Sunday, July 13, 2014

Books read in 2014: No. 27 -- Evidence That Demands a Verdict, Volume 1

by Josh McDowell

Started: June 30
Finished: July 13

Notes: Some of my readings of Tolstoy and C.S. Lewis have drawn me to an interest in Christian apologetics, and after speaking with my mother's pastor, he suggested a number of books for me. This is one such book, and volume 2 will soon follow. This pair of books goes back more than a few decades, so I fear it might be somewhat outdated with current thought, but that might be a good thing, so I'll give it a chance.

Minie review: Quite intriguing. Some of the evidence I found quite compelling, but some of it not so much. It was refreshing to study such material without much of the oft-heated language and tactics of today's debates. There's not so much a scientific approach here as a historical one, even anthropological. I'm not going to go into all the individual arguments here, nor my thoughts about them, because that would take a lot of time, but for those seeking an intellectual approach to Christianity, I can suggest this book. Be warned, however, that this material is told in an extended outline form, and it takes some getting used to. Of the two volumes, this one is supposed to be more for laymen while the second book is supposedly more deep and aligned with a scholarly and intellectual approach, but I have to say, this first book was pretty deep and pretty heavy, so I have to wonder about the second volume, which I will be starting soon enough.

2 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

I was working on a book about science and religion but hit a major snag. the area is just so complicated. At least the religious side.

Ty said...

Charles, I think part of the difficulty is that no matter what one argues, nothing can be definitive, at least not for others. There is always a counter argument, no matter the strength of one's assertions, and then there are those from all ranks of thought who are skeptical and dogmatic to the point of madness. Even supposed objectivity has its limits, as reason and logic alone are not enough, in my opinion, to explain all of the human experience.

But I'd be interested in your "snag," if you ever decide to blog about it or to continue work on your book.