Rating: 
Summary: Landmark Apologetic Reference Work About Various WorldViews
Review: This text is simply remarkable. Noebel discusses the various religious/philosophical worldviews and how that involves the search for truth, and what Christian can do to defend their faith in light of these worldviews. Noebel begins part 1 with a discussion about Humanism, Marxism/Leninism and Biblical Christianity. He goes into detail about each of these worldviews, who were the major figures of each movement, the literature of the movement, the impact the movement had on society, and the philosophical and/or theological ramifications of each of these movements. Later in the text, Noebel gives his own assessment of these movements, what he finds helpful, disappointing, wrong, etc. and then gives a detailed apologetical response. Section 2 deals with the philosophical arena of humanism, Marxism/Leninism, and Biblical Christianity (this is the trend in every section). This was a particularly helpful section since many philosophy of Religion issues are under attack by humanist philosophers in one way or another. Thus, Noebel covers these issues as they have been discussed and espoused by the three groups at hand. Issues such as the Supernatural, Cosmology/Metaphysics, Epistemology, Mind-Body problem, etc. are covered. In the same vein as the first section Noebel includes various influential philosophers, thinkers, writers, etc. from each worldview who have had an impact, the literature that has been produced, quotes, and research references. All the remaining sections follow the above pattern. The sections remaining in this text include these topics - Ethics, Biology, Psychology, Sociology, Law, Politics, Economics, and History. Each section contains the same three groups, includes the various great thinkers of the topic at hand, includes quotes, charts, summaries, etc. Furthermore, The book is very detailed, very well researched, and easy to read. Noebel gears this massive volume (891 pages) toward High School and College age students. However, the contents are such that anyone of any age could read the text and benefit from what it contains. It must be noted, though, that this work is an apologetics type text and is written in such fashion (from a discerning point of view). However, the topics which are covered are very pertinent for Christians all over the world. If you are wanting a book that gives you a better grasp of certain primary worldviews, and also teaches you, the Christian, how to respond to these views, then you cannot go wrong with this wonderful text. I agree with J. P. Moreland's comments on the back cover which read, "" . . . simply breathtaking. I have never seen a book on general Christian apologetics that is so comprehensive, so thoroughly documented, and so accessible." Two hardy thumbs up for David A. Noebel.
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