Rating: 
Summary: Good 50 years ago, but now...
Review: This is a somewhat exhaustive treatment of Christian Apologetics. Each article is written in a fairly succinct style, and typically trys to hit the high points of what is considered relevant in these debates. There are a number of problems however. The range of articles is often too narrow to be of much interest. The treatment of New Testament (and Old Testament) issues is often far too shallow to be taken seriously. It's as though these articles were written for an audience that existed 50 years ago. It is truly sad to think that this may be one of the best examples of Christian apologetics currently available. Based on numerous internet debates, conversations with Christians, and works like this one, perhaps Christianity can no longer be rationally defended.
Rating: 
Summary: The Whole Kit & Caboodle
Review: This book covers every subject dealing with apologetics that I could ever imagine: history of, Biblical documents, brief biographies & summaries of Christian apologists and atheist critics, works of philosophers (Hume, Kant,etc), science & the Bible, alleged biblical errors, cults, other religions, historicity of the the Bible, relationship of faith & reason, etc. The articles are presented in alphabetical order with plenty of cross references to catch related articles. There is an article index at the back of the book. There is also an index of biblical & apocraphyl scriptures used and on what page these verses are mentioned. Articles range from a few paragraphs to several pages. However, depending on the topic of interest, with related articles a person would have a chapter's worth of material. Each article ends with a list of sources for that article. The bibliography for this book is very large. Dr. Geisler has gathered and summarized a vast amount of material. Although this book is mainly a reference book, it is organized & written in a fashion that one could easily get as much from this as if reading a standard book on apologetics... actually more so. I highly recommend this book to pastors, youth leaders, seminary students, and Christians who want to learn about & defend the Christian faith.
Rating: 
Summary: A Giant Work from a Giant Apologist
Review: This work is a culmination of a lifetime of research, teaching and use of apologetics. Geisler says he worked on this book everyday for five hours each morning for three years. Prior to the text being minimized for production, the manuscript was over 2,000 pages. Some have criticized Baker for not accumulating apologists throughout the field for the production of this work like they did for their other encyclopedias in the reference library. This is a fair critique. I would have prefered the same. That being said, buy this book and read it anyway. If you are serious about defending the faith, you will eventually get around to Geisler and you might as well start here. Geisler has written this work from the classical school as opposed to using the historical method, the presuppositional method, the evidential method or the experiential method. If you do not subscribe to the classical method of doing apologetics, you may not agree that many of the articles are necessary in defending the faith. If you do trod the path of classical apologetics, however, dig in. The best way to read the encylopedia is to to begin on page 36. Under the section "Apologetics, Argument of," Geisler lists essentially twelve steps in the rational defense of the faith beginning with - (1)Truth about reality is knowable, and ending with - (12)Therefore, it is true that the Bible is the Word of God and whatever is opposed to any biblical truth is false. In these steps, Geisler refers us to articles which support each of them. If you follow these steps in your reading, you'll be plowing through the encyclopedia, in search of additional articles to answer questions raised by the ones assigned, which will complete the picture in your mind. There are just a few drawbacks to this work. For one, there is no table of contents and the article index in the back doesn't have page numbers, so you'll just have to search for the topic yourself. Secondly, there are no articles on cults in this book. All the articles combat either biblical, philosophical, scientific or historical arguments with which the Christian worldview does battle. It deals with world religions instead of heresies and contemporary cults. All in all, this is a phenomenal reference tool that I frequently use and highly endorse. As Geisler says of Aquinas, "One can see much farther by standing on the shoulders of a giant, than one can by stabbing him in the back."
Rating:
Summary: Well Rounded Resource
Review: Dr. Geisler gives a well rounded survey of issues pertaining to the discipline of apologetics. I highly recommended it! If it is your desire to be a serious student of apologetics, this resource definitely belongs in your library.
Rating: 
Summary: A Unique and Helpful Resource, but.....
Review: This large volume of articles on apologetics is the culmination of Dr. Geisler's life's work. It is helpful in that it provides hundreds of articles on matters related to apologetics. Just about everything you can think of is covered. What you essentially have here is a compendium of Dr. Geisler's many books. However, I cannot go without saying that this work is based on evidentialist apologetics and the articles regarding presuppositional apologetics and its proponents (eg; Van Til), are misleading (I am NOT implying that Geisler would intentionally mislead, I simply think he misunderstands presuppositional apologetics himself). I urge you to pick up two books by the late Greg Bahnsen, _Always Ready_ (for those as yet unfamiliar with presuppositional apologetics), and _Van Til's Apologetic: Readings & Analysis_ (for the advanced reader). Both are published by P & R Publishing and available from Amazon.
Rating:
Summary: Incomprehensibly Comprehensible!
Review: I will share briefly. ALL YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT APOLOGETICS BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK! Even for a novice, Geisler's book is simple but covers a range of Christian, philosophical and theological questions. And if that is not enough, a thorough bibliography is presented. If you only buy one book on apologetics, THIS IS IT! How DID he get all that stuff in there??
Rating:
Summary: Read with caution
Review: While this is a large and comprehensive collection of Geisler's work one would have wished he would have been more accurate in his description of Van Til's thinking. As most non-pressupositional apologists, he has many inaccurate representations which is a shame considering that Van Til was the most influential apologist of the century. For a much better study one should read Greg Bahnsen's book. However, there are a lot of articles that will encourage the beliver and give him more confidence in the Truth.
Rating:
Summary: "Comprehensive and Essential"
Review: Geisler so eloquenty expounds upon nearly every subject that may be dealt with in the realm of apologetics with skillfull reknown. This Encyclopedia not only acts as an excellent source for the defense of Christianity, but also provides itself useful as a dictionary into theological themes, and the thinkers behind them. I am astonished at all the information that this edition holds. The cross-references and sources of information add even more luster to this ingenious work. So this Encyclopedia is totaly necessary for your library.
Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive and Concise Resource
Review: As has been mentioned in prior reviews, this resource is very lengthy because it attempts to cover an almost universal range of topics dealing with Christianity and religion in general. Because Geisler is among the top apologists and has been for years, he has the kind of unique knowledge required to address the multitude of topics that are covered here, BUT he also has a vast knowledge of other apologetic works and resources that enable him to extensively footnote and reference other works. Both of these reasons make this book a top apologetic resource that in many ways is unmatched in terms of its comprehensive scope. I want to make something clear, however. I don't want people reading the reviews of this book to be intimidated by the size or scope of the book, or the intellect of Geisler. New Christians who are not extensively versed in apologetics or various theological debates can profit just as much from this book as Christians who have been around the block a few times with apologetics. The reason I say this is because the comprehensive nature of this book actually makes it MORE reader friendly, not less. This is because the myriad of topics covered forces Geisler to be very concise in his topical treatment. Therefore, even a new Christian or sincere seeker who might not feel comfortable trying to digest a 200 page academically natured book on a single topic or two will find the Baker Encyclopedia to be much more their speed because Geisler often confines his analysis of each topic to a few paragraphs or a few pages at most. Having said that, this book is also a vital resource for those seasoned in apologetics. The main reason for this is not only the narratives that Geisler provides, but just as importantly, the footnotes and references that will help the reader pursue the kind of additional research and analysis on any given topic that Geisler is unable to do here given the topical nature of the book. These reference notes are invaluable and it is doubtful that the reader could find this kind of reference detail anywhere else given the universal scope of the topics covered. Lastly, I concur with a few other reviews that say that there were a few topics that were not covered. Personally, I would liked to have seen more detail relative to the whole issue of whether the resurrection account in the Bible borrowed from other "resurrection" stories in the pagan mystery religions. The Osiris charge in particular seems to be the current flavor of the month among those trying to discredit the Bible and has been a popular point of attack by the Jesus Seminar. The Baker Encyclopedia does not address this and this is unfortunate. There are other resources available which effectively obliterate the Osiris charge, but I had to conduct quite a bit of research to get to these resources because the Baker Encyclopedia was not helpful in this area. But regardless of this lone issue, the book is certainly worth 5 stars since I recognize that no single book can ever hope to address every last issue or topic related to Christian apologetics. But this book comes closer than any other that I'm aware of.
Rating:
Summary: The Big Book of Answers
Review: It'll take me much longer to read the BECA in its entirety than any book I've ever read before. Although it contains 841 pages, those 841 pages actually constitute 3000 manuscript pages. The bibliography is made up of almost 1200 articles and (mostly) books. One can spend hours each day reading through the various sections of the BECA. Of course, reading is one thing. Mastering the information is another. First, the bad news. There is no topical subject index. Any book of this nature cries out for an index. There are no articles on social issues such as abortion and euthanasia. There are no articles on cults such as Mormonism, Scientology, etc. There are some notable omissions, for example, there's no article on heaven (though there is one one hell). But, by any measure, the positives outweigh the negatives. The articles that are included are informative and thorough. When Geisler examines a non-Christian thinker, he is fair-minded. He provides not only the negative aspects of a particular person's philosophy but also the positive ones. For example, on Albert Camus, Geisler notes his sharp observation about the absurdity of life apart from God. The articles on historical and scientific matters (eg. evidence for the bible, problems with biblical chronologies, big bang theory, gospel of Thomas), are quite understandable. The articles on more philosophical and theological issues (eg. panentheism, cosmological arguments, agnosticism, principle of causality) will probably require a little more concentration from a layperson (such as myself). Fortunately, Geisler doesn't use a lot of technical, philosophical jargon. He uses mainly plain language to describe and explain complicated issues (always a sign of a good teacher). I feel it's incumbent upon all Christians to understand apologetics issues, and to know how to use good arguments to defend the reliability and reasonableness of Christianity. Faith and reason go together. Reason supports our faith. Faith informs our reason. The BECA will equip any believer to defend what she believes, and to do so thoughtfully and intelligently.
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