Book Review: Defending Your Faith: An Introduction to Apologetics by R. C. Sproul
This is an excellent introduction to apologetics that places the bulk of the emphasis on the philosophical arguments typically used against theists. Essentially this is apologetics that focuses to begin with not on Scripture, but on epistemology. How do we know what we can know? This has been a critical arena for non-theists seeking to discredit the possibility of a God without the necessity of dealing with any particular god.
Sproul deals with the major epistemology topics of the law of noncontradiction, causality, the reliability of sense perception as a means for gathering knowledge, and finally the analogical use of language. He then moves on to an overview of key voices on the topic of natural reason and faith. He then moves on to offer the four basic explanations for why there is stuff - you, me, the earth, the universe, lemurs, what-have-you. Does stuff really exist at all or is it an illusion? If stuff is really there, did it get there by chance or by it's own causation? Could it have always been there in one form or another? Or does the fact that stuff exists necessitate an uncreated creator that is the source of all the stuff we know about today?
Afterwards there are several chapters dealing with key philosophers in the modern period who contributed powerfully (generally in the negative sense) to the discussion of the existence of God. Each is examined in light of the four major issues of epistemology to determine whether they are rationally sound or not. And finally Sproul deals with the reliability and authority of Scripture.
It is this last topic that seems to be the most briefly and inadequately treated, perhaps because Sproul expects that it will be more familiar to his readers. It is in this section that there are more dots that appear to be unconnected - or connected only tenuously. There is valuable material here, but it could have been dealt with a bit more thoroughly.
If you aren't well-versed in philosophy, this book is an excellent primer with a target of educating Christians to feel more adept at engaging non-theists on the topics that non-theists often choose for their rejection of theism. Sproul writes engagingly and accessibly. There are sections where he quotes Scripture rather extensively, but in other areas he deals with the topic purely from a rational standpoint - since that is how the apologist is going to need to engage the non-theist.
An excellent introduction to an important and often neglected aspect of apologetics.
Sproul deals with the major epistemology topics of the law of noncontradiction, causality, the reliability of sense perception as a means for gathering knowledge, and finally the analogical use of language. He then moves on to an overview of key voices on the topic of natural reason and faith. He then moves on to offer the four basic explanations for why there is stuff - you, me, the earth, the universe, lemurs, what-have-you. Does stuff really exist at all or is it an illusion? If stuff is really there, did it get there by chance or by it's own causation? Could it have always been there in one form or another? Or does the fact that stuff exists necessitate an uncreated creator that is the source of all the stuff we know about today?
Afterwards there are several chapters dealing with key philosophers in the modern period who contributed powerfully (generally in the negative sense) to the discussion of the existence of God. Each is examined in light of the four major issues of epistemology to determine whether they are rationally sound or not. And finally Sproul deals with the reliability and authority of Scripture.
It is this last topic that seems to be the most briefly and inadequately treated, perhaps because Sproul expects that it will be more familiar to his readers. It is in this section that there are more dots that appear to be unconnected - or connected only tenuously. There is valuable material here, but it could have been dealt with a bit more thoroughly.
If you aren't well-versed in philosophy, this book is an excellent primer with a target of educating Christians to feel more adept at engaging non-theists on the topics that non-theists often choose for their rejection of theism. Sproul writes engagingly and accessibly. There are sections where he quotes Scripture rather extensively, but in other areas he deals with the topic purely from a rational standpoint - since that is how the apologist is going to need to engage the non-theist.
An excellent introduction to an important and often neglected aspect of apologetics.
Comments