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Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics
Posted on: June 13, 2008 - 9:33pm
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Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics
I just like to know if Norman Giesler's Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics is a reliable source about Christian apologetics? I just brought a copy and I just like to know if it's a waste of big bucks.
Pinoy Atheist
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I've read a few pages of it. It seemed like a pretty good Encyclopedia Propagandica.
If what you want is a resource to see what arguments Christians will throw your way, by all means get a copy. But--and this is important--it will likely only be completely good for the Evangelical variety of Christianity. Other forms may share parts of that apologetics (...where they agree with Evangelicals...) but they will also have their own arguments (...where, obviously, they disagree.)
Conor
Apologists are like freckles - there are thousands of them, all suggest the same sort of diatribe, although they come in different shapes and sizes, and sometimes they can be cancerous. Geisler is as much of a tool as McDowell or Stuart or Archer. You should be aware that you should not waste your money on such things. I would recommend reading worthwhile books. Nothing you'll read in Geisler is any different than what a internet apologist will recite to you. If you have the background knowledge of modern scholarship (which apologetics is not) you'll be able to handle yourself just fine.
Atheist Books, purchases on Amazon support the Rational Response Squad server, which houses Celebrity Atheists. Books by Rook Hawkins (Thomas Verenna)
I've heard Norman a few times on the radio. A friend of mine got a masters where he was teaching. He's pretty solid but being a christian myself I am not ecstatic about most of the apologetics I hear. Some had some problems with him I think. This guy was my mentors mentor. http://www.bobsiegel.net/index.html?title.html&1
And I think I'm pretty lucky to have learned from him....I could have learned under so many bad ones...
If you're looking for who to bash first, the list is long...where do I start? But seriously, its going to be hard for me to not stand behind most of what norman says...you probably didnt waste your money...
As you can see, the deluded theist above me has endorsed Norman - a clear sign that the man spreads and perpetuates delusion to those gullible enough to buy into it. More evidence that you've now wasted a ridiculous amount of money on him.
Atheist Books, purchases on Amazon support the Rational Response Squad server, which houses Celebrity Atheists. Books by Rook Hawkins (Thomas Verenna)
The entry on atheism was hilariously stupid. It tried to differentiate atheism and nontheism, as if the prefixes a- and non- had different meanings in the English language. When I came across that blatant stupidity, I stopped reading.
Stultior stulto fuisti, qui tabellis crederes!
i just googled it and it brought up 413,000 english pages probably clearify and find what you want better research but i not going to justify or say that one is better then another but only you know what you are looking for! sorry can't be much more help but not researched in years
General
I've just got the Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Peter Kreeft, anybody been through that one?
The former owner was kind enough to add a few notes in the margins like "the gospels are not lies!!!" and when I flicked through it I especially loved the bit about evolution being a theory, not a fact lol
...back when I actually thought that it was worth something.
Peter Kreeft has more of a Roman Catholic perspective on Christian apologetics. So, if you are looking to familiarize yourself with the Roman Catholic Christian claims, then this is a resource to turn to. However, if someone else has already made notes in the margins, you might want your own copy, for the purpose of making your own notes.
I do hope that nobody thought that I was saying that either Kreeft's book, or the one mentioned in the OP are actually sources of "truth." I wasn't. I was "recommending" them in the same way I would recommend the Bible--so that you know what your opponents are liable to throw at you, claim-wise, so that you can have your responses prepared ahead of time. For example, if you know ahead of time what Catholics think about, say, papal infalliblity, then that gives you the option of studying old papal statements in order to discover what a couple of punchlines the "infallibility of the church" and the "constancy of Tradition" are.
Conor
Ah, that'll be why it was recommended to me on a Roman Catholic forum.
Thanks goys. I started reading this "encyclopedia" and I notice that Giesler can't even give a good reason why Derrida's Deconstruction is a bad idea. Hahaha. Maybe Rook was right all along.