stephen Hoeller, who's (free) lectures; I've listened to them all and have been for a few years. While I don't agree with Hoeller's theology, he is very funny at times (about stuff that can legitimately be laughed at) and is quite a scholar. I recommend his other lectures also, for the purpose of getting insights into "the N.T. and Early Church background" (albeit from a (modern-day) Gnostic point of view). He has one on Mani, the founder of Manicheanism, which I listened to to get some background information on: The Background of Saint Augustine....
In one of his recent (free) lectures, Hoeller seems to equate the worldwide Pentecostal Movement with "gnosticism" (?, wow! huh?): He refers to evangelicals as "quasi-gnostic," saying that they (we) at least require some sort of inner experience. Hoeller's critiques of Dan Brown's and other sensationalist books (about Jesus) are basically right in line with conservative evangelicals. Have any of you ever listened to Hoeller? (I don't know why, but this man's sense of humor really "gets" me...I laugh so hard I can barely stand it!). However funny and scholarly Hoeller is...(he is also Jungian); it remains I have strong areas of disagreement with him (on Jung and, well, I'm a Christian)! But oddly, Hoeller almost seems "pro-evangelical" on certain things about us, Gnostic though he be. (I want to reiterate that, some areas of Hoeller's theology I very strongly disagree with and that I listen to him for educational purposes only, while exercising discernment)....
Regarding Wm. Lane Craig. I normally don't get into apologetics of the "proofs of God" variety, in the vein that Craig does. I've listened to him on these and "creationist" topics; the latter of which I don't get into much either. But his above debates (regarding Jesus' resurrection) were right on the money, imo. (I was surprised I liked them so much....they're really good to understand the "liberal" views of the guys he debates). Thanks,
I just noticed this thread by way of: "last post by: my friend Dane."
(I owe you an email, Brother Dane, will soon),
A Catholic buddy of mine; he keeps talking about Scott Hahn; how he became a Catholic (formerly Presbyterian); and how Hahn has a good series on Revelation (book of).
Anyways, I googled Hahn (to try to find his Rev. stuff) and found (click):
MP3 EWTN, Catholic Answers Live, and MP3 Debates
I heard a couple of the Hahn talks..."standard Catholic fare," so to speak.
(But please don't tell my Catholic friend I said that!), lol.
What excited me was several debates I've never been able to find were on this site!
Namely, Wm. Lane Craig Vs. Bart Ehrman, J.D. Crossan, Gerd Ludeman, and J.S. Spong.
Also, an N.T. Wright Vs. J.D. Crossan (with a Craig post-debate critique).
Old Walter Martin debates are here...Evans, Blomberg, Ankerberg, Habermas, others.
Plus, the modern-day Gnostic, Stephen Hoeller, who's (free) lectures; I've listened to them all and have been for a few years. While I don't agree with Hoeller's theology, he is very funny at times (about stuff that can legitimately be laughed at) and is quite a scholar. I recommend his other lectures also, for the purpose of getting insights into "the N.T. and Early Church background" (albeit from a (modern-day) Gnostic point of view). He has one on Mani, the founder of Manicheanism, which I listened to to get some background information on: The Background of Saint Augustine....
In one of his recent (free) lectures, Hoeller seems to equate the worldwide Pentecostal Movement with "gnosticism" (?, wow! huh?): He refers to evangelicals as "quasi-gnostic," saying that they (we) at least require some sort of inner experience. Hoeller's critiques of Dan Brown's and other sensationalist books (about Jesus) are basically right in line with conservative evangelicals. Have any of you ever listened to Hoeller? (I don't know why, but this man's sense of humor really "gets" me...I laugh so hard I can barely stand it!). However funny and scholarly Hoeller is...(he is also Jungian); it remains I have strong areas of disagreement with him (on Jung and, well, I'm a Christian)! But oddly, Hoeller almost seems "pro-evangelical" on certain things about us, Gnostic though he be. (I want to reiterate that, some areas of Hoeller's theology I very strongly disagree with and that I listen to him for educational purposes only, while exercising discernment)....
Regarding Wm. Lane Craig. I normally don't get into apologetics of the "proofs of God" variety, in the vein that Craig does. I've listened to him on these and "creationist" topics; the latter of which I don't get into much either. But his above debates (regarding Jesus' resurrection) were right on the money, imo. (I was surprised I liked them so much....they're really good to understand the "liberal" views of the guys he debates). Thanks,
Last edited by Guest on Wed Dec 31, 1969 7:00 pm, edited 0 times in total.
Reason:
Reason:
“In Jesus Christ God ordained life for man, but death for himself” -- Karl Barth