Letters from a Skeptic

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: You need this book. Boyd's honest, thoughtful answers to his father's questions make for an incredible read. "Letters From a Skeptic" was the tool God used to change this former skeptic's life.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent explanations of difficult Christian questions
Review: Greg Boyd provides honest, excellent answers to his father's open, direct and difficult questions regarding God, evil, Hell, Jesus Christ, the validity of the Bible and more. He builds a compelling case for believing in Jesus Christ and Christianity through his logical, thorough, and sensitive letters to his father. This is the best layman's explanation of difficult theological questions that I have read. I would encourage anyone and everyone to read it regardless of one's religious convictions

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book That's Been Misunderstood
Review: Greg Boyd's "Letters from a Skeptic" is a masterful depiction of Christ crucified, what that means for fallen humanity, and how Christianity makes spriritual, practical, and philosophical sense even after posing difficult questions to it.

What some reviewers of this book have had a hard time with is Boyd's view of open theism. Critics have harshly judged Boyd for the way he presents God's knowledge in this book. However, I submit to you that Boyd is not attempting to lay out a rock solid case for a learned scholar to pick up, read and pick apart. He is laying down some of the basics of the faith for his father. If you want to pick apart open theism, try reading Boyd's outstanding "God of the Possible" (and good luck picking it apart, because he has an astounding amount of biblical and philosophical evidence to support his views)or his thoughtful essay in "Divine Foreknowledge: 4 Views."

Letters from a skeptic truly does go beyond pat answers to difficult questions raised by unbelievers. Greg answers these in love; a wonderful example of how we should all answer. Whether or not many want to admit it, Boyd's view of God's foreknowledge and his trinitarian theodicy (see "Satan and the Problem of Evil" by Boyd) goes much farther in answering some difficult theological questions than does Calvinism.
This book could be life changing for anyone who took the time to read it. Do not let other discourage you!

Rating:
Summary: GREAT!!!!!!
Review: I am reading this book at this moment, and I love this book. I use to wonder with all these questions about God and his existence. This book opened a new world for me.God's world. I learned that he loves us with all our heart. This book is so inspiring. I would tell everyone to read this book. Seriously, this book is the best book I ever read in my life. I would like to tell everyone to hurry up and get this book. This book is worth the money you use.

Rating:
Summary: Lewis for Laymen
Review: I honestly don't know why I picked this book up, but I'm so glad I have and it is now full of highlighted markings! In doing Youth & Family Ministry this book has helped me put my faith into words on more than one occasion. The conversation between Boyd and his father bring up questions that many have and are afraid to ask. It allows one to look at the Bible as God's Word but does not force you to translate it literally, which can be such a barrier for some. C.S. Lewis' Mere Christianity is supreme, but his language is not easy for all. Boyd backs up his theology in conversation that is easy for most ages to comprehend. In a time with so much "decisionist" books and loud voices it is relieving to have a theology book filled with intellect and grace.

Rating:
Summary: Typical Christian comebacks.
Review: I am a skeptic and still I am not so convinced. Father's questions are most similar to the questions I have raised.
But I wasn't impressed with the son's responses.
They were almost same to the ones you get from any typical Christian person would tell a non-believer, except at some points of leniency.(such as not taking the Bible "literally")
It also lacks what happens after each question was answered, because his father couldn't have just converted his views so easily after one letter of answer. I still have questions at the answers the son gave but the book does not say much after once the question is answered.
Overall, just a triumph book for a Christian, failed to really make a skeptic think any differently.



Rating:
Summary: more snake oil.
Review: Letters to a Skeptic.
(Boyd & Boyd)

Christian apologetics are usually quite predictable and I didn't expect much from this book, but it was quite surprising to se just how far short it fell in its stated purpose. Its stated aim was to "...help the readers wrestle with the rational foundations of their own faith..." Since there are no rational foundations for this sort of Christian fundamentalism, it was bound to fail, but it didn't even make a half decent stab at it.. It purports to be a correspondence between a skeptical father and a Christian son, by the end of which, (Glory Be!) the father becomes a Christian too. You can almost overhear the angels rejoicing and Satans demons cursing in despair as the father is slowly won over. Someone less charitable than I may conclude that the book's true intention is to stifle and obfuscate the questioning that inevitably arise in the mind of the more rational type of young person who has been exposed to Christian Fundamentalism in early life and is now begining to doubt what they have previously never questioned. It skips over the deep issues, dismissing the father's doubts with facile speculation and unconvincing references to scripture, and hardly rises above naked Christian propaganda. To most questions, it admits (with disarming humility) that it does not know the answer - then speculates at great length on the how God's mind works. By the end of each chapter, the original admission that the writer 'didn't know the answer' somehow has become lost, and - Hey Presto! - the wild speculation has become a convincing answer! It will not impress anyone posessing even a basic grasp of basic logic (or even common sense). A rudimentary education will be sufficient to cut swathes through the invalid logic and circular reasoning upon which it constantly relies. The literary device is a straight steal from C S Lewis' Screwtape Letters. The folksy, chatty format and absence of any intellectual rigour allows logical errors and false arguments to go through on the nod, unchallenged by serious examination. Much is made of the (rather cloying) loving father/son relationship which cleverly pre-empts legitimate accusations of 'liar' and 'fool' from being voiced. The father is described as a ' highly intelligent 70 year old', but the manner in which false argument and transparently faulty logic is constantly passed over without a murmur, indicates this correspondence was either not a genuine debate, or the father was in the early stages of senile dementia. The father aquiesces too easily, under the psychological (not logical)pressure and accepts his son's irrational explanations and best guesses at the nature of God far too readily for this correspondence to sound authentic.

For example, in the correspondence concerning the divine inspiration of the bible, the skeptic father questions the truth of parts of the Old Testament. The Christian son 'overcomes' these objections by pointing out that Jesus, in the New Testament clearly accepts what is written in the Old Testament, so it would be improper to question Jesus' opinion of the Old Testament's veracity! In other words, since the New testament tells us Jesus believed it, it must necessarily be true! What kind of reasoning, is that? A ten-year-old could spot the question- begging circularity of such an argument!. The writer claims to have studied logic, so these errors are not accidental. They are deliberate distortions. ' Lying for the Lord' seems to be considered forgivable among Christian Apologists. The frightening thing is that this writer is a Professor of Theology at a college (admittedly only a bible college where intellectual rigour is not a necessity) but he presumably has the responsibility of helping to form the ideas of young people. He unashamedly declares his deep belief in 'demons and evil spirits' who are 'roaming the earth' trying to destroy God's order! It's enough to make one weep with despair. How do these people qualify as educators and entertain such ludicrous and absurd ideas? 'Faith' has had far to much undeserved respect shown to it This traditional uncritical respect shown to Faith encourages Christians to dispense with Reason, and it is time Faith was exposed for the error it is, as a vice and not a virtue. People of this mind set should not not be argued with - they should be cured. It has been well said that the proper study of religion is not theology but psychology, and the proper study of Christians is psycho-analysis. The sooner this becomes more generally accepted, the better.

Another example of the typically sloppy thinking is demonstrated when the father asks why God doesn't intevene when some sicko rapes and mutilates a child. The pathetic answer given is that God allows us free will....and if God intervened, we would no longer have freewill. The questioner just rolls over in acceptance of this facile answer. It never occurs to him to ask WHY God demands the rape and mutilation of innocent children as the price to be paid for free will. The bible is full of examples of where God can and did intervene in the affairs of men and their free will in much less important matters. You can't have it both ways Ultimately it comes down to the more basic question of whether God himself has any freewill (and if he hasn't, by definition he's not all-powerful) By ordinary human standards, anyone who stood by and allowed a child to be raped and mutilated when perfectly capable of preventing it would be classed as a monster. Christians seem not to be able to grasp that a God who stands idly by and permits it, is a monster too. He tries to extricate himself from this paradox by claiming God is not omnipotent, and simply opens himself up to the charge of heresey from most other Chrisians. It's a complete mess. So compelling is the need for the religious crutch that the real questioning never gets off the ground. There are excellent alternative answers to most of these questions, and at least partial answers to the all the others. Science is showing the way in the disciplines of neuro- and socio- psychology. Many scientists see that socio-biology and Darwinian thought can lead us away from the fantasy-peddling of the theologians to a true and rational understanding of why humanity is the way it is.

This book is an absolute disgrace. It couldn't convince anyone unless they had already relinquished their critical faculties in exchange for the comfort of religion's sentimental lies and superstition. This book does not help anyone. It is a snare in the way of any true seeker after knowledge, and does not even scratch the surface of genuine enquiry. It offers cheap comfort to the converted, the insecure and those for whom an illusory certainty is more important than truth. Christian fundamentalism, in championing Faith above Reason has a powerful appeal to the less secure religious personality in that it legitimises and encourages their flight from the threat of their own intelligence. This book is a perfect example of how the youth of today is lured from the difficult but honest search for truth, by the seductive false 'certainties' of superstition. It is Crackpot Christianity in the uniquely American style. It is regretable that the monstrous fiction of religion in general, and Christianity in particular continue to so infect American universities. Perhaps the fault is too much training and not enough real education. Fortunately, elsewhere it is on the decline. But as long as books like this can be pedalled around campuses, there will be those unfortunates who become distracted from seeking true knowledge by the appeal of cheap religious fantasy.

If this book fell in the fire, I'd be tempted to leave it there.


John Tate (Newcastle upon Tyne UK)

Rating:
Summary: not recommended, too many heterodox opinions mixed in
Review: This book is far from recommended. Mixed in with all the good material is too much heterodoxy, speculation, opining, Harvard philosophy, unbiblical fabrication.

Try Josh McDowell, James Kennedy, Hank Hanegraaff, Os Guiness, C.S.Lewis instead for safer, less contaminated apologetics.

Rating:
Summary: Useful Dialogue / Interesting Apologetics
Review: Greg Boyd and his now deceased father co-author this interesting work on defending the Christian faith. This book tackles many of the important issues facing someone struggling with whether to believe in God, believe in Christ, and many other things. Mixed in with these issues is Greg's theological stance that God can change his mind. Greg's view, or an 'open view' of God, is widely debated and much criticized. Some from the Calvinist point of view will call him a herectic, cultist, and other productive terms that really help facilitate healthy dialogue.

This book is bigger than open view vs. calvinist theology - God is bigger than MUCH BIGGER - than this debate. Take this book for what it is - a dialogue between someone who does not believe in God and someone who passionately believes in God - and go from there. Most non-believers would have zero idea what the difference was between a calvinist and an open view theologian anyway, and quite frankly, an unbelieving world could care less.

While I don't necessarily see eye to eye with Greg and some parts of his theology, this is a great evangelistic tool. All I know is that my wisest thought is dumber than God's dumbest thought, so I will just add my humble opinion to these reviews. This is a good book, regardless of your theological stance. God can use anything to change hearts and save souls, and he has used this book.

Rating:
Summary: This book is great for all the skeptics out there
Review: Mr. Boyd explains in his book that God does not know the future because he has given man a free will and therefore mans free will creates the future. This is a future that could not be knowable to God for Mr. Boyd. He then explains that the Bible is true because God predicted the Crucifixion of Jesus with the minutest detail. This means that mans free will can create an unknowable future for God, yet God can still predict the future not only of an event but of the details and decisions of individual people (e.g. The dividing of Jesus' garments, casting lots for his cloak, piercing of his hands and feet etc. were accomplished by individuals, people making "free will" choices to do particular things to Jesus at the time of his crucifixion. These prophecies make the idea of "free-will-creating-an-unknowable-future" absurd.). With ideas like these Boyd continually contradicts himself in this book. He and his father, who claim to be such critical thinkers, do not catch these glaring contradictions!!
Boyd says in this book that God is all powerful, but willingly gave up some of that power to man's free will. In the final analysis of this book, Man's free will is "God" and "Man" can elevate his own character to the status of salvation. The only thing God is needed for is to give Christ to the world so that we have a brand new slate from which to work from. He does not take into consideration that we need to be "made" righteous, not just given a free "get out of jail card".
This is not a Christian work, but a work of someone who was raised and schooled by the liberal colleges. The open door theology of Mr. Boyd is anything but Christian. To give a "One Star" rating for this book is to overrate it!!!!