William A. Dembski & Michael R. Licona, editors, “Evidence for God: 50 Arguments for Faith from the Bible, History, Philosophy, and Science”

This book is a series of short essays (on average less than five pages each) on a number of apologetic topics.  They are uniformly good, and the authors have impressive academic credentials (though I have heard of only a few of them).  There’s quite a bit on intelligent design, but that is by no means … [Read more…]

Elie Wiesel, “Five Biblical Portraits”

This very enjoyable 155-page book features portraits of Saul, Jonah, Jeremiah, Elijah, and Joshua.   Wiesel is a Jew, of course, so the Christian perspective is lost; also, he relies not just on Scripture but on other (Jewish) authorities (Talmud, Midrash) and perhaps does not always distinguish them.  But these are not disqualifiers; his analyses … [Read more…]

Francois Bovon, “The Last Days of Jesus”

The author acknowledges that he “is a believer and, further, a Christian theologian.”  He seems to dismiss deconstructionism (vii), and takes Scripture seriously but critically; he uses the Apocrypha, and includes the Gospel of Peter as an appendix.  There are no big surprises here, but his bottom line is (implicitly) that, yeah, it happened. By … [Read more…]

Carter Lindberg, “A Brief History of Christianity”

And that’s what this is — less than 200 pages, covering from A.D. 33 to the present.  Not profound, and without any big surprises for me, but straightforward and with little bias.  A couple of tidbits: Ephesus’s Artemis/Diana cult became a Mary cult (31). The Christian as wayfarer originated with Augustine (44). And there’s this … [Read more…]

Josh & Sean McDowell, “More Than a Carpenter”

This is an excellent and succinct work of apologetics — an updated version (with the son) of a classic (by the father). Some specific points: Chapter 11  re fulfilled prophecies was very good and new to me. Here’s an intriguing question (7):  “If God did become man, what would be the best way for him … [Read more…]