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Summary: Handbook of Christian Apologetics
Review: I was very interested in the review. I am however looking for more specific information about the Chatti Tribe since my ancestral city in Germany is Lissberg, and my earliest ancestor is Hans Leys in January 1599.
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Summary: A thinking book that is worth the read
Review: Although I am not Catholic and did not agree with every one of the authors' conclusions, I must say that this book is a good overall defense of the historic Christian church. I appreciate that these men were Christian first and Catholic second, and so there were no real noticeable diatribes on the issues that could separate Catholics and Protestants. Their reasoning was extremely sound, in the vast majority of cases, and I have even used some of their information (i.e. 20 reasons for the existence of God) in lecture notes in a Christian apologetics class that I teach. A book like this and When Skeptics Ask by Geisler work well side by side on the old bookshelf, and it's a wonderful experience to compare the two books on a number of parallel issues. It's well worth the read, for both the Christian and the skeptic who has never challenged himself to compare his beliefs with the teachings of Christianity.
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Summary: Not what I was looking for, but still good
Review: When I found this book, I thought it woudl be more along the lines of "Handbook of Christian Evidences" but instead it is "Handbook of Christian Philosphical Arguments." While some of the arguments are fantastic (20 different proofs that God exists), I was expecting historical facts and scientific defenses. Even though I haven't been exposed to many logical based argumentative type books it is obvious that this book has some of the best. Both authors, professors of philosphy, put out many strong arguments for the many different areas of discussion covered in this 400 page book. For logic based arguments this book is one of the best, for historical facts I'd recommend John McDowell's "The Best of Josh McDowell".
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Summary: An Excellent Book that Answers Basic Philosophical Questions
Review: I was fortunate enough to be a student of Fr. Tacelli's while I was at Boston College. This book does and excellent job of answering many of your basic philosophical and religious questions (i.e., does God exist, is there life after death) in an easy to understand way. I have found most philosophy books dry and boring...this one definitely is not!
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Summary: Mere Christianity on Steroids
Review: This book is a wonderful summary of most of the arguments for Christianity today. It handles tough issues with patience and charity. I especially liked the areas that cleared up misconceptions between Catholicism and Protestantism. Hopefully, this will help ecumenism and thus evangelization. While some of the arguments are heady philosophical treatises, I think that a patient, fair reading of the material will be more than beneficial in the long run. The book concerns itself with 'mere' or 'orthodox' christianity, which I greatly appreciated. All serious Christians--Catholics, Protestants, Evangelicals, Fundamentalists, Anglicans, and Orthodox--should own a copy of this book. In fact, buy two. Keep one on your book shelf and give the other to a skeptical friend.
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Summary: Excellent explainations Horrible to read
Review: When I purchased this book, I was happy to finally put questions I've had behind me concerning why do Christians believe what they believe. Being raised Lutheran, and not really being 'educated' in the faith, I at 39 years old, still sought answers to long unanswered questions. While this book gives the reader those answers, you have to pick them out of the overworded sentences the authors have written. This book has been written for doctoral candidates and not for the average lay person. The very sentences are written using lofty language, high-browed terminology and combine into paragraphs which need to be discected merely to understand what the authors are trying to explain. The topic of Christianity is hard enough to understand without requiring an extra hour or more per chapter to contemplate what is being explained because of the manner it is written in. Sure, buy the book, but don't expect to breeze through the pages without consulting your Oxford Manual of the English Language or your thesaurus once in a while. I probably have have enough education and appropriate credit to earn a Master's Degree. I understand technical language well enough to get through the books required for the engineering work I do. But when it comes to spiritual matters, I don't think it is necessary to have to disect a book so thoroughly you forget what you were reading about. With apologies to the co-authors, I find your book informational, however it was a volume which required disciple and work, to get through. On this subject your language should have been plainer and more to the point.
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Summary: One-Stop Theological Review
Review: Prof. Kreeft & Fr. Tacelli have compiled a fabulous, concise and enjoyable summary of the major theological points of the historic, orthodox (as opposed to "Orthodox") Christian faith.As a little aside to help you understand one of the authors... I had the great privilege of having Fr. Tacelli come as a guest speaker for one of my philosophy classes when I was in college. He has a wry sense of humor. The school I attended was a somewhat conservative Protestant school, so smoking was a definite on-campus no-no, strictly verboten. Now you probably wouldn't expect a Catholic priest to smoke big cigars either, but... Fr. Tacelli was kind enough to entertain those of us who were lost during the Ontology discussion, because he brought in a big, fat Double Corona cigar. As the lecture progressed, Fr. Tacelli would solicit responses from those of us in the classroom. While we were formulating our answers, he slowly, lovingly unwrapped the cigar, and placed it on the podium. As more time passed, he trimmed the smoking end and put it in his mouth. Each time the respondent would wrap up their comments, he would light a match and bring it to the end of the cigar. Just as he was about to draw in the flame, he would lower the cigar, blow out the match, and deal with the point just made. You will love this book. The reading is easy-flowing and thoroughly engaging, but the material is NOT easy to digest without thorough mental-processing. Enjoy!
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Summary: Single best resource
Review: This is a tremendously important "one-stop" shop for most of the crucial Christian questions. It bears re-reading since at different times of life there are different obstacles to faith. There is also an essential honesty to the work. One of my favorite quotes is: "The tension is between appealing to free choice and appealing to divine providence and grace to solve the problem of evil. Sin is explained, on the one hand, by our free will. On the other hand, God's providential plan foresaw and used even sin. God brings good out of evil, and makes all things work together for good for those who love him. The argument between those who emphasize free will and those who emphasize providence is largely one of emphasis, for both are parts of our scriptural data. The difference in emphasis is between those who see human history as a novel, written by God, and those who see it as a play, enacted by man. The two images are not exclusive. The novel, though completely the author's creation, is about free people, not trees or robots; and though the play has a script, the actors are free to obey the script or not. If the emphasis is on God's predestination, our attitude to life will emphasize trust and faith and acceptance and hope; while if the emphasis is on human free will, our attitude to life will emphasize morality and spiritual warfare and the will to make the right choices. The first emphasizes wisdom, the second morality; the first contemplation, the second action; the first seeing, the second doing; the first faith, the second works. They are two sides of the same Christian coin."
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Summary: Review of Christian Handbook of Christian Apologetics
Review: This book is an excellent overview of the area of theology called "apologetics". The book gives clear proof for the Christian faith and demonstrates that the Christian worldview is reasonable to the intellectual who is open and thinking. It covers basic terminolgy in apologetics, deals with the basic approach to apologetics and then uses these tools to prove such christian teachings as the existence of God, the resurrection of Jesus Christ and much more. It includes a wonderful section which gives 20 proofs for the existence of God. The authors are very readable and enjoyable. A great book for those who are seekers of Truth and to those who wish to understand the reasonableness of their faith. I highly recommend this book. -jf.
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Summary: Best Single Apologetics book - must for Christian library
Review: I think the two books that best speak to a modern audience regarding the truth of Christianity are Lewis' Mere Christianity and Kreeft and Tacelli's Handbook of Christian Apologetics. They compliment each other well. If you know a hardened skeptic, Mere Christianity can get the camel's nose under the tent, and then Handbook can mop up any remaining questions. I had developed a curiousity regarding Catholic apologetics several years ago and an interest in Kreeft's work. I was excited when Handbook was released. I was not disappointed. Lucid, accessible and comprehensive. I read and re-read sections constantly. I have used the arguments for the existence of God many times and refer to The Handbook to answer questions of skeptics in real life and in on-line correspondence. A must for any Christian library. Can't praise it enough. If you like this but want more depth, you might want to read his Summa of the Summa. Very difficult but worthwhile. It's used to train priests in many seminaries.
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