In Defense of Miracles: A Comprehensive Case for God's Actions in History

Rating:
Summary: Historic Methodology
Review: Dr. Gary Habermas received his PhD from the University of Michigan with a speciality in the philosophy of history. Dr. Habermas is very devoted to historical methodology. He has shown this in class (being a student in his philosophy seminar entitled 'The Philosophy of History and the Historical Jesus'). In class Dr. Habermas spent several weeks on historical methodology, and his book on the historical evidence for Christ has an entire appendix on historical methodology.

Rating:
Summary: A Perversion of Reality
Review: Geivett and Habermas have collected the writings of some of the most ideologically radical and evangelical scholars to buttress their case that miracles are happening all around us now and throughout history. The authors have set out to prove their beliefs by totally ignoring any evidence to the contrary. This book reminds me of several written by UFO fanatics that create a world totally contrary to reality. Even though I tried to keep an open mind while reading this book, I found it difficult to imagine that any "scholar" could collect such biased references and attempt to pass them off as authoritative. Almost all the arguments in this book are flawed and totally discount reality or any of the science we have learned over the past 200 years. Unless you are already a fundamentalist, there is little of value to this book, except as a door stop

Rating:
Summary: Extremely Thorough From the Best Scholars Available
Review: In one word this book is - AWESOME! Every chapter is thorough, concise, and scholarly. Geivett and Habermas have collected some of the best available scholars around today to present an iron clad case for the actions of God in human history. The book begins with David Hume's work on miracles along with a response from Antony Flew (the eminent Humean scholar). Then, a barrage of wonderful Christian philosophers and theologians tackle the issue of miracles in each chapter. Some of the chapter titles include - Defining Miracles (Richard Purtill), Miracles and the Modern Mind (Norman L. Geisler), History and Miracles (Francis J. Beckwith, Recognizing a Miracle (Winfried Corduan), Science, Miracles, Agency, Theory & the God-of-the-Gaps (J.P. Moreland), The Evidential Value of Miracles (Douglas Geivett), Miracles in the World Religions (David K. Clark), The Incarnation of Jesus Christ (John S. Feinberg), The Empty Tomb of Jesus (William Lane Craig), The Resurrection Appearances of Jesus (Gary R. Habermas), and more. As you can see, simply by the chapters I listed, the book is packed full of great evidence, arguments, and even scientific review of the topic at hand. This book was a text book of mine (among others) in a philosophy class that dealt with the philosophy of David Hume at Southern Evangelical Seminary. I cannot recommend this book enough, you will not be disappointed.