Apologetics reading list April 2, 2018
PLEASE NOTE THAT WHILE MOST OF THESE SOURCES ARE CONSERVATIVE AND EVANGELICAL THIS IS NOT TRUE OF ALL
A Course of Readings in Apologetics
Dr. Timothy McGrew
Items preceded by an asterisk (*) are available free online in Google Books or other sources. Items marked with a dagger (†) are works by adversaries of Christianity. Items on OverDrive (for free through libraries that use this service) are noted after the title and will specify the formats available: eBook or audio. Items on Audible (audiobooks) will be noted after the title, also. Clicking on the title itself will take you to that book’s listing on Amazon.
Conversational Apologetics
Mandatory
Greg Koukl, Tactics *OverDrive (eBook and audio) *Audible
Recommended
Norman and David Geisler, Conversational Evangelism *OverDrive (eBook)
Supplementary
Randy Newman, Questioning Evangelism
Randy Newman, Corner Conversations
General Bible and Historical Background
Mandatory
* James M. Gray, Primers of the Faith, chs. 1‐32 (Part I) *FREE
* Samuel P. Tregelles, Historic Evidence of the New Testament *FREE
E. M. Blaiklock, The Compact Handbook of New Testament Life
Recommended
E. M. Blaiklock, The Century of the New Testament
Paul Maier, In the Fullness of Time
* G. Rawlinson, The Historical Evidences of the Truth of the Scripture Records, ch. 7 *FREE
* Robert Baker Girdlestone, The Building Up of the Old Testament *FREE
Supplementary
* Thomas Cooper, The Bridge of History over the Gulf of Time *FREE *FREE Audiobook
* Isaac Taylor, History of the Transmission of Ancient Books to Modern Times *FREE
* Isaac Taylor, The Process of Historical Proof *FREE
Reference
* William Binnington Boyce, Introduction to the Study of History *FREE
Basic Reasoning Skills in Apologetics
Mandatory
Peter Kreeft, Between Heaven and Hell
Recommended
Peter Kreeft, The Best Things in Life
Peter Kreeft, The Unaborted Socrates
Peter Kreeft, Socrates Meets Jesus
Positive Biblical Apologetics: Minimal Facts Argument
Mandatory
* C. S. Lewis, “Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism” *FREE
William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith, chs. 7 and 8 *OverDrive (eBook)
Terry Miethe, ed., Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?
Copan and Tacelli, eds., Jesus’ Resurrection: Fact or Figment?
Recommended
Komoszewski, Sawyer and Wallace, Reinventing Jesus
Craig A. Evans, Fabricating Jesus
Supplementary
N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God *OverDrive (eBook)
William Lane Craig, Assessing the New Testament Evidence for the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus
Mike Licona, The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach
Positive Biblical Apologetics: Eyewitness Testimony Argument
Mandatory
* C. S. Lewis, “Modern Theology and Biblical Criticism” *FREE
J. W. Montgomery, Where is History Going?, chs. 2 and 3 (Also published separately as Jesus Christ and History) *FREE 17 page excperpt
* Edmund Bennett, The Four Gospels from a Lawyer’s Standpoint *FREE
* F. F. Bruce, The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? *FREE
* William Paley, A View of the Evidences of Christianity, Parts 1 and 2 *FREE *FREE Kindle book
Recommended
* Thomas Cooper, The Bridge of History over the Gulf of Time *FREE *FREE Audiobook
* John James Blunt, Undesigned Coincidences, Part 4 *FREE
Jeffrey Sheller, Is the Bible True?
Mark D. Roberts, Can We Trust the Gospels? *OverDrive (eBook)Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses
Eddy and Boyd, The Jesus Legend *OverDrive (eBook)Komoszewski, Sawyer and Wallace, Reinventing Jesus
Craig A. Evans, Fabricating Jesus
Supplementary
N. T. Wright, The Resurrection of the Son of God *OverDrive (eBook)
Reference
* T. H. Horne, An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, 8th ed., vols. 1 and 2 *FREE
* Nathaniel Lardner, Credibility of the Gospel History, 17 vols. *FREE
Positive General Apologetics: Orientation
Mandatory
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity *FREE *FREE Audiobook
Recommended
Craig and Copan, eds., Contending with Christianity’s Critics *OverDrive (eBook)Sennett and Groothuis, eds., In Defense of Natural Theology: A Post‐Humean Assessment
Timothy Keller, The Reason for God *OverDrive (eBook & audiobook) *Audible (abridged)
Reference
Craig and Moreland, eds., The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology *OverDrive (eBook)
Positive General Apologetics: The Kalam Argument
Mandatory
* William Lane Craig, “The Existence of God and the Beginning of the Universe” FREE
William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith, chs. 3 and 4 *OverDrive (eBook)
Supplementary
William Lane Craig, The Kalam Cosmological Argument
Craig and Smith, Theism, Atheism, and Big Bang Cosmology
Reference
William Lane Craig, The Cosmological Argument from Plato to Leibniz
Positive General Apologetics: The Origin of Life
Mandatory
Stephen Meyer, “The Explanatory Power of Design,” in Mere Creation
Dean Overman, A Case Against Accident and Self‐organization
Recommended
J. P. Moreland, ed., The Creation Hypothesis, ch. 5
C. Thaxton, W. Bradley, and R. Olsen, The Mystery of Life’s Origin
Robert Shapiro, Origins: A Sceptic’s Guide to the Creation of Life on Earth
Stephen Meyer, Signature in the Cell *OverDrive (eBook)
Positive General Apologetics: Intelligent Design
Mandatory
† Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker, chs. 1‐4 *OverDrive (eBook) *Audible
J. P. Moreland, ed., The Creation Hypothesis, Intro. and chs. 1 & 2
Michael Behe, Darwin’s Black Box *OverDrive (eBook)
Jonathan Wells, Icons of Evolution *Audible
Recommended
William Dembski, ed., Mere Creation
Jon Wells, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design *OverDrive (eBook & audiobook) *Audible
Supplementary
* Tim McGrew, “Toward a Rational Reconstruction of Design Inferences” FREE
Positive General Apologetics: The Moral Argument
Mandatory
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Book I *FREE *FREE Audiobook
* Paul Copan, “God, Naturalism, and Morality,” from The Future of Atheism
Recommended
C. E. M. Joad, The Recovery of Belief, ch. 3
Mark Linville, “The Moral Poverty of Evolutionary Naturalism,” in Contending with Christianity’s Critics *OverDrive (eBook)
Defensive General Apologetics: The Challenge of Naturalistic Science
Mandatory
C. S. Lewis, Miracles: A Preliminary Study, ch. 3 *OverDrive (eBook & audiobook) *Audible
John Lennox, God’s Undertaker: Has Science Buried God? *OverDrive (eBook)
Recommended
* Arthur James Balfour, The Foundations of Belief, 8th ed.
Supplementary
Rodney Holder, Nothing but Atoms and Molecules?
Defensive General Apologetics: The Problem of Evil
Mandatory
† David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Section X *FREE *FREE Audiobook
William Lane Craig, Hard Questions, Real Answers, chs. 4 and 5
Recommended
C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain *OverDrive (eBook & audiobook) *Audible
Defensive General Apologetics: The Objection to Miracles
Mandatory
† David Hume, “Of Miracles” *FREE
* William Adams, An Essay in Answer to Mr. Hume’s Essay on Miracles, 3rd ed. *FREE
Recommended
* George Campbell, A Dissertation on Miracles *FREE
Habermas and Geivett, eds., In Defense of Miracles
Supplementary
* John Douglas, The Criterion
C. S. Lewis, Miracles: A Preliminary Study *OverDrive (eBook and audiobook) *Audible
Reference
* Tim McGrew, “Miracles,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy *FREE
Defensive General Apologetics: Other General Objections
Recommended
Paul Copan, When God Goes to Starbucks *OverDrive (eBook)
William Lane Craig, Hard Questions, Real Answers
Craig and Copan, eds., Contending with Christianity’s Critics *OverDrive (eBook)
Reference
* John Leland, A View of the Principal Deistical Writers, 2 vols. *FREE
Geisler and Brooks, When Skeptics Ask
Defensive Biblical Apologetics
Mandatory
* Richard Watson, An Apology for the Bible *FREE
Recommended
Paul Copan, Is God a Moral Monster? *OverDrive (eBook)
* Joseph Butler, The Analogy of Religion *FREE
* William Paley, A View of the Evidences of Christianity, Part III *FREE *FREE Kindle book
Supplementary
* B. F. Westcott, A General Survey of the History of the Canon of the New Testament *FREE
Köstenberger and Kruger, The Heresy of Orthodoxy
Eddy and Boyd, The Jesus Legend *OverDrive (eBook)
Reference
* Haley, An Examination of the Alleged Discrepancies of the Bible *FREE
* Tuck, A Handbook of Biblical Difficulties, 2 vols. *FREE
* John Thein, The Bible and Rationalism, 4 vols. *FREE
* T. H. Horne, An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, 8th ed., vols. 1 and 2 *FREE
Gleason Archer, Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties *OverDrive (eBook)
Geisler and Howe, The Big Book of Bible Difficulties
Michael Brown, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, 5 vols. *OverDrive (eBook)