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Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics | 
 enlarge | Author: William Lane Craig
Publisher: Crossway Books
Category: Book
New (5) Used (25) from $7.49
Rating:  43 reviews
Sales Rank: 161471
Media: Paperback
Edition: Rev Sub
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.9
ISBN: 0891077642
Dewey Decimal Number: 239
EAN: 9780891077640
ASIN: 0891077642
Publication Date: July 1994
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Product Description
"Evangelicals have been living on the periphery of responsible intellectual existence. The average Christian does not realize that there is an intellectual war going on in the universities and in the professional journals and scholarly societies. Christianity is being attacked from all sides as irrational or outmoded, and millions of students, our future generation of leaders have absorbed this viewpoint. This is a war which we cannot afford to lose.... "In addition to serving, like the rest of theology in general, as an expression of our loving God with all our minds, apologetics specifically serves to show to unbelievers the truth of the Christian faith, to confirm that faith to believers, and to reveal and explore the connections between Christian doctrine and other truths.... Apologetics... is a theoretical discipline that tries to answer the question, What rational defense can be given for the Christian faith?" This book by respected philosopher and theologian William Lane Craig has been thoroughly revised and updated to equip believers in the successful proclamation of biblical truth claims. The author gives careful attention to crucial questions and concerns, including: How Do I Know Christianity Is True?, The Absurdity of Life Without God, The Existence of God, The Problem of Miracles, and The Resurrection of Jesus. An invaluable scholarly resource for all committed defenders of the Christian faith.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 38 more reviews...
 Reasonable Faith September 9, 2008
Dr. Craig gives a powerful answer to skeptics in this book. As always his anwers are logical and convincing. Also, a bit is added for those who disagree that using apologitics is a viable means of sharing the message of the gospel.
Reasonable and Totally Feasible! August 28, 2008
I stumbled upon Dr. Craig while watching on old Day of Discovery episode. I enjoyed the things he had to say, so I googled him to see what he was about. That led to me reading his blog, website, etc, and finding out about this book. I am really enjoying it so far. I am taking my time going through it so as to make sure I understand the many priciples that I am being introduced to. Apologetics has opened up a new world for me, and I am excited to continue learning. Reasonable Faith is an excellent tool to get me in the know.
Craig Provides an Intelligent, Articulate Voice for Historic Christianity August 7, 2008
The 3rd edition of Reasonable Faith coincides with the recent launch of William Lane Craig's apologetic ministry www.reasonablefaith.org. This work is rigorous, thoughtful, and brings precision to some difficult issues (in other words, typical Craig!). Blomberg's chapter on the Historical Reliability of the New Testament has been replaced by a new / expanded chapter on the self-understanding of Jesus. The chapters on Miracles and the nature of History are clearly argued and persuasive. The switch to footnotes rather than endnotes is very helpful as well. But, by far, the most helpful chapter in the book (in my opinion) is the chapter on Knowing vs. Showing Christianity to be true. Here, Craig investigates the role of the Holy Spirit in knowing, as well as utilizes insights from Alvin Plantinga's reformed epistemology to talk about what beliefs can be / are "properly basic." This is a wonderful book. But it probably isn't the place to start one's apologetic journey.
A good introduction to William Lane Craig's writing would be to visit his website, www.reasonablefaith.org.
Also see:
God?: A Debate between a Christian and an Atheist (Point/Counterpoint Series (Oxford, England).)
Hard Questions, Real Answers
High School and College Students may also find useful in understanding the Christian faith:
Welcome to College: A Christ-Follower's Guide for the Journey
Craig's Magnum Opus August 7, 2008
I have read his second edition and this revised and updated copy is worth the investment. The improvements to the cosmological and teleological arguments based on the current state of affairs in astrophysics is worth it alone. This is a must-have for the armchair apologist like myself.
Good but missing the work of Moser, Boyd, and Eddy July 14, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
A review of Bill Craig's third edition of Reasonable Faith by Michael Haney
Since every picture is taken from a specific angle, here is `my' picture of Philosopher William Lane Craig's new third edition of his most distinguished book Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics. Since Craig's new ministry website (www.reasonable faith.org) offers what is new in the third edition of this book compared to the second edition, this review will just proceed forth as if this is the first edition of this book to be released to the public.
Introduction:
Craig offers a working definition of the term `apologetics' and states why there is a need specifically for it within the Christian context. He argues that Christian apologetics play three vital roles. First, they have the ability to shape our post-Christian culture. Second, they have the ability to strengthen those who are already convinced of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus of Nazareth. Third, they have the ability to help in the process of sharing the good news with non-followers of Jesus. Ending this section, Craig explains the two different types of apologetics: offensive and defensive. Offensive apologetics seeks to present a positive case for Christian truth claims. Defensive apologetics seeks to nullify objections to those claims. Craig claims that his book Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics falls under the category of `offensive' apologetics but he states that he hopes to write a book in the near future defending the claims of this work and objections brought against it.
How Do I Know Christianity Is True?
Craig deals with the question of Christian epistemology. More specifically, he asks the question: how does one `know' that Christianity is true against other truth claims found within other religious contexts? After discussing a couple of key thinkers of the past and how they worked through the issues of faith and reason and how they interact, he distinguishes between `knowing' Christianity to be true and `showing' Christianity to be true. Ultimately, Craig argues that we know Christianity to be true by the self-authenticating witness of the Holy Spirit. In other words, our knowing Christianity to be true is not based upon arguments and evidence but by the work of the Holy Spirit. To thoughtful readers, this might appear to be `too subjective' at first glance but Craig addresses several objections to this type of epistemology. Regarding showing Christianity to be true, Craig argues it is here where arguments and evidence come into play when considering the truth-hood or false-hood of various religious truth claims.
The Absurdity of Life Without God
Craig simply offers what the title of the chapter seems to imply: a universe with no God behind it is a universe with ultimately no meaning. In other words, if there is no God, human life becomes directly and indirectly unlivable. But, if the Jewish/Christian worldview is true, it provides "the two conditions necessary for a meaningful, valuable, and purposeful life for man: God and immorality...If God does not exist, then life is futile. If the God of the Bible does exist, then life is meaningful. Only the second of these two alternatives enables us to live happily and consistently." (p.86)
The Existence of God: Part One and Part Two
Craig simply offers various sophisticated and well-argued arguments for the existence of the Jewish/Christian God. All these arguments are updated in light of new philosophical and scientific knowledge. Craig is right when he says that "the conventional wisdom is that it's impossible to "prove" the existence of God and that, therefore, if we are going to believe in God, we must "take it by faith" that God exists. But the last half century has witnessed a remarkable resurgence of interest in natural theology, that branch of theology that seeks to provide warrant for belief in God's existence apart from the resources of authoritative, propositional revelation. Today, in contrast to just a generation ago, natural theology is a vibrant field of study." (p.93) Craig works through various arguments in this chapter: ontological, cosmological, teleological, moral, etc. The catch is that he puts new philosophical and scientific knowledge into these arguments and even deals with a ton of objections against them. Again, two chapters are devoted to this particular section in the book so Craig obviously thinks it is an important issue to discuss.
The Problem of Historical Knowledge
Craig deals with the question regarding past events: how can we really `know' what happened in the past? It is often assumed that human beings cannot really know with any real certainty what happened in the past because of the belief that all history is written from a particular perspective. In other words, it is believed that there is no such thing as an objective recording of past, historical events. The charge is that everyone is too bias to record real, actual events without any spin. Craig directly deals with these charges and offers the hope that even though we cannot have 100 percent accuracy in this area we can still know with a good deal of certainty what actually probably happened in the past. More specifically, Craig argues that the biblical narratives, once tested, are overall a good telling of what actually happened in the biblical past. In the end, historical relativism gets smashed to pieces under the hammer of Craig's argumentation.
The Problem of Miracles
Craig specifically deals with the concept of the miraculous intervention of the Jewish/Christian God within history. He states that "before we can examine the evidence to see whether the Creator God of the universe has revealed himself in some special way in the world in order to offer us the promise of immorality so necessary for meaningful existence now, we must deal with the problem of whether such divine action is possible in the first place. And if it is, how can it be identified? That is to say, we are confronted with the problem of miracles." (p.247) Craig ends this section by arguing that the deistic presupposition "against miracles survives in theology only as a hangover from an earlier Deistic age and ought now to be once for all abandoned." (p.278)
The Self-Understanding of Jesus
Craig argues that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God, God in the flesh. He asks the specific question: who exactly to Jesus of Nazareth claim to be? According to Craig, this question is very important for "the Christian religion stands or falls with the person of Jesus Christ. Judaism could survive without Moses, Buddhism without Buddha, Islam without Mohammed but Christianity could not survive without Christ. This is because unlike most other world religions, Christianity is belief in a person, a genuine historical individual-but at the same time a special individual, whom the church regards as not only human, but divine." (p.287) In the end, Craig argues that "explicit use of Christological titles like Messiah, the Son of God, and especially the Son of Man, combined with implicit Christological claims made through his teaching and behavior indicates a radical self-understanding on the part of Jesus of Nazareth." (p.327)
The Resurrection of Jesus
Craig asks the question: was Jesus of Nazareth really raised from the dead by God and if so, what exactly does it mean? More specifically, he states that "God and immorality: those were the two conditions we saw to be necessary if man is to have a meaningful existence. I have argued that God exists, and now we have come at length to the second consideration, immorality. Against the dark background of modern man's despair, the Christian proclamation of the resurrection is a bright light of hope. The earliest Christians saw Jesus' resurrection as both the vindication of his personal claims and the harbinger of our own resurrection to eternal life. If Jesus rose from the dead, then his claims are vindicated and our Christian hope is sure; if Jesus did not rise, our faith is futile and we fall back into despair. How credible, then, is the New Testament witness to the resurrection of Jesus?" (p.333) After working through a lot of historical and textual evidence, Craig ends by stating that "in conclusion, therefore, three great, independently established facts-the empty tomb, the resurrection appearances, and the origin of the Christian faith-all point to the same marvelous conclusion: that God raised Jesus from the dead...Given the religio-historical context in which this event occurred, the significance of Jesus' resurrection is clear: it is the divine vindication of Jesus' radical personal claims." (p.399)
Conclusion: The Ultimate Apologetic
Craig ends his book by offering what he believes to be the most effective apologetic for the Christian faith: a life lived out by aggressively loving God and loving others. He ends by stating that "more often than not, it is who you are rather than what you say that will bring an unbeliever to Christ. This, then, is the ultimate apologetic. For the ultimate apologetic is-your life." (p.407)
My personal take:
Craig's book is by far the best Christian apologetic book one could possibly find on the market today for it covers a bunch of the core questions relevant to examining the truthfulness of Christianity all in one book. And now, this wonderful book is updated for a third time by Craig offering new philosophical, historical, and scientific knowledge where needed and even dealing with a host of old objections from new faces and from new places. The only two beefs I have with Craig is that he did not mention or even appear to consult Philosopher Paul Moser's new book The Elusive God: Reorienting Religious Epistemology nor Greg Boyd's and Paul Eddy's fairly new book The Jesus Legend: A Case for the Historical Reliability of the Synoptic Jesus Tradition. Moser's book, I believe, would have really strengthened his case for the Holy Spirit epistemology found in chapter one. Also, the book by Boyd and Eddy would have really strengthened chapters five, six, seven, and eight. These two books, in my opinion, are way too good to leave not consulted. In light of desiring to leave out of the book arguments for the historical reliability of the NT, he could have at least consulted Moser's book. In a post-post-modern culture becoming increasingly post-Christian, I think the epistemological questions regarding knowing spiritual truths (or knowing anything for that matter) are very important since a lot of college and graduate students (and even lay-people) are becoming more and more exposed to post-modern philosophy without being also exposed to adequate criticisms of those philosophies where needed. Overall, I would definitely add this `third edition' to my personal library, especially if you are the type of person who likes to work through arguments and their objections. I believe Craig has done us a favor by addressing some of these objections instead of ignoring them even though he originally claimed he was not going to do so in the introduction.
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