Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent Resource of Christian Apologetics at its Best
Review: A monumental work! This is the best book on the subject of Christian evidences that I have read. It reviews and assesses the major topics involved in Christian apologetics: faith and reason, the absurdity of life without God, the existence of God, the problem of miracles, the problem of historical knowledge, the historical reliability of the New Testament, and the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. What makes this work special is that Dr. Craig draws upon a wealth of knowledge from modern big bang cosmology and New Testament critical studies to bolster his claim that Christianity is reasonable. Reading this book will challenge the skeptic's atheism and edify the believer's faith. Destined to be a classic and rival to C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity."
Rating:
Summary: Craig is briliant author
Review: As a Theologian and a Philosopher myself, I found this book very usefull, briliant, and one of the kind. Craig is a wonderful and a briliant author. This book explains clearly about the most common questions and doubts about the truth of Christianity. This book is a logical book, that bring together between faith and reasons. Highly recomended....
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent for arguments on resurrection and God's existence
Review: Dr. Craig attempts to develop a cumulative case for the truth of Christianity. First, he attempts to demonstrate the probability of god's existence by utilizing a number of the common arguments. However, Craig's specialty is the cosmological argument which he develops very well in this book. While the cosmological argument does nothing to prove the truthfulness of Christianity, it definitely goes a long way towards demonstrating the high likelihood of the existence of some type of god.After arguing that it is far more likely that god exists rather than god not existing, he then proceeds to argue for the possibility of miracles on the basis of god's ability to perform them. This sets the table for Craig's finest area of expertise - the resurrection of Jesus. He gives great arguments for the historicity of Jesus burial in a tomb, discovery of the tomb empty, and the post-mortem appearances of Jesus. I believe Craig's sequence of argumentation is the most effective. He shows the existence of god to be highly probable before he attempts to convince readers of the reality of Jesus' resurrection. This is a far more convincing route than the one used by those who would try to argue for the existence of god on the basis of the resurrection. People won't believe in miracles unless they FIRST believe there is a god who can perform them. Fortunately, Craig is well aware of this and builds a very convincing case for the truthfulness of Christianity. Craig's section on the "witness of the Holy Spirit" being the proof of Christianity is a very small section of this book (less than 10 pages) and does nothing to hinder his overall argument. The fact that a previous reviewer took a very minor subsection of the book and blew it into a full-blown review seems to me to demonstrate the reviewer's hesitancy to address some of Craig's more substantial arguments such as the cosmological argument for god's existence or his argument for the resurrection.
Rating:
Summary: Craig is one of sharpest minds around
Review: Having been introduced to Dr. Craig via the video debate that he did with Frank Zindler in 1993 (I have seen the video a dozen times as I have shown this to numerous apologetics classes), I knew that this was a very skilled scholar of Christian truth and apologetics. "Reasonable Faith did not disappoint. From the issues of the existence of God to the resurrection, Dr. Craig deals with a number of important topics that definitely belong in a book like this. He makes the point for his book in the introduction, "Christianity is being attacked from all sides as irrational or outmoded, and millions of students, our future generation of leaders, have absorbed this viewpoint" (xiii). He is absoultely correct in saying that we need to use our minds to fully know and appreciate the God who has revealed Himself to us through His Word. The first chapter, Faith and Reason, was well done as he took a historical look at how previous believers have wrestled with how much reason is needed to have true faith. (Hence, the title of the book.) Without the Holy Spirit, no one would ever become a Christian, he says, and I fully agree. Good things were written here, and I truly appreciated his assessment section as he put everything together. Another thing I liked about this chapter (and the other chapters as well) is that Dr. Craig wrote a short conclusion that gives an application for the believer. This not only serves as a wonderful summary but is certainly very useful for the lay reader. After showing the absurdity of the idea that there is no God in chapter 2, Dr. Craig went to one of his specialities in the third chapter regarding the existence of God. This was a long and sometimes too deep chapter that would probably lose many readers. After reading this chapter, I became confused as to whom Dr. Craig thought his audience was. Was he shooting for more of a lay audience, as his "application" sections seemed to indicate? Or was he going for the more intellectual crowd, a group that could even include skeptics? I'm not sure, but I found that I had to move slowly through this chapter, and I'm familiar with the points being made. Still, there's a lot of meat here and worth a study. I felt the middle chapters bogged down a bit, with history being emphasized along with the points. Craig Blomberg, though, had an excellent submitted chapter on the historical reliability of the Bible. The last chapter on the resurrection was one of the strongest points of this book, as I think Dr. Craig does as well as anyone reporting on the historicity of the most important event in Christianity. One final comment. I would have liked it had the editor eliminated the conjunctions that began many sentences (but, for, etc.). The book also has too many sentences beginning with the word "now." Now, I know this is a minor point, but truly it almost became a humorous distraction every time I saw another sentence that began with it. :) Despite this silly observation, Reasonable Faith is a book I would recommend. Indeed there are few Christian scholars as sharp as Dr. Craig. I challenge an atheist, committed or not, to take up this book and see if Christianity is nonsensible. If he is honest, he will have to admit that there are at least some strong points with the Christian religion.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Intro to Apologetics
Review: I cannot think of a better way to get aquainted with Christian apologetics than through this book. One good thing about this book is that it is so packed with information and references that you can really study it. Dr. Craig doesn't go off topic at all. You will be glued to the book every time you pick it up.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Intro to Apologetics
Review: I cannot think of a better way to get aquainted with Christian apologetics than through this book. One good thing about this book is that it is so packed with information and references that you can really study it. Dr. Craig doesn't go off topic at all. You will be glued to the book every time you pick it up.
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Summary: A Christian book written by a Christian for a Christian
Review: I found this to be one of the better Christian apologetics books out there. However, this book seems to be heavily geared toward the Christian reader; I initially believed that it would be directed toward skeptics. I found that the author placed a lot of emphasis on personal experience. The arguments are well laid out and very well organized, but several of his ideas have been refuted by various authors and speakers. Although, as an atheist, I certainly did not agree with many of Dr. Craig's points, I enjoyed reading his ideas.
Rating:
Summary: Praise from an Atheist
Review: I read this book under the recommendation of two noted apologists. This book neither toys around with apologetics nor gives brief, watered-down arguments; rather, it gets to the meat of the subject and goes in depth. This book is well suited for college/graduate apologetics courses and for any Christian who is willing to take a serious, in-depth look at Christian apologetics. The book is academic in nature and not a typical self-help, devotional read... although while reading this book I do feel my relationship with Christ grew out of my deeper understanding of many things. Craig explores and explains well the relationship of faith & reason, the existence of God, the absurdity of life without God, miracles, arguments concerning problems of historical knowledge, reliability & historicity of the New Testament scriptures, and the claims & resurrection of Christ. Each chapter gives views contrary to orthodox Christianity and then Craig analyzes each in turn. I especially appreciated his treatment of miracles and the problem of historicity. At the end of each chapter is a summary and a personal application section. The personal application questions helped me to keep in mind the real reason why I was reading this book. This book could be used in a small group Bible study, but I would not recommend it to those who are not willing to put forth some effort. The last chapter is brief, but very important. Here Craig reminds us that the best arguments in the world really come second to how we live our lives as Christians and how we interact with the people around us. This, he says, is the "ultimate apologetic." This is a wonderfully written book.
Rating:
Summary: For The Serious Student.
Review: I read this book under the recommendation of two noted apologists. This book neither toys around with apologetics nor gives brief, watered-down arguments; rather, it gets to the meat of the subject and goes in depth. This book is well suited for college/graduate apologetics courses and for any Christian who is willing to take a serious, in-depth look at Christian apologetics. The book is academic in nature and not a typical self-help, devotional read... although while reading this book I do feel my relationship with Christ grew out of my deeper understanding of many things. Craig explores and explains well the relationship of faith & reason, the existence of God, the absurdity of life without God, miracles, arguments concerning problems of historical knowledge, reliability & historicity of the New Testament scriptures, and the claims & resurrection of Christ. Each chapter gives views contrary to orthodox Christianity and then Craig analyzes each in turn. I especially appreciated his treatment of miracles and the problem of historicity. At the end of each chapter is a summary and a personal application section. The personal application questions helped me to keep in mind the real reason why I was reading this book. This book could be used in a small group Bible study, but I would not recommend it to those who are not willing to put forth some effort. The last chapter is brief, but very important. Here Craig reminds us that the best arguments in the world really come second to how we live our lives as Christians and how we interact with the people around us. This, he says, is the "ultimate apologetic." This is a wonderfully written book.
Rating:
Summary: A scholarly rebuttle to atheism's highest arguments
Review: I remember first hearing of William Craig through a debate in Willowcreek Church in Illinois. His opponent was Frank Zindler, who was supposed to be one of the top ranking atheists today. Needless to say, when they tallied the votes, William got 7,776 to Frank's 160 or so (you know there had to be more than 160 atheists!) Atheists for a long time have stated that beleif in any god is logical suicide. However, in his book Reasonable Faith, William presents scientific, philosophical and historical arguments that act as a foundation for the validity of God and especially of Christian belief. Through his arguments you can see the double standard of atheistic science and philosophy. For example, in one of his chapters he refers to hot and cold dark exotic matter theories. These theories were "invented" by the scientific community to explain the missing 90% of the necessary matter to cause re-contraction in an oscillating universe model. These theories are just as mythical and elusive as god, yet no reasonable atheist would reject their possibility. In other words, they place some faith that these things MIGHT BE TRUE! William is able to critique Hawking's theories and has won the respect and scholarly admiration of some of today's most brilliant atheists. Expect to be challenged intellectually, scientifically and philosophically. He goes to the core foundations of various arguments and brilliantly unfolds a case that points toward the existence of the Christian God. His material has been extremely helpful to me as a believer in addressing contemporary atheistic arguments. I've discovered that atheism is not an intellectual rejection of God, it is an emotional one. As far as William being compared to C.S. Lewis, I think he would prefer to be in the likes of Fyodor Dostoyevksy.
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