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This book presents five different approaches, each represented by one of its exponents: Classical Apologetics (William Lane Craig), Evidentialism (Gary Habermas), Culumulative Case Method (Paul Feinberg), Presuppositionalism (John Frame), and Reformed Epistemology (Kelly James Clark).
Much ground is covered concerning the Bible's approach to apologetics, where apologetic arguments should begin, how certain arguments for Christianity are, and so on. I will simply make a few comments.
The presentations by Craig and Habermas are the most worthwhile because they are the most intellectual rigorous and well-documented. They also tend to agree with each on most things and reinforce each others views. While I tend to favor a cumulative case method (influenced by E.J. Carnell and Francis Schaeffer, but with more appreciation for natural theology), Feinberg's comments are the weakest by far. He never mentions the leading exponent of this view in our generation (Carnell) nor Carnell's apt and well-published student (and my esteemed colleague), Dr. Gordon Lewis. Not one word about either one! His comments are brief, his documentation is thin, and he fails to advance anything very creative or helpful, I'm afraid. A better person should have been chosen, such as Gordon Lewis. Frame gives his "kinder, gentler" version of Cornelius Van Til, which still suffers from the same kinds of problems--most notably the fallacy of begging the question in favor of Christianity. Nevertheless, the notion of a "transcendental argument" for theism is a good one, but it should not carry all the weight of apologetics. Clark's material is philosophically well-informed (one would expect this of a student of Alvin Plantinga!), but apologetically timid. Clark almost sounds like a skeptic at times.
A few bones more bones to pick. The editor refers to Francis Schaeffer as a presuppositionalist. This is false; he was a verificationist with more in common with Carnell than with Van Til. Gordon Lewis's fine essay on Schaeffer's apologetic method in "Reflections on Francis Schaeffer" makes this very clear. None of the writers address the great apologetic resources found in Blaise Pascal. I also found at least two grammatical errors.
Nevertheless, as a professor of philosophy at a theological seminary who teaches apologetics, I found this volume very helpful and useful. But let's not get so involved in methodological concerns that we fail to go out in the world and defend our Christian faith as objectively true, existentially vital, and rationally compelling (Jude 3)!
Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Philosophy Denver Seminary
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It may have made pchem and inorganic a little easier, but it made for frustrating reading at the time.
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More than just a series of issues the authors want to speak on, they have brought many well known Christians together to write on everything from politics to masturbation, technology to rest, and celebration to even chocolate! Some of the topics are done somewhat tongue in cheek, but they help a Christian understand that the Christian life is to be lived in everything around them, that it applies to all aspects of life.
This is a great reference book for those who are leading Bible studies, asked to comment on something or who have their own questions about certain issues. It is helpful to get a person's though processes going.
Of course, the problem with this is that, though huge, it cannot hope to be exhaustive. Moreover, in doing as much as it has, it rarely explores an issue in depth. Its intent, though, I think was met: it helps the Christian to see that Christ is truly Lord of ALL.
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What is significant about "The Other Six days" is it's approach. This is not a popular critque of the seperation between work and worship, mission and ministry, clergy and laity. Instead it reconstructs a unifying theology welling up out of scripture, flowing out of the Trininty providing a paradigm of vocation, work, ministry and mission as an intergrated whole. The outcome is all the people of God participate in the Trinities work, mission and ministry.
The book is broken into three parts. Part 1 A people without "Laity and Clergy" Part 2 Summoned and equipped by God and Part 3 For the life of the world.
Each part traces ideas down through the church`s history which now discolour our thinking and practice on the issues addressed. Secondly the contemporary context is explored. The author then gets under the skin of these issues through sound biblical exgesis and an applied theology of the Trinity.
What resulted for me is a dynamic new way of understanding "calling" , work, ministry and mission. It has revitalised my understanding of the church and its work in society.
I found the discussion questions at the end of each chapter to be excellent. There are readings to examine, contemporary case studies to explore, situations to evaluate and examples to analyse. These are excellent for group or individual study, reflection and interaction.
If you are wanting to explore further the issues the book has raised the author provides a fantastic selected bibliograhy, index of authors, biblical references and subjects. The footnotes also provde a rich source for further research.
Overall I'm deeply impacted by the thought, devotion and reflection which has gone into this book. I fully recommend it to anyone wanting to grapple with the intergration of faith and daily life.
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Paul and his daughter move to southern California to be closer to Paul's new girlfriend, and Harry follows to set up a new practice there. Paul is soon retained by Jonah Hale to help find Jonah's granddaughter who was snatched from his custody by Jonah's daughter. What seems to be a clear-cut, if not easily resolved case soon escalates to murder and Paul decides to represent Jonah in court.
There are excellent descriptions of Paul's southern California locale, right down to certain street names. This tediousness detracts from the action somewhat. But like some of the other reviews noted, the killer is quite obvious less than halfway through the book. It is a mystery (excuse the pun) why a writer as skilled as Martini would give a clue as to the killer's identity that all but reaches out and slaps the reader across the face. This aside, "The Attorney" is tightly paced thriller that is suspenseful despite knowing who the killer is early on in the book. Martini is a writer that is among the ranks of Scott Turow and Richard North Patterson, and it is good to finally see him returning to the legal thriller genre where he writes best.
The problem with this book is either that the writers are too timid or are more irenic than their label would indicate. There are three authors who present variations on the traditional approach: the classical method (Craig), the evidential method (Habermas), and the cumulative case method (Feinberg). These approaches are quite similar, although some differences do arise. When the reader gets to John Frame's presuppositional method, he expects to get a starkly different approach. After all, Van Til was notorious for attacking "traditional" apologetics as "Roman Catholic" or "Arminian." Well, Frame tells us that he agrees with most of what Craig writes. The final writer, Kelly James Clark (who represents the "Reformed epistemological method"), says the same thing.
Perhaps the editor could have selected a follower of Gordon Clark (a rationalist who denied the proofs of God's existence) or a fideist to present a contrasting apologetic method.