A Christian philosophy professor's refutation of scholarly claims linking the canonical Gospels with Greek philosophy. Believers will be convinced, non-believers will be interested and educated.

An honest, well written book by a fellow who seems like a nice guy. Eighty percent explanation of the scholarly dispute; twenty percent gentle Christian refutation. Good chapter's explaining the monotheism of the Platonists and Stoics, the Mystery religions and the Gnostics.

Does not cover the savior-myth and some other topics.

I consider this book to be a 'must have' because of how critical I think the subject matter is, and how well I think Nash analyzes the subject.

On the surface, many folks might think that the topic is very obscure or not all that important. And while it's true that the subject matter is somewhat complicated and can initially appear pretty irrelevant to present day Christianity, it is nonetheless a topic with enormous present day relevance and deserves to be explored. In a nutshell, this book attempts to analyze whether early Christianity was influenced by pagan philosophical systems or by ideas that existed in the pagan mystery religions. There are a number of reasons why such an examination is so important. First, as this book mentions, a link of influence of paganism on early Christianity has been a common tactic among various folks in academia who are looking to discredit the Christian faith in front of an impressionable audience, and while not mentioning it, the Jesus Seminar has also been diligent in advancing such arguments in an effort to dedeify Jesus. And the reason is clear. One can make major inroads in discrediting the authenticity of Christianity if they can demonstrate, for example, that the resurrection of Jesus as described in the Gospels was really a mythical story copied from allegedly similar recountings in the pagan mystery religions. If this could be demonstrated, any number of additional negative ideas could be argued with greater force, such as that Jesus wasn't really God because the resurrection recountings of the Gospels are not historical but mythical and parallel other myths of the time, or that Jesus is no more special or unique than other supposed gods or deities in other religions. It is clear that the ramifications of these kind of theories, if proven, would be devastating to Christianity. Thus, the importance of this book.

Nash carefully divides the book into 3 sections; analyzing the possibility that early Christianity was influenced by pagan philosophy such as Platonism or Stoicism, analyzing the possibility that early Christianity borrowed some of its stories from the pagan mystery religions such as Isis/Osiris or Mithra, and analyzing whether Christianity was influenced by Gnosticism. In each case, Nash does a good job of beginning his analysis by clearly defining the terms of the debate, and fairly representing the claims made by those who positively assert pagan influence on Christianity. These introductions give the reader a very good starting point for seeing how these arguments, when left unscrutinized, can on the surface appear to be compelling. By presenting the arguments fairly and completely, Nash does a good job of peaking the interest of the reader to read on in order to find out whether these arguments really hold water once we get below the surface. And particularly in the analyses of pagan philosophy and the mystery religions, Nash's analyses are very detailed and meticulous. Nash's analyses are very effective in meticulously discrediting these arguments and in most cases, showing very clearly the lazy scholarship that often fuels such arguments. By doing this, Nash not only puts these arguments in their place, he affirms the historical reliability, uniqueness, and truth of the Christian faith as described in the New Testament and clearly demonstrates that there is absolutely no evidence of a pagan influence on Christianity, and in fact, there is sufficient evidence to suggest a Christian influence on paganism.

In summary, after one reads this book, it is likely that they may scratch their heads in wonder when one thinks about why this book had to be written, given the lazy and even contrived scholarship that is the basis for so many of the arguments affirming a pagan influence on early Christianity. One might reasonably wonder how such ideas ever had any credibility to start with when Nash so completely destroys the arguments with very simple facts and analysis. I applaud Nash for being so thorough in the topics covered and in the analysis. There are over 30 pages of footnotes at the end of the book for the reader who is interested in conducting additional research and examining other pertinent resources. I completely concur with what Nash says in this book when commenting on the alleged influence of the mystery religions on early Christianity, "These..arguments against Christian syncretism help us understand why biblical scholars today seldom claim any early Christian dependence on the mysteries. They constitute an impressive collection of reasons why scholars in such other fields as history and philosophy should rethink their methods and conclusions and finally put such views to rest." This is an excellent book, and one that can greatly help any Christian easily and effectively counter the claims of pagan influence on the early faith. A 'must have' for any apologetics collection.

Ronald Nash has put to rest the old idea that the Gospels and Paul borrowed ideas from the Greek mystery religions. This book is well documented and easy to read and understand. Nash does a superb job of explaining facts and documented scholars in this long debate. I would recommend this book to anyone.

This book has never gone out of print and is readily available from the publisher, Probe Books, in Richardson, TX. The Publisher can fill any order from amazon. The same publisher supplies "The Gospel and the Greeks", also available from amazon. The book investigates the reasons for the deplorable state of education in America's government schools and also in America's colleges and universities.

Political liberals in the West have for years used a distorted anaysis of freedom and justice in an attempt to expand the power of the state. This book examines those distortions and argues for a concept of limited government as the best means to defend both freedom and justice.

Ronald Nash, professor at Reformed Theological Seminary has written a great text for the average Protestant Christian. Whether one is a liberal, conservative, or moderate, Nash's book is worth the look. Nash has always been known as a conservative, but this is not to be confused with a fundamentalist. Some of Nash's positions, are just down right balanced and Bibilcal.

Often, the devil is found in the poloarizing extremes while the truth is often scewed by other's agendas. Nash tackels the hard issues of out current Christian and sociological mess. His dealings with issues such as divorce is careful and pastoral. His discussion of "Lordship Salvation" addresses the Protestant debate in proper catagories and aviods the "name calling" that so often accompies this issue. Lastly, his chapter on the "end-times" is much needed in today's speculative end-times by the headlines, that is so prevelant in Evangelical circles.

He writes on 10 topics in all. It is easy to read, yet very interesting and somewhat refreshing with pastoral and philosophical depth.

This book is not out of print. It is readily available from the current publisher, Books on Demand in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The book has been praised as the best treatment of Augustine's Theory of Knowledge available. Chapter topics include an overview of Augustine's philosophical system, his treatment of skepticism, of faith and reason and an extensive examination of his often misunderstood theory of divine illumination.

This book is not out of print. It is still published by and available from Probe Books in Richardson, TX, the publisher of "The Gospel and the Greeks," also sold by Amazon. This book has been praised by William Simon, former Secretary of the U.S. Treasury who writes: "Nash's book presents a clear and concise lesson in the real world of economics..."

For almost 20 years, this book has been a major source of help for people who want a philosophical analysis of special revelation. The book is NOT out of print. It is published by Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company and they would love to sell it through Amazon.

Ronald Nash's work, The Word of God and the Mind of Man, is a mastery and succinct piece of work. It can be read within a few days and the content is very good.

He opens his discussion with what he calls "Hume's Gap" and then moves into "Kant's Wall" (if i remember his term for Kant's theory of the possibility of knowledge correctly). Nash notes their significant importance because their epistemological theories are shown to have influenced men such as Reihnr, Schliermacher, Brunner, and others. For example, Nash notes how their perspective about God consisted of nonpropositional content, and the experience or knowledge of the metaphysical was more of a reliance than a cognitive experience.

Following his discussion of Aristotle's four squares and the modernist theologians, Nash touches upon Augustine's theory of knowledge. This is not by any means an indepth look as his other book, A Light in the Mind: St. Augustine's Theory of Knowledge; but he does explain quite enough to grasp the fundamental concepts.

The next chapter consists of the logos epistemology. This is fully compatible with (and endorsed by) Augustine. The "logos" refers to Jesus Christ, as taken from the opening of John's Gospel. Nash gets into Scripture in detail discussing how knowledge is contingent upon Christ from a Biblical perspective.

Finally, Nash moves to the more recent theologians and philosophers. For example, he discusses the Amsterdam philosophy (e.g. Dooyweerd) and others such as Van Til. It should be noted that Nash was a student of Gordon Clark. Nash uses Clark's argument against Van Til's theory of knowlegde; however, this argument stems from a misunderstanding of Van Til's theory of man's mind being analogous to God's. See Greg. L. Bahnsen's book, Van Til's Apologetic: Readings and Analysis. There are many excerpts by Van Til that discuss that issue and clarify what he meant by man's mind being analogous to God's.

Nevertheless, despite that one problem with the book, I found it quite enjoyable and interesting to see how the modernists were influenced. I recommend this book to anyone interested in philosophy or theology (esp. within the Christian tradition).

This book by Ronald Nash helped me understand some key intellectual history about how the mind of man has been slowly blocked out from theological knowledge. Revelation does provide cognitive content and propostitional truth. Nash points out some of the common logical errors in regard to reason and revelation. He made me comfortable with the integration of reason and revelation. I consider him a helpful teacher and guide for intellectual life and the Christian faith. This author is a teacher and trustful guide.

The latest edition of this book is once again available from the publisher, Presbyterian and Reformed. It remains the only critical evaluation of theologians who attempt to discredit God's disclosure of true information through special revelation.

Nash is a prominent Christian thinker and apologist. He is very lucid in his presentation and arguments and does a good job documenting the various views taken on the rationality of various religious beliefs.

Here he tackles some of the bigger questions: Existence of God, problem of evil, miracles, etc. He starts with worldview and then expandis this them.A good choice, since most have a worldview,this is conducive to many understanding where he is coming from and where he wants to take the reader in this journey of coupling the faith with philosophy.

Helpful intro with references for further study.

Ronald Nash takes time to write a book that intends to educate Christians (and those seeking to learn about the Christian worldview). He begins with defining terms (like noetic structure) that help the reader come up to speed on philosophical terms they need to know. He quickly dives into defending the Christian worldview, where he weighs the evidence for and against the existence of God, which is followed by an excellent theodicy (which is defending the problem of evil with an all-good and powerful God). He discusses the possibility of miracles, the resurrection and a few other important issues.

If every Christian read this book, we would have more Christians prepared to give a defense of the hope that is within them. Many Christians complain that universities are filled with too many "liberal" or "atheist" instructors, yet they don't do anything to change that. Many Christians fail to educate themselves or their children. Use this book as an introduction to apologetics and philosophy. You will not be disappointed, even if you disagree with Nash's conclusions.

In this book, Ronald Nash presents his Christian apologetic and worldview. Starting with his definition of a worldview and how a person should go about choosing one, Nash discusses everything from evidentialism to the miraculous, from the various theistic arguments to the problem of evil. The book is well-written and enjoyable to read from beginning to end.

By answering many of the questions philosophy asks, Nash shows that Christianity can not only assert itself as a reasonable worldview, but also surpass the reasonability of other belief systems. For those interested in learning how Christianity answers the great philosophical questions, this book is an excellent starting place.

Neat little book about the attributes of God, i.e. the omni-s: omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, etc.

He begins with some prediscussion about the current state of thinking about God, and its two major conceptual schemes: theism or panentheism and all modern tangents and offshoots.

Right off the bat, Nash strikes chords about who's running the verbs here. Discussing Omnipotence he challenges the normal straitjacket of God can do anything, by saying that it should be understood withing limitations. Better to speak of it as God's will, that He does what He wills, when He wills, how He wills. As an example, here Nash cites that God cannot lie. Descartes and others found this illogical. The problem we see is that Descartes and others want to set the boundaries, while God defines His own boundaries. God's own nature is not lying.

Also, what gets one in trouble talking about God's attributes is to individually separate them, compare them, contrast them, etc. God is one, he is not more omnipotent than omniscient than loving than holy than truth. He is all these things at once, in totality, in harmony.

This is a lively look at thinking at the time of this writing and a quick reaction thereto. Helpful little book to engage thinkers of all levels and classes. Engaging.

This clearly written book will introduce you to many of the more important questions about the nature of God. It will also provide you with answers to those questions, such as what does it mean to say that God is all-powerful and all-knowing. Can God do absolutely everything, such as create a stone too heavy for God to lift? Incidentally, this book is not out of print. It is readily available from the publisher.

Nash considers arguments against the coherence of the properties traditionally attributed to the Judeo-Christian god. He rejects some, and accepts others, but provides an all-around balanced and insightful treatment.