Apologetics comes from a Greek word meaning reason or defence. It has to do with defending the Christian faith and answering objections to it. Since there have always been attacks on the Christian faith, especially recently, there is always a need for books on how the believer can stand up for what he or she believes.
Many hundreds of such books are on the market today. My own bibliography on the topic runs to many pages. Here I offer just a few choice titles in various categories. Many more could be mentioned, and some will ask why I included this title or left out that title. The books here are mainly newer titles, and most are still in print.
If Christians who are eager to give a reasoned defence of the faith read even five of the following titles they would be very well-placed indeed to take on the various criticisms and objections to the faith. Happy reading.
General Apologetics
Blanchard, John, Does God Believe in Atheists? Evangelical Press, 2000.
Geisler, Norman and Ron Brooks, When Skeptics Ask. Baker, 1990.
Kreeft, Peter and Ronald Tacelli, Handbook of Christian Apologetics. IVP, 1994.
Schaeffer, Francis, The God Who is There. IVP, 1968.
Strobel, Lee, The Case for Christ. Zondervan, 1998.
Strobel, Lee, The Case for Faith. Zondervan, 2000.
Philosophy of Religion
Carson, D.A., The Gagging of God: Christianity Confronts Pluralism. Zondervan, 1996.
Copan, Paul, Loving Wisdom: Christian Philosophy of Religion. Chalice Press, 2007.
Pearcey, Nancy, Total Truth: Liberating Christianity from its Cultural Captivity. Crossway Books, 2004.
Zacharias, Ravi and Norman Geisler, eds., Who Made God?: And Answers to Over 100 Other Tough Questions of Faith. Zondervan, 2003.
Worldviews
Beckwith, Francis, William Craig and J.P. Moreland, To Everyone an Answer: A Case for the Christian Worldview. IVP, 2004.
Moreland, J.P. and William Craig, Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview. IVP, 2003.
Noebel, David, Understanding the Times: The Religious Worldviews of Our Day and the Search for Truth. Harvest House, 1991, 1995, 2006.
Truth
Noebel, David, The Battle for Truth. Harvest House, 2001.
Lindsley, Art, True Truth: Defending Absolute Truth in a Relativistic World. IVP, 2004.
Wells, David, No Place for Truth; or, Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology? Eerdmans, 1993.
Morality
Beckwith, Francis and Gregory Koukl, Relativism. Baker, 1998.
Kreeft, Peter, A Refutation of Moral Relativism. Ignatius, 1999.
McDowell, Josh and Bob Hostetler, The New Tolerance. Tyndale, 1998.
Science
Blanchard, John, Has Science Got Rid of God? Evangelical Press, 2004.
Johnson, Phillip, Darwin on Trial. Regnery Gateway, 1991.
Lennox, John, God’s Undertaker: Has Science Buried God? Lion, 2007.
McGrath, Alister, Dawkin’s God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life. Blackwell, 2004.
Moreland, J.P., Christianity and the Nature of Science. Baker, 1989.
Strobel, Lee, The Case for a Creator. Zondervan, 2004.
Miracles
Lewis, C.S., Miracles. Macmillan, 1947.
Geivett, Douglas and Gary Habermas, eds., In Defense of Miracles. IVP, 1997.
Attacks on Jesus and the Bible
Bock, Darrell, The Missing Gospels: Unearthing the Truth Behind Alternative Christianities. Thomas Nelson, 2006.
Bock, Darrell and Daniel Wallace, Dethroning Jesus: Exposing Popular Culture’s Quest to Unseat the Biblical Christ. Thomas Nelson, 2007.
Evans, Craig, Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels. IVP, 2006.
Hutchinson, Robert, The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Bible. Regnery, 2007.
Komoszewski, J. Ed, James Sawyer, and Daniel Wallace, Reinventing Jesus. Kregel, 2006.
Roberts, Mark, Can We Trust the Gospels? Crossway Books, 2007.
Strobel, Lee, The Case for the Real Jesus. Zondervan, 2007.
Witherington, Ben, What Have They Done with Jesus? HarperSanFrancisco, 2006.
Suffering and Evil
Carson, D.A., How Long O Lord? Reflections on Suffering and Evil. Baker, 1990.
Lewis, C.S., The Problem of Pain. Fontana, 1940.
Guinness, Os, Unspeakable: Facing Up To Evil In an Age of Genocide and Terror. Harper, 2005.
Wright, NT, Evil and the Justice of God. SPCK, 2006.
The New Atheism
Flew, Antony, There is a God: How the World’s Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind. HarperOne, 2007.
Garrison, Becky, The New Atheist Crusaders. Thomas Nelson, 2007.
Geisler, Norman and Frank Turek, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist. Crossway Books, 2004.
McGrath, Alister, The Dawkins’ Delusion. 2007.
Marshall, David, The Truth Behind the New Atheism. Harvest House, 2007.
Rhodes, Ron, Answering the Objections of Atheists, Agnostics, and Skeptics. Harvest House, 2006.
Wilson, Doug, Letter from a Christian Citizen. American Vision, 2007.
Zacharias, Ravi, Can Man Live Without God? Thomas Nelson, 2004.
The Good of Christianity
D’Sousa, Dinesh, What’s So Great About Christianity? Regnery, 2007.
Hill, Jonathan, What Has Christianity Ever Done For Us? IVP, 2005.
Kennedy, D. James, What if Jesus Had Never Been Born? Thomas Nelson, 1994.
Schmidt, Alvin, Under the Influence. Zondervan, 2001. (reissued as How Christianity Changed the World. Zondervan, 2004.)
Stark, Rodney, For the Glory of God. Princeton University Press, 2003.
Stark, Rodney, The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism and Western Success. Random House, 2005.
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