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Summary: What if Socrates Went to Harvard?
Review: He may well acknowledge the claims of Christ, after all, Socrates was quite logical and at least he would enjoy exposing the one really silly idea about Christ: that he was a Great Moral Teacher, but not divine. Maybe he was crazy, that's at least a reasonable hypothesis about a man that claims to be YHWH: "Before Abraham was, I AM." But it's hard to read the NT and think that he was crazy. So suppose Socrates *did* confront the claims of Christ and came to the logical conclusion. What would he do at Harvard Divinity School? Answer: Expose the mish-mash of pish-posh that passes for religious studies in the Ivy League. Read this book and be a fly on the wall at a not-so-distant possible world!
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Summary: Intellectually Stimulating
Review: I found this book incredibly stimulating, in fact I thought it was amazing. Rarely does philosophy of religion take on such life and heart as it does in the pages of this little book. Now I must admit that my knowledge of Socrates is undeveloped at best, but my knowledge of modern philosophy is anything but undeveloped, and based of that I think the book is brilliant. Peter Kreeft does a great job of using the Socratic method to uncover the "Truth". I care not if the questions were rigged and the deck was stacked before the outset. The book was written by a Christian Philosopher, shall we take the view that Socrates really did travel through the eons of time to the present day, and that Peter Kreeft witnessed the event and should have reported the event as he witnessed it. Surely this is absurd. The question that the worth of the book depends on is this: Was the book effective in it's purpose? and Was it as entertaining and intresting, as it was effective? The answer to both of those questions is a resounding yes. This book is truly a gem among philosophy books, a break from the strict dry expositions of the present day, taking the mind of reason and somehow connecting it with the heart of life.
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Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: I found this not only an intellectually rich book, but also well written and quite frankly, difficult to put down. Kreeft stays true to using Socratic Method as different heretics come across Socrates' path on a University campus. He ends up finding Christ through a reading of the Bible. Great book for believers and unbelievers.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: I found this not only an intellectually rich book, but also well written and quite frankly, difficult to put down. Kreeft stays true to using Socratic Method as different heretics come across Socrates' path on a University campus. He ends up finding Christ through a reading of the Bible. Great book for believers and unbelievers.
Rating: 
Summary: contrived contrived contrived
Review: I got to about page 150 of this book before throwing it down in disgust. The other review on here was right on the money, this is not Plato's Socrates. It seems every other line in this book Socrates is excited about something with !!! and !! all over. Never would Socrates abandon reason and allow his spirited part of his soul run around with hippie like intoxication. All you Kreeft riders should read The Republic...On a side note A Refutation of Moral Relativism isn't too bad.
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Summary: Logic divorced of ethics
Review: I have read many popular logic, philosophy, and religious books and Peter Kreeft uniquely combines the clearest and best of these items. If you have a mind and you want to think, then I would suggest you read books by Kreeft (especially this one!). If you are a know-it-all, or can't think, or are just mean spirited, then write a review without reading Kreeft's books.
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Summary: Truth seeker or beginning philosopher, this one's for you
Review: Needless to say, the author does not present every nuance of either Socratic or Christian philosophy within the confines of a relatively short, though substantial, volume. Rather he highlights the principal similarities and differences. Along the way, relying no doubt on his experiences with hundreds of inquiring Boston College students, he seeks to ease the most common misconceptions and stumbling blocks about Christian teaching. Even if he does not address your specific questions, the method of approaching truth may help you. Of particular interest to me was the resolution of the paradox suggested by the observations: "Do you say that a deed is good because God wills it? ... The alternative is that God wills the deed because it is good in itself. ... Does God bow down to a law higher than himself?"; apparently Kreeft's answer "is a well-known solution to your dilemma". Shortly thereafter, "I had not explicitly connected the doctrine of omniscience with the doctrine of creation before", suggesting possibly a brand-new contribution by Kreeft. Obviously there is a great deal more to ponder in this book, which is well worth rereading, and perhaps when I do, I will understand why a character named Sophia Sikh makes so brief an appearance. All in all, the author clearly seeks to speak the truth in love, and this book is well worth the attention of any who seek the truth in love.
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Summary: Appropriately thought provoking...
Review: Several reviewers have commented on the simplistic nature of the discussion within the book. However, I think that fails to recognize the intent of the book. Kreeft is not attempting a thorough, painstaking, philosophical examination of Christianity. He is not a New Testament scholar, and would scarcely even suggest such a thing. His purpose is to use Socrates as a vehicle for approaching some of the core concepts of Christianity, specifically those most frequently addressed in popular circles. Even among the topics most purely "philosophical", he is able to address them in only an introductory way. He succeeds admirably in revealing some of the absurd notions regarding Jesus that find such frequent mention today. He employs logic in a very clear, vivid way, using it as the tool that it is to test and examine these notions. The book seems intended to introduce and encourage one to consider the claims of Christianity ACCORDING TO THE PRIMARY TEXTUAL SOURCE, the bible. NOT hearsay, weekly news magazines, and Discovery Channel documentries. If Christianity is true, then we better wake up to it, and face the issues Jesus raises as though our lives depended on it. And maybe they do. Logic and common sense demand such an examination.
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Summary: Socratic Philosophy + Christian Fundamentalism = NONSENSE !
Review: So Socrates, Nietzsche and other great philosophers a Socratic Philosophy + Christian Fundamentalism = NONSENSE I could not understand what logic Christians follow when they claim that such great philosophers as Socrates and Nietzsche are in any ways sympathizers of delusional Christian fundamentalism. If anything Socrates if present today will be a naturalistic freethinker, questioning the authority of the church and of the God himself. Such renowed Socratic phrase: "Is it moral because the God says so, or God say so because it is moral" clearly shows that morality and religion aren't identical. I am wondering, for example, how Socrates can feel anything but disgust after reading the old testament, where God commands to do such "moral things" as killing babies happily: "O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones." (Psalm 137:8-9) Even in the New Testament, Socrates would find Jesus' arrogant remarks and ultimatums in no better light than he saw many Olympic gods. I don't see how, for example, after encountering such phrase as spoken by Jesus: "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." (John 15:6) Socrates would not arise with other feelings that resentment against such a dictatorial God. In summary the "conclusions" seemed to be drawn from the premises were in much part through a fallacious way. And any person familiar with logic can easily see that. To claim that the real Socrates could ever drawn such fallacies is too insult this great philosopher.
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Summary: Stimulating, plausible, intellectual but accessible
Review: This is partly about Kreeft's book, which I read for a seminary apologetics class - and partly a reaction to George M. Bruhl's inexplicable review ("Gnostic literature"). Buddy, grab a clue: the book isn't a literal portrayal of Socrates; how in the world could you possibly have missed Kreeft's whole point? (And what the heck does gnosticism have to do with this book?) Socrates' legacy is the "Socratic method" of dialogue: teaching by asking incisive, thought-provoking questions. Whether Socrates is entirely accurately portrayed by the writings of Plato is beside the point. Kreeft took the "Socratic method" and applied it to discussing the claims of and about Christ. And in so doing, he's written a book that is very intellectually stimulating but also very accessible to most readers. Kreeft has managed to score major philosophical points by asking the right questions and getting his readers' mental wheels turning. And it's all written in a non-preachy, entertaining and disarming dialogic style. I intend to collect all of Kreeft's "conversation" books.
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