Posts about books that I’ve read.
This is a really interesting book — two books really, as discussed below. I’ve observed elsewhere that, if you take the New Testament seriously or are thinking of doing so, you’d love to get biographical information of anyone who was both an important author and an important actor in that book, and James (along with … [Read more…]
See the mostly favorable post elsewhere on this site for Mr. Yancey’s The Jesus I Never Knew, which includes some general background information about him. This book is also worth reading — and some of it very much so (see chapter-by-chapter comments below). As with his other book, there is some political correctness here, but … [Read more…]
This anthology begins with “Challenges from …” various quarters, such as postmodernism, atheism, eastern religions, and science, followed by sections that are harder to characterize, except that everything in the book is about apologetics. Not every contribution is great, but overall the book is certainly worthwhile, and received positive reviews from J.P. Moreland and William … [Read more…]
This is a 1995 anthology responding to the Jesus Seminar. It’s very impressive: dense, serious, persuasive, straightforward, and concise, with contributions from the likes of William Lane Craig, Gary Habermas, Craig Blomberg, Craig Evans, etc. Some notes: In chapter 1, John Meier’s A Marginal Jew is cited favorably as generally supportive. Religious experience can be … [Read more…]
This is a wonderful collection of letters, and a long but very enjoyable read. The letters reveal that the famous Georgia author was a charming, funny, sensible woman, very Christian and very Catholic. They end sadly with her untimely death. I noted that she praised C.S. Lewis’s book on prayer and his Miracles (572). And there … [Read more…]
When you think about it, if you take the New Testament seriously, or even are just trying to decide whether to take it seriously, you would want to know something about not only Jesus but also these men: Paul, Peter, and James. These three were authors of the New Testament and also involved in the … [Read more…]
This was given the 1996 Gold Medallion Christian Book of the Year Award. The author is a popular Christian writer who’s won other awards and is editor-at-large for Christianity Today. He was born in a Christian home in Atlanta, then became somewhat disillusioned, but came back to the faith. I enjoyed the book, and discuss … [Read more…]
The author, a Presbyterian pastor in Manhattan, is one of the great living Christian apologists and writers; my sense is that if you want to read one book by him, one that is most foundational in its apologetics, it would be The Reason for God. The book I discuss on this post is very good, … [Read more…]
The biographer is a fan of the emperor, but the book is pretty dry. There is a separate chapter on the Meditations and a separate appendix on “Christianity.” I noted that his “[q]uoted letters are like Paul’s in closing and greetings to others.” And I photocopied and kept pages 99-100 (excluding the carryover paragraphs at … [Read more…]
This is a really good book, and it ends with a chapter that is explicitly Christian. I think the author sometimes overstates what he has shown, but he does show a lot and it is always helpful, even if it is not quite as definitive as he sometimes claims. Obviously the existence of life after … [Read more…]