Excavating Jesus: Beneath the Stones, Behind the Texts: Revised and Updated

Five Views on Apologetics

7,Of the most common approaches to apologetics, which is most effective?The goal of apologetics is to persuasively defend Christianity against charges of falsehood, inconsistency, or credulity. It's an intellectual discipline that serves to bolster the faith of Christian believers and to aid the task of evangelism, but are some methods more effective than others? Five Views on Apologetics examines the "how-to" of apologetics, putting five prominent techniques under the microscope: Classical - represented by William Lane CraigEvidential - represented by Gary HabermasCumulative Case - represented by Paul D. FeinbergPresuppositional - represented by John M. FrameReformed Epistemology - represented by Kelly James ClarkOffering a forum for presentation, critique, and defense, this book allows the contributors for the different viewpoints to respond to the others. Your own informed conclusions can then guide you as you meet the questions of a needy world with the claims of the gospel. The Counterpoints series presents a comparison and critique of scholarly views on topics important to Christians that are both fair-minded and respectful of the biblical text. Each volume is a one-stop ...

Slavoj Zizek, Slavoj A1/2ia3/4ek

The Puppet and the Dwarf: The Perverse Core of Christianity

One of our most daring intellectuals offers a Lacanian interpretation of religion, finding that early Christianity was the first revolutionary collective. Slavoj Zizek has been called "an academic rock star" and "the wild man of theory"; his writing mixes astonishing erudition and references to pop culture in order to dissect current intellectual pieties. In The Puppet and the Dwarf he offers a close reading of today's religious constellation from the viewpoint of Lacanian psychoanalysis. He critically confronts both predominant versions of today's spirituality--New Age gnosticism and deconstructionist-Levinasian Judaism--and then tries to redeem the "materialist" kernel of Christianity. His reading of Christianity is explicitly political, discerning in the Pauline community of believers the first version of a revolutionary collective. Since today even advocates of Enlightenment like Jurgen Habermas acknowledge that a religious vision is needed to ground our ethical and political stance in a "postsecular" age, this book--with a stance that is clearly materialist and at the same time indebted to the core of the Christian legacy--is certain to stir controversy.

Lee Strobel

Case for Faith Evangelism Pak: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity

@lt;DIV@gt;In his #1 best-seller The Case for Christ, legally trained investigative reporter Lee Strobel examined the claims of Christ, reaching the hard-won verdict that Jesus is God's unique son. But despite the compelling historical evidence that Strobel presented, many people grapple with serious concerns about faith in God. As in a court of law, they want to shout, 'Objection!' They say, 'If God is love, then what about all the suffering in our world?' Or, 'If Jesus is the door to heaven, then what about the millions who have never heard of him?' Or, 'If God cares for everyone, then why does he eternally torture some in hell?' In The Case for Faith, Strobel turns his tenacious investigative skills to the most persistent emotional objections to belief---the eight 'heart' barriers to faith. The Case for Faith is for those who may be feeling attracted to Jesus but who are faced with formidable intellectual barriers standing squarely in their path. For Christians, it will deepen their convictions and give them fresh confidence in discussing Christianity with even their most skeptical friends.@lt;/div@gt;