Best Bible Reading Plans for 2010

There are many Bible reading plans to choose from for the new year, but perhaps the best place to start for the most options is the ESV reading plan. They offer multiple reading plans and methods of subscribing, such as RSS feeds, iCal schedules, daily emails, mobile access, and printable plans. The ESV site also allows you to listen to the audio as well.

Check out the ESV Bible reading plan here.
While you're at it, pick yourself up the awesome ESV Study Bible here.

Happy New Year!

What was last year's post? See here.

2009 Year in Review for Apologetics315

In looking over the year at Apologetics315, some great posts seem to stand out. This is a sort of year in review for 2009 covering a few things notable.

There was a lot of audio. In addition to the most-popular Ultimate Apologetics MP3 Audio page, there was Apologetics for your Ipod, and the other very popular post, the 16 Best Apologetics Podcasts. Saddleback's apologetic conference audio was also a good series. The Audio Junkie feed features all kinds of extra audio for those who couldn't get enough.

There were some good podcasts released, such as Reasons to Believe's batch here, MaryJo Sharp's Confident Christianity podcast, and of the big post called Apologetics Podcasts Worth Your Time. Wayne Grudem's Systematic Theology podcast was also very popular. You can also get all of William Lane Craig's audio debates at once with the WLC Audio debate feed.

In the area of debate, there were a number of notable ones this year:
• The Origins of Life debate with Meyer, Sternberg, Prothero & Shermer.
• The Alvin Plantinga & Daniel Dennett dialogue.
• Bart Ehrman vs. James White: Did the Bible Misquote Jesus?
• List of Michael Licona Debates here.
• William Lane Craig debates Christopher Hitchens here.
• Frank Turek has two debates with Hitchens here and here.
• Douglas Wilson debates Christopher Hitchens here.
• William Lane Craig debates Francisco Ayala on Intelligent Design here.
• William Lane Craig debates Richard Carrier on the Resurrection here.
• Douglas Geivett debates John Shook on the Existence of God here.
• Michael Licona debates Bart Ehrman on the Resurrection here.
• James White debates Dan Barker on Jesus' existence here.
• William Lane Craig debates George Williamson on God's existence here.
• Dinesh D'Souza debates Daniel Dennett on God as a man-made invention here.
• Dinesh D'Souza debates Christopher Hitchens here.
• William Lane Craig debates Lewis Wolport on God as a delusion here.
• J.P. Moreland debates Clancy Martin on the existence of God here.
• Mary Jo Sharp debated Ehteshaam Gulam on the resurrection here.
• Phil Fernandes debated Eddie Tabash on God's existence here.
• Richard Dawkins talked to John Lennox about science and God here.

There were a number of post series, such as Terminology Tuesday and Theistic Arguments. A couple other substantial posts were the 100 Christian Apologists and the Christian Apologetics Blog Directory. There was also the series on logic: A Basic Logic Primer.

A very popular page, created in response to a reader request, was the Recommended Apologetics Book Directory, which is also a nice way to help Apologetics315.

There were some great books this year. Most notable were Tactics by Greg Koukl, The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins. Bowman & Boa's 20 Compelling Evidences that God Exists was also a featured book review in Areopagus Journal. There were about 35 book reviews this year.

The most notable book releases this year were probably Signature in the Cell by Stephen Meyer (audio interview here), The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology edited by Craig and Moreland, and Tactics by Greg Koukl.

Apologetics315 also did a two-part interview at the Cloud of Witnesses blog here.
There are over 600 posts now - one every day (with the exception of a Christmas break).
The site got a new look, which many liked and some had trouble with until they upgraded Internet Explorer. You also began to follow Apologetics315 on Twitter and became fans on the Facebook page.

Ap315 also wants to say thank you to some notable bloggers for their friendship and camaraderie in apologetics for the Gospel:

Chad at Truthbomb, Aaron and Dan at Apologetic Junkie, Rob at Manawatu, Wintery Knight at Wintery Knight, Melinda at Stand to Reason, Chris at Cloud of Witnesses, Mariano at Atheism is Dead, Marcus at What Had Happened Was, Glenn at In Defense of the Faith, Jonathan at Think Christianly, Jason at JasonDollar.net, Mike at The Apologetic Front, MaryJo and Roger at Confident Christianity, Roger at Faith Interface, Jim at PleaseConvinceMe, Vocab at Backpack Truth, and Todd at I Love Atheists.

Thanks for reading in 2009.

Apologetics Ministries to Support

With the end of the year upon us, please consider supporting some excellent apologetics ministries. Listed here are some that you may consider supporting with your gift.

• Reasonable Faith / William Lane Craig - Support here.
• Stand to Reason / Greg Koukl - Support here.
• Summit Ministries - Support here.
• Probe Ministries - Support here.
• Come Reason Ministries - Support here.
• CARM - Support here.
• Apologetics Resource Center - Support here.
• Alpha & Omega Ministries / James White - Support here.
• Ravi Zacharias International - Support here.
• Reasons to Believe / Hugh Ross - Support here.
• The Veritas Forum - Support here.
• BeThinking - Support here.
• Apologetics.com - Support here.
• Confident Christianity / MaryJo Sharp - Click donations tab.
• Biblical Training - Support here.
Or, you can also send books to Apologetics315! (no tax deduction there!)

What was last year's post? A J.P. Moreland quote...

Sunday Quote: Pascal on Being Mistaken

"I should be much more afraid of being mistaken and then finding out that Christianity is true than of being mistaken in believing it to be true."

- Blaise Pascal in Pensées (386 /241)

Merry Christmas from Apologetics 315!

Merry Christmas to all!

Apologetics 315 will be back on Sunday.

Enjoy a Happy Christmas with family and friends.

“A man can’t always be defending the truth; there must be time to feed on it” - C.S. Lewis

Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus MP3 Audio by Craig Hazen

Professor of Comparative Religion and Apologetics Craig Hazen presents this talk entitled Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus. Original found here. Also check out Biola's apologetics program.

Full MP3 Audio here. (100 min)

Enjoy.


[HT: Dan at Apologetic Junkie]

What was last year's post? See here.

Sunday Quote: David M'Intyre on Prayer

"Certainly, if we are to have a quiet hour set down in the midst of a hurry of duties, and to keep that time inviolate, we must exercise both planning and self-denial. We must be prepared to forego many things that are pleasant, and some things that are profitable. Let no one who can find time for their vanities say that they do not have enough time for prayer."

- David M'Intyre in The Hidden Life of Prayer, p. 39.

What was last year's post? See here.

Book Review: God is Great, God is Good edited by William Lane Craig & Chad Meister

God is Great, God is Good edited by William Lane Craig and Chad Meister is a book geared specifically to address the arguments and rhetoric of the so-called New Atheism. With contributions from fourteen scholars, this is a 14-chapter book of essays critiquing the most notable points of contention from popular atheist writers Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens.

Because of the topical way the book is composed, it could easily be read in a non-linear fashion; it doesn't have to be read from beginning to end. However, the book follows a structure: Part 1 – God Is – presents essays dealing with God's existence. Part 2 – God is Great – presents evidence from natural theology which show God's power in creation. Part 3 – God is Good – presents essays with a moral theme. And Part 4 – Why it Matters – wraps up the overall case with discussions on divine revelation, history, and the identity of Jesus Christ. This review will present an overview of the chapter content and highlight some notable points.

Reconciling Science & Scripture MP3 Audio by J.P. Moreland

In this talk entitled Reconciling Science & Scripture, Philosopher J.P. Moreland talks about the relationship between faith and science and covers 8 areas where science has supported a biblical view of the world. Originally found here.

Full MP3 Audio here. (90 min)

Enjoy.

[HT: Dan at Apologetic Junkie]


What was last year's post? See here.

Great Audios from Unbelievable? in 2009

One podcast worth listening to is Justin Brierley's Unbelievable? radio show in the UK. It typically features a Christian and non-Christian in dialogue in a non-combative and irenic style. Although there were many good shows this in 2009, here is a list of some favorites. To download the audio, just right-click and hit "save as..." - or just subscribe via iTunes or by the RSS feed.

• Richard Bauckham on the Gospels - Part 1 | Part 2

• The Moral Argument for God - MP3
Dialogue between David Robertson & Paul Orton

• The Fine-Tuning of the Universe - MP3

• The Reason for God with Tim Keller - MP3

• Misquoting Jesus - MP3
Dialogue between Peter Williams & Bart Ehrman

• Challenging Atheist Myths with David Robertson - Part 1 | Part 2

• Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? - MP3
Dialogue between Steven Carr & Canon Michael Cole

• An Interview with Alister McGrath - MP3

Enjoy.

What was last year's post? It was excellent.

Featured Podcast: Knowing the Truth

Knowing the Truth, hosted by Kevin Boling, is a radio program featuring interviews with some of today's foremost Christian authors and teachers.
Get the podcast in RSS here or in iTunes here.

Apologetics topics and interviews are often featured. Here are a few from their audio archive:

• Paul Copan: True For You But Not For Me
• Stephen Meyer: Signature in the Cell
• Albert Mohler: The Disappearance of God
• Scott Klusendorf: A Case for Life
• Nancy Pearcey: Total Truth
• Greg Koukl: Relativism's Seven Fatal Flaws
• James White: The Family Tomb of Jesus
• Alex McFarland: Christian Apologetics

All these particular audios are available in the Audio Junkie feed.
Enjoy.

Apologist Interview: Randall Niles of AllAboutGod.com

Here is an interview with apologist Randall Niles of AllAboutGod.com. Randall answers questions about his journey to Christianity from atheism, his ministry, and his relaunched podcast Think Again. Check out his main web page at AllAboutGod, the podcast RSS feed or iTunes link, and his personal page here. (First two episodes of his podcast: Ep1, Ep2.)

Full MP3 Audio here. (32 min)

Enjoy.

Sunday Quote: Joe Boot on Priority in Apologetics

"Our priority in apologetics is not to make the nonbeliever listen to us, but to help the person be ready to listen to God and be taught by him."

- Joe Boot in Beyond Opinion: Living the Faith We Defend


What was last year's post? See here.

A Brief History of Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism MP3 Audio by Douglas Groothuis

Christian Philosopher Douglas Groothuis presents these two lectures:
• A Brief History of Islam - MP3
• A Brief History of Buddhism and Hinduism - MP3
Original audios are here.

More resources by Douglas Groothuis here. His books are here.

Enjoy.

How to Argue Like Jesus: Joe Carter MP3 Audio

This is an audio interview by Knowing the Truth with Joe Carter, the co-author of How to Argue Like Jesus: Learning Persuasion from History's Greatest Communicator. As mentioned in a previous post, the book analyzes Jesus' use of rhetoric; the elements of logos, pathos, & ethos. Kevin Boling talks to Joe Carter about the book, which is worth getting if you are interested in communication and persuasion. See ArgueLikeJesus.com. More on rhetoric here.

Full MP3 Audio here.

Enjoy.

The Theological Roots of Modern Science by Henry F. Schaefer MP3 Audio

In this talk, Dr. Henry F. Schaefer explores the place of theology in the origins of science and details the religious views of many prominent scientists.
See his virtual office at LeaderU here or bio at Discovery here.

For more on the relationship between science and Christianity, see Schaefer's book Science and Christianity: Conflict or Coherence?

Full MP3 Audio here.
Original talk at Veritas here.

More Fritz Schaefer talks at Veritas here.

Enjoy.

Apologist Ken Samples Featured Resources

If you have a list of your top 5 apologists to learn from, put philosopher and theologian Kenneth Samples on your list. His bio is here.

Samples' 8-part series on Learning 101 is now online and episodes can be downloaded individually or as a podcast. See here. This was an excellent series of lectures based on the book How to Read a Book by Adler & VanDoren, which covers intelligent reading, learning strategies, critical thinking, and logic.

As staff apologist for Reasons to Believe, Samples is part of a number of great podcasts:
• Straight Thinking - RSS Feed | iTunes Link
• I Didn’t Know That - RSS Feed | iTunes Link
• Without a Doubt - RSS Feed | iTunes Link (based on his book)

A number of his audios have been featured here, including a set of 5 audio series here, and one great lecture called: Is Jesus Man, Myth, Madman, or Messiah?

For more audio and articles by Ken Samples, check out Monergism's list here.

Samples also has a 12-part series of articles on logic that begin here.
Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 <-- Print them out and read them.

Finally, check out Ken Samples' excellent books:
• A World of Difference, A: Putting Christian Truth-Claims to the Worldview Test
• Without a Doubt: Answering the 20 Toughest Faith Questions
• Lights in the Sky & Little Green Men: A Rational Christian Look at Ufos and Extraterrestrials

Enjoy.

Apologist Interview: MaryJo Sharp of Confident Christianity

Here is an interview with apologist MaryJo Sharp of Confident Christianity. MaryJo answers questions about being a woman apologist, her recent debate on the resurrection, advice about apologetics, the launch of her new apologetics podcast, and more. Find her at her blog, on twitter, her web page, and Facebook.

Full MP3 Audio here. (25 min)

Enjoy.

Sunday Quote: Adler & VanDoren on Reading

"If you are reading in order to become a better reader, you cannot read just any book or article. You will not improve as a reader if all you read are books that are well within your capacity. You must tackle books that are beyond you, or, as we have said, books that are over your head. Only books of that sort will make you stretch your mind. And unless you stretch, you will not learn."1

- Mortimer J. Adler & Charles Van Doren

1 Mortimer J. Adler & Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book (New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, Inc., 1972), p. 339.

What was last year's post? See here.

Book Review: The Elusive God by Paul K. Moser

The Elusive God: Reorienting Religious Epistemology by Paul K. Moser is a philosophy book dealing the question of religious epistemology (theory of knowledge). It addresses the topic of God’s apparent hiddenness or concealment. That is, if God exists, it is not necessarily obvious that He exists. In light of this fact, the book looks at the question of evidence that shows God’s existence and examines the type of evidence one should expect from a God that is hidden. This review will survey the primary theme of the book and offer a brief synopsis of some of the secondary themes.

Moser defines the idea of hiddenness: “Let’s say that God’s existence is concealed, hidden, or incognito for a person at a time if and only if at that time God’s existence fails to be not only obvious but also beyond cognitively reasonable doubt for that person.”1 He cites the Pensées in which Pascal says that any religion denying that God’s existence is concealed is false. The book seeks to answer, among other things, why God would be concealed. With the tools of philosophy and the confirmation of scripture, the author presents reasons that God’s reality would not be coercively obvious to all.

Origins of Life Debate MP3 Audio: Meyer, Sternberg, Prothero, Shermer

On November 30, 2009, Stephen Meyer & Richard Sternberg debated Donald Prothero & Michael Shermer on the topic: Has Evolutionary Theory Adequately Explained the Origins of Life? Read about the debate here, at the American Freedom Alliance website. (original audio page here)

Robert Crowther's recap is here. Michael Shermer's recap is here.

Full MP3 Audio here. (2 hours)

Enjoy.

By the way, Stephen Meyer's phenomenal book, Signature in the Cell, is here.

Stand to Reason's Top 20 Articles of 2009

Greg Koukl's excellent apologetics ministry Stand to Reason has featured their Top 20 Articles of 2009. Of course, don't forget STR's podcast here, and their video resources here. And pick up Tactics: A Gameplan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions (one of Ap315's top 3 apologetics books of the year). Here's the list of the top 20 articles:

• Augustine on Evil
• A Good Reason for Evil
• Never Read a Bible Verse
• Euthyphro's Dilemma
• 10 Tips to Help Your Prayer Life
• Abortion and Human Rights
• What was the Sin of Sodom and Gomorrah?
• Reasons for Capital Punishment
• What Exodus 21:22 Says About Abortion
• The Intolerance of Tolerance
• Equal Rights for Homosexuals
• The Bible and Capital Punishment
• Is the New Testament Text Reliable?
• Christmas Card Captions
• What Science Can't Prove
• Do Animals Have Souls?
• Jesus' Missing Years
• Paul, Romans, & Homosexuality
• Capital Punishment: Is Man a Machine or a Moral Agent?
• Unstringing the Violinist

Enjoy.
[HT: Rob]

Rhetoric and Christian Persuasion Resources

Philosopher Peter S. Williams (with Damaris) has had a number of good audios lately touching on the subject of classical rhetoric and how it applies to apologetics. These were happened upon after reading the excellent book How to Argue Like Jesus: Learning Persuasion from History's Greatest Communicator by Carter & Coleman, which touches on similar points (The book analyzes Jesus' use of rhetoric; the elements of logos, pathos, & ethos.)

Peter Williams touches on these elements in the following MP3 audios:
• Paul in Athens and Engaging with Popular Culture MP3
• Apologetics in 3D MP3
• Apologetics: What, Where, When, Who, How & Why? MP3

Get the Peter S. Williams Damaris Podcast here in iTunes. See his blog here.

Other MP3s that touch on Rhetoric:
• Persuasive Evangelism MP3 by Tom Price
• Conversational Evangelism MP3 by David Geisler
• Conversational Evangelism MP3 by Michael Ramsden

Aristotle's Rhetoric can be read online here. Hear famous speeches at AmericanRhetoric.

Three recommended books for interaction, evangelism, and persuasive communication:
• Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions by Greg Koukl
• How to Argue Like Jesus by Carter & Coleman
• Questioning Evangelism by Randy Newman

Enjoy.

Refuting Bart Ehrman's Skepticism MP3 Audio by Phil Fernandes

Dr. Phil Fernandes defends the true Jesus of history and the veracity of the Bible. He refutes the claims of scholars, such as Bart Ehrman, who use well-known New Testament manuscript variants and controversial verses as an excuse to reject all biblical texts. Original video at the Institute of Biblical Defense.

Full MP3 Audio here.

Enjoy.

Find over 400 apologetics audios by Dr. Fernandes here.
Dr. Fernandes' books can be found here.