Started: July 14
Finished: August 5
Notes: This is the second volume of the two-part series on Christian apologetics that I've been reading. From what the first book mentioned, this would should be even deeper.
Mini review: I did not find this book as interesting or as helpful as the first volume, but that does not mean it was a total waste. Some brief sections about archaeological finds I found quite fascinating, but there were chapters upon chapters trying to debunk various literary criticisms of the Bible. Here's the thing, though, none of these literary criticisms are based upon any evidence, only upon the opinions of some college professor or other (usually German, quite often 19th or early 20th Century), and the truth of the matter is those opinions are relatively uninformed. Frankly, there have been a handful of people with far too much time on their hands and an inclination to distrust Christianity, yet instead of having the courage to merely say so, they have to spend their lives conjuring forth imaginary excuses for not trusting the words found within the Bible. Believe or not, but if you're going to espouse yourself as some kind of literary or historical expert, at least use actual facts to back yourself up. As harsh as I'm being here, there was information of interest to me here, and at the least I gained more than a little basic knowledge of a few areas of Biblical studies.
If I'm ever going to do my book on religion and science I will need to dig more into this area.
ReplyDeleteCharles, these books aren't so much focused upon hard science as they are historical and literary criticisms with a touch of archaeology thrown in, though the author has a number of other books.
ReplyDeleteDepending upon the viewpoint you plan to take, you might find more Jewish authors than Christian who are willing to reconcile religion and science, especially when it comes to Middle Ages and Renaissance writers. You might even be surprised how many Jewish writers from hundreds of years ago would agree with much of today's science, such as Nahmanides and Ramban.
I've more reading to do on the subject matter myself, but I'll probably take a break from it fairly soon.