Come Let Us Reason: New Essays in Christian Apologetics [Paperback]

I will continue to add on to this review as I read further, but for right now this book is excellent.

I'm happy to see some names that I've never particularly heard about to join into today's debate in regards to Christian apologetics, as well as names that I've heard about (Matthew Flannagan and MaryJo Sharp) in which I'm glad to see an essay from.

We have three elite Christian apologists in William Lane Craig, JP Moreland and Paul Copan.

Gregory Ganssle who is a Lecturer in Philosophy at Yale as well as Mark Foreman who is a professor of philosophy and religion at Liberty University

We have great Bible scholars in Gary Habermas, Mike Licona, Richard Hess and Craig Keener

One of the topics I was interested in before even reading this book was Dr. Craig's essay regarding the top 10 layman objections to the Kalam Cosmological Argument. Dr. Craig addresses these horrific arguments against the credibility of the KCA that one usually hears from village atheists which in conclusion WLC dismantles these layman criticisms with ease.

I was also looking forward to JP Moreland's 4 degrees of postmodernism as well.

The only thing missing is that we do not see anything from philosophers Alvin Plantinga, Nicholas Wolterstorff, Alexander Pruss or Richard Swinburne (though three of them are mentioned). Although it still doesn't take anything away from this book, as I'm seeing some great contributions from lesser known apologists such as Michael Edens and Barbara Pemberton.

Topics include:

The credibility of Authorship in the NT

Flaws of Naturalism

Four degrees of Postmodernism

The Divine Hiddeness of God

Did God command genocide on the Caananites?

Was the OT God one who endorsed slavery?

Did Christianity mimic other pagan religions

Thoughts on the teachings of the Qu'ran

Terrible objections to the Kalam Cosmological Argument

Rebuttal to the Zeitgeist Movie

I'd say this book is geared for the intermediate level apologist, however a beginner can get by. It doesn't hurt for an advanced apologist or a teacher to have this wonderful writing in their library as well, as I can see this book being used in apologist classes in the near future. I can see Theologians, Philosophers and Bible Scholars (Which are all crucial to apologetics) all being interested in "Come Let Us Reason".

So far this book is living up to it's potential!!! I highly recommend to anyone who wants to gain in Wisdom and understanding, as *good* theology and philosophy does indeed matter.

"All truth is given by revelation, either general or special, and it must be received by reason. Reason is the God-given means for discovering the truth that God discloses, whether in his world or his Word. While God wants to reach the heart with truth, he does not bypass the mind."

- Jonathan Edwards

Many at first, thought that the arrival of the nasty New atheists was a curse to the world, but it turns out that the belligerent new atheists helped spur a massive resurgence of christian apologetics. the goal of destruction only helped prompt masses of people into apologetics and the world gets a tremendous amount of fresh apologetic material. And that's one of the nice things about Copan's and Craig's "Come let Us Reason," new and fresh insights from a host of apologists and philosophers.
many atheists declare that Christianity is opposed to reason. they try to tell us that faith is unreasonable--simply an illusionary. They follow Freud who said that people of faith are fearful of reason when it scrutinizes religion- he said "where questions of religion are concerned, people are guilty of every possible kind of insincerity and intellectual misdemeanor." But when I have spoken with scoffers, atheists, and agnostics, I have found the most nasty ones are guilty of logical offenses. these intellectual outlaws not only despise the scrutiny of reason and revelation, but generally throw mere bombast and then take off as they run when the heat of truth is brought to bear on their view of reality.

in "come Let us reason' you get 19 good essays that are very easy to understand and help arm you to share the truth with nonChristians. This book is endorsed by rick warren, craig hazen, and lee strobel. It's a basic level type of book with lots of different subjects including:

* The Question of God
* apologetics and culture
* the historicity of the Gospels and Jesus Christ
* israel and Other Religions
* Christian exclusivity and the world's religions

This is an easy thing to read and to grasp with 315 pages and some mostly unknown apologists getting their national break. Good for copan and craig to help open doors while giving solid answers.
Some chapters have been dealt with by so many apologists it's way to redundant and should not have been included; like dealing with the old false idea of mystery/pagan religions having gods just like Jesus who died and rose again.

Some atheists, when asked why reason is useful, will say, "it just is--it helps with our evolutionary survival." accordingly, this sort of atheist rests on sightless faith. atheists are short of ultimate answers for reality and that shortness is exposed in this book. Unbelievers live in a world that they cannot explain.
other apologetic books with really fresh stuff are:
Truth, Knowledge and the Reason for God: The Defense of the Rational Assurance of Christianity
maybe buy: Cosmos, Creator and Human Destiny: Answering Darwin, Dawkins, and the New Atheists

I really enjoyed reading this book. It's in depth and powerful and anyone who needs their apologetics thirst quenched will not be left wanting after reading it. I loved Part 3, "The historical Jesus and New Testament reliability. Some chapters are a bit harder and require much background understanding for example chapter 12 "Did Yaweh have a Wife?" but overall its an accessible book for those who take defending their faith seriously, I highly recommend it!