Rating: 
Summary: Mind Food
Review: This book is good, solid mind food. People perceive, and it is sad to say that they perceive with good reason, that Christianity is mere mind-fluff, and that what is holding back Christianity is the Christians.This book is a discussion of what is behind Christianity, and provides a philosophical framework in which to defend Christianity. It is written at the college level, since it is intended to be an apologetics resource for college students. I marvel at the way that Dr. Craig brought together so many ideas from so many resources in this book. It found that I used almost every facet of my undergraduate education in understanding the ideas and evidences he used. Most helpful was my survey of philosophy and my hard science classes. This book is divided along six headings: Faith, Man, God, Creation, Sacred Scripture, and Christ. Each chapter is in turn divided along several sub-headings: the Historical Background of the question, an Assessment of the question as it currently stands, and a Practical Application, where Dr. Craig discusses how "the rubber meets the road" is discussing this issue with those curious about Christianity. This is not a bash book, nor is it a survey on "how to hate," but rather it is geared to a thoughtful and ponderous evaluation of many evidences of the truthfulness of Christianity. For example, in Chapter 2, Craig discusses the existential absurdity of life without God. He raises the question of where we get absolute values, and how life becomes meaningful if we are merely a cosmic accident or a galactic hiccup. This is the one question that the atheist, or "atheist-arguing-agnosticism" cannot answer: if there are no moral absolutes, then why not torture babies for sheer pleasure. After all, it has been done before. Then in Chapter 3, Dr. Craig discusses the existence of God as evidenced by the Big Bang. The chapter isn't physic-heavy (It doesn't even have one equation), but it does discuss the implications of having an absolute time for creation. Craig relies heavily on the "Kalam" argument by Al-Ghazali, which, simply put, is: "Everything that began had a cause. The Universe began. Therefore it had a cause." Then the question becomes a discussion of who or what is the causal agent in the universe. The prose is quite clear, so there is no pedantry or confusion with what you read. I found that this book was quite a pleasure to read, and it made me take several longer looks at my faith. The concluding chapter is a gem. Dr. Craig states that the ultimate apologetic is Christian love. Against such love, there is no argument.
Rating: 
Summary: A Reasonable Book
Review: This book is quite good for what it claims to be. It offers good background on apologetics and provides within the book a strong apologetic for Christianity. I wold not recomend this book to non Christians as its emphasis on apologetics would be waisted. The authors is obviously biased, (as anyone who has reached a conclusion on the subject is), but this does not seem to hinder his ability to provide reasonable arguemnts for Christianity. This book is great for college students, Christians interested in evangilism, or Christians interested wondering if their faith is reasonable. The actual arguments for and against Christianity are excelent for anyone interested in exploring whether God exists and if so what religion (if any) they should follow.
Rating:
Summary: A Reasonable Book
Review: This book is quite good for what it claims to be. It offers good background on apologetics and provides within the book a strong apologetic for Christianity. I wold not recomend this book to non Christians as its emphasis on apologetics would be waisted. The authors is obviously biased, (as anyone who has reached a conclusion on the subject is), but this does not seem to hinder his ability to provide reasonable arguemnts for Christianity. This book is great for college students, Christians interested in evangilism, or Christians interested wondering if their faith is reasonable. The actual arguments for and against Christianity are excelent for anyone interested in exploring whether God exists and if so what religion (if any) they should follow.
Rating:
Summary: Lazy reader beware
Review: This wonderful look at the philosophy behind apoligetics is full of useful knowledge you can gleam. Beware though, this is not an easy read for lazy readers or readers with no background in philosophy(like me). I managed to get through it but it took a lot of concentration and a dictionary.
Rating:
Summary: The best available apologetics resource
Review: Through his innumerable scholarly articles covering a broad spectrum of theological matters and his debates with prominent atheists, William Lane Craig can safely lay claim to the title of Christianity's Leading Apologist. This book, originally published in 1984, was revised in 1994 to accomodate subsequent developments relevant to cosmology (e.g., Stephen Hawking's "Brief History of Time"). The chapter on God's existence alone should cement Craig's already well-established reputation as Christianity's greatest living apologist in the minds of most non-believers who read it. Craig's presentation and defense of the kalam cosmological argument is characterized with the same analytical rigour that has embodied his other works. Craig summarizes the kalam cosmological argument thusly: whatever begins to exist has a cause to account for its existence; and the since the universe began to exist, it too was initiated by an independent cause. Atheists, such as the late J.L. Mackie, deny the universe had any origion at all, and postulate a beginningless series of events spanning infinitely backwards in time. Craig counters this objection with two philosophical arguments, one courtesy of German mathematician David Hilbert. Hilbert rejected the idea that an actual infinite amount of things can exist in reality on the basis of the absurd consequences that inevitably ensue if one accepts such a concept. To better illustrate his point, Hilbert devised an argument he called "Hilbert's Hotel," a hypothetical hotel containing an infinite number of guests. If the hotel contained a finite amount of guests and was full, a new guest would be told upon arriving that all of the rooms were full. If, however, the hotel was full, but contained an infinite amount of guests, the hotel's proprietor could shift the guests in room 1# to room 2#, the guests in room 3# to room 4#, and so forth to make room for the new guest. Yet, the number of guests would now be no greater than before the guest checked in. An even odder instance would involve an amount of guests numbering infinity attempting to squeeze into the already full hotel. In this case, the hotel's proprietor could simply create a vacancy in the odd numbered rooms by shifting guests in rooms twice their own, since they would always equal even numbers. But again, the formerly booked hotel would contain no more guests than it did before. Thus, Craig concludes from this argument that a beginningless series of events in time is impossible, since a beginningless series of events in time necessarily entails an actually infinite number of things. Moving on to scientific evidence that confirms that the universe had a beginning, Craig makes no bones about his preference for the Big Bang model, since it lends credence to that very conviction. Craig shoots down alternative cosmological models with relative ease, starting with the Steady State Theory. The Steady State Theory posits a beginningless universe, perpetually sustained by matter left in voids created by receding galaxies. This theory lost what little credibility it had in 1965, when Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, two scientists working at Bell Laboratories, discovered that the background of the whole universe is saturated with microwave radiation. This discovery suggests that the universe was once extremely hot and dense -- i.e., not in the everlastingly "steady" state the Steady State model holds. Another model Craig dismantles is the ocillating model, once popularized by the late Carl Sagan. The ocillating model holds that the universe expands, then collapses back to the initial singularity, repeating this process ad infinitum. The main problem with this particular cosmological model is the complete absence of observational evidence to support it. For one thing, the ocillating model cannot explain the even distribution of matter throughout the universe. As the universe contracts, matter becomes unevenly distributed as a result of black holes which begin sucking everything up. Unexplained is how matter somehow becomes evenly distributed after the universe rebounds from its contraction phase. This is one of the many difficulties with the ocillating model, which, as far as modern physics can tell, is only a theoretical possibility, not an actual possibility. In addition to cosmology, there are chapters on the absurdity of life without God, the historicity of the Bible, and a rational basis for affirming one's faith. This book receives my strongest recommendation.
Rating:
Summary: Re: A Handy Collection of Apologetic Fallacies
Review: Unfortunately this reviewer reveals his presuppositional bias against Christianity early on. However, that's not why I felt the need to comment. Where the review says: "Admissions such as these, where Craig admits that REASON itself is not sufficient to establish the truth of Christian claims, shows the title of the book is a complete misnomer-- Reasonable faith does not rely on mere emotional 'wishing-to-be-true,' nor does it rely on the type of veiled threats embodied in the suggestion that you should accept God because you will be "held accountable" if you dont't. " completely shows that the reviewer missed Dr. Craig's point in writing the book. The premis of the book is that the Christian faith is not a "blind leap of faith" but a small step of faith in the direction that the evidence all points. Christian faith is reasonable in as much as it doesn't goe against reason. However, you cannot prove Christianity 100% for that would eliminate the need for faith and "without faith it is impossible to please God". In this book Dr Craig show that the Christian faith, though still faith, is faith based on facts and not just "mere emotional 'wishing-to-be-true,'".
Rating:
Summary: Re: A Handy Collection of Apologetic Fallacies
Review: Unfortunately this reviewer reveals his presuppositional bias against Christianity early on. However, that's not why I felt the need to comment. Where the review says: "Admissions such as these, where Craig admits that REASON itself is not sufficient to establish the truth of Christian claims, shows the title of the book is a complete misnomer-- Reasonable faith does not rely on mere emotional 'wishing-to-be-true,' nor does it rely on the type of veiled threats embodied in the suggestion that you should accept God because you will be "held accountable" if you dont't. " completely shows that the reviewer missed Dr. Craig's point in writing the book. The premis of the book is that the Christian faith is not a "blind leap of faith" but a small step of faith in the direction that the evidence all points. Christian faith is reasonable in as much as it doesn't goe against reason. However, you cannot prove Christianity 100% for that would eliminate the need for faith and "without faith it is impossible to please God". In this book Dr Craig show that the Christian faith, though still faith, is faith based on facts and not just "mere emotional 'wishing-to-be-true,'".
Rating:
Summary: Strong, Methodical Apologetic
Review: William Lane Craig is well known inside scholarly circles. Christian scholars regard him as one of the elite. And atheist scholars, along with prominent atheist websites, feel compelled to pay a great deal of attention to the writings and debates of Craig, in my view, because he has demonstrated himself to be one of the sharpest pins to regularly burst the atheism balloon. There is no serious debate about Craig's scholarly credentials and abilities, and Reasonable Faith makes that abundantly clear. Reasonable Faith is a methodical, meticulous, sometimes impassioned defense of the existence of the Biblically based Christian God. In this book, Craig not only challenges the views of various atheist scholars (whether they reside in science, mathematical or history disciplines) but also challenges the views of deism and 'liberal Christianity'. I felt that the book represented a very logical and easy follow stairway from the issues of faith and reason, to the inescapable reasonableness of the resurrection of Jesus. In between, Craig conducts a quality appraisal of the Godless worldview and where it leads, and an outstanding analysis on the existence of God where he takes on the views of Hawking and others. Craig Blomberg contributes a very good chapter on the reliability of the New Testament, with Craig concluding with a good chapter on the self understanding of Christ and a masterful chapter on the resurrection. Each chapter provides a very compelling chronology of how the debates revolving around these topics have evolved over time, giving the reader a good sense of how thinkers on multiple sides of the issues have formed their various positions. Craig then does an assessment of this chronology in each chapter. I found this approach to be very strong and persuasive. Craig also does a good job referencing his book, and offers a very good bibliography of other readings that go into further detail on the issues that Craig examines here. When reading this book, the reader may very well want to conduct further investigation and research into a number of areas that Craig touches on, and the bibliography in this book allows the interested reader to do so easily. The problem of miracles was the one area where Craig could have been a little stronger, in my view. This area is not weak by any stretch, but could have stood for further exploration and examination, in my opinion. Overall, this is an outstanding book. Craig wrote this book on a more popularized level to make it more amenable to laypeople, but potential readers should not be lead to believe that this is an easy or fluffy read. While written at a more popularized level than much of Craig's high scholarly material, this is still a book that deals with complex issues in a meaty way, and requires the reader to carefully think things through. After reading this book, I hope that even those who remain unconvinced about their need for the Christian God will at least acknowledge that Craig clearly demonstrates that the historical Christian religion can be effectively and articulately defended against the highest level of opposing arguments thrown against it. Christianity is a religion that more than stands on its own intellectually, and Craig shows, in my view, that its competitors in the world of scholarship have long since been lapped. An excellent resource!
Rating:
Summary: Strong, Methodical Apologetic
Review: William Lane Craig is well known inside scholarly circles. Christian scholars regard him as one of the elite. And atheist scholars, along with prominent atheist websites, feel compelled to pay a great deal of attention to the writings and debates of Craig, in my view, because he has demonstrated himself to be one of the sharpest pins to regularly burst the atheism balloon. There is no serious debate about Craig's scholarly credentials and abilities, and Reasonable Faith makes that abundantly clear. Reasonable Faith is a methodical, meticulous, sometimes impassioned defense of the existence of the Biblically based Christian God. In this book, Craig not only challenges the views of various atheist scholars (whether they reside in science, mathematical or history disciplines) but also challenges the views of deism and 'liberal Christianity'. I felt that the book represented a very logical and easy follow stairway from the issues of faith and reason, to the inescapable reasonableness of the resurrection of Jesus. In between, Craig conducts a quality appraisal of the Godless worldview and where it leads, and an outstanding analysis on the existence of God where he takes on the views of Hawking and others. Craig Blomberg contributes a very good chapter on the reliability of the New Testament, with Craig concluding with a good chapter on the self understanding of Christ and a masterful chapter on the resurrection. Each chapter provides a very compelling chronology of how the debates revolving around these topics have evolved over time, giving the reader a good sense of how thinkers on multiple sides of the issues have formed their various positions. Craig then does an assessment of this chronology in each chapter. I found this approach to be very strong and persuasive. Craig also does a good job referencing his book, and offers a very good bibliography of other readings that go into further detail on the issues that Craig examines here. When reading this book, the reader may very well want to conduct further investigation and research into a number of areas that Craig touches on, and the bibliography in this book allows the interested reader to do so easily. The problem of miracles was the one area where Craig could have been a little stronger, in my view. This area is not weak by any stretch, but could have stood for further exploration and examination, in my opinion. Overall, this is an outstanding book. Craig wrote this book on a more popularized level to make it more amenable to laypeople, but potential readers should not be lead to believe that this is an easy or fluffy read. While written at a more popularized level than much of Craig's high scholarly material, this is still a book that deals with complex issues in a meaty way, and requires the reader to carefully think things through. After reading this book, I hope that even those who remain unconvinced about their need for the Christian God will at least acknowledge that Craig clearly demonstrates that the historical Christian religion can be effectively and articulately defended against the highest level of opposing arguments thrown against it. Christianity is a religion that more than stands on its own intellectually, and Craig shows, in my view, that its competitors in the world of scholarship have long since been lapped. An excellent resource!
Rating:
Summary: A Great Addition to the Apologist's Library.
Review: William Lane Craig, my favorite Christian apologist, writes an accessible and powerful book in "Reasonable Faith". Craig discusses many topics of importance- The Existence of God, The Meaning of Life, The Resurrection of Jesus, and more. Every topic is covered in sufficient detail, with Craig's excellent writing style and clarity apparent on every page. Craig is at his best when discussing the Cosmological Argument for God's existence. However, this is by no means the extent of his capability. He is an able defender of all the topics he covers. One of the best features of "Reasonable Faith" is the "Practical Application" section featured at the end of each chapter. Here, Craig discusses ways in which the material provided can be of use when witnessing to others. As a consequence, Craig's book is very relevant and useful for any Christian living in today's intellectual society. Unfortunately, Craig does not provide an organized list of "recommended further reads". Also, many of the chapters (in my opinion) focused too heavily on the historical aspects rather than the current arguments. Despite these flaws, however, "Reasonable Faith" is a valuable contribution to the Christian library from an excellent Christian scholar.
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