Wednesday, February 16, 2011

William Lane Craig's Recommended Apologetics Books

This week's Question and Answer on William Lane Craig's Reasonable Faith website answered an email to Dr. Craig asking for his recommended reading for apologetics. Dr. Craig replied with a bibliography of helpful resources. For your convenience, here it is below. If you want more, check out the Recommended Apologetics Book Directory. Here's Craig's bibliography...



B = Beginner
I = Intermediate
A = Advanced

I. GENERAL

Boa, Ken and Bowman, Robert. Faith Has Its Reasons. Colorado Springs: Nav Press, 2001. (B)

Campbell-Jack, Campbell. New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics. Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP, 2006. (B)

Cowan, Steven. Five Views on Apologetics. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000. (I)

Craig, William Lane. On Guard. Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2010. (B)

________. Reasonable Faith. Third ed. Wheaton: Crossway, 2008. (I)

Critical Questions Booklet Series. Atlanta: Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, 1999- ). Series of twelve booklets on crucial apologetic topics. (B)

Dulles, Avery. A History of Apologetics. London: Hutchinson, 1971. (I)

Evans, Stephen. Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics and Philosophy of Religion. Downers Grove: Inter Varsity, 2002. (B)

Little, Paul. Know What and Why You Believe. Minneapolis: Worldwide Publications, 1980. (B)


II. OFFENSIVE (POSITIVE) APOLOGETICS

A. NATURAL THEOLOGY

Behe, Michael. The Edge of Evolution. New York: Free Press, 2007. (I)

Boa, Ken and Bowman, Robert. 20 Compelling Evidences that God Exists. Tulsa: River Oak, 2002. (B)

Copan, Paul and Moser, Paul. The Rationality of Theism. London: Routledge, 2003. (A)

Craig, William Lane Craig and Moreland, J. P. The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. (A)

Craig, William Lane and Sinnott-Armstrong, Walter. God?: A Debate between a Christian and an Atheist. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. (I)

Garcia, Robert and King, Nathan, eds. Is Goodness without God Good Enough? Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008. (A)

Strobel, Lee. The Case for a Creator. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004. (B)

Wallace, Stan, ed. Does God Exist? Aldershot, England: Ashgate, 2003. (A)


B. CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES

Craig, William Lane. The Son Rises. Eugene, Ore.: Wipf & Stock, 2000. (B)

________. Assessing the New Testament Evidence for the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen, 2002. (A)

Evans, Craig. Fabricating Jesus. Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP, 2006 (I)

France, R. T. The Evidence for Jesus. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1986. (B)

Green, Joel, et al., eds. Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. Downers Grove: Inter Varsity, 1992. (A)

Gundry, Robert H. Mark: A Commentary on his Apology for the Cross. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1993. (A)

Guthrie, Donald. New Testament Introduction. Downers Grove: Inter Varsity, 1990. (I)

Hemer, Colin. The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1990. (A)

Strobel, Lee. The Case for Christ. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998. (B)

Wright, N. T. The Resurrection of the Son of God. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2003. (A)


III. DEFENSIVE (NEGATIVE) APOLOGETICS


A. OBJECTIONS TO THE EXISTENCE OF GOD

Craig, William Lane and Moreland, J. P. Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview. Downers Grove: Inter Varsity, 2003. (I)

Murray, Michael. Nature Red in Tooth and Claw. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. (I)

________. ed. Reason for the Hope Within. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1999. (I)

Plantinga, Alvin. God, Freedom, and Evil. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1974. (A)

Strobel, Lee. The Case for Faith. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000. (B)


B. OBJECTIONS TO CHRISTIANITY

Boyd, Gregory. Cynic, Sage, or Son of God? Wheaton: Victor Books, 1995. (I)

Copan, Paul. Is God a Moral Monster? Grand Rapids: Baker, 2010. (B)

________. “True for You, But Not for Me.” Minneapolis: Bethany, 1998. (B)

________. That’s Just Your Interpretation. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001. (B)

________, ed. Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up? Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998. (B)

Copan, Paul and Tacelli, Ronald. Jesus’ Resurrection: Fact or Figment? Downers Grove: Inter Varsity, 2000. (B)

Craig, William Lane and Copan, Paul, eds. Contending with Christianity's Critics. Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman and Holman, 2009. (I)

Craig, William Lane and Ehrman, Bart D. “Is There Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus?” (B)

Craig, William Lane and Meister, Chad, eds. God Is Great, God Is Good. Downers Grove, Ill.: Inter-Varsity, 2009. (I)

Johnson, Luke. The Real Jesus. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1996. (B)

Wallace, Dan. “The Gospel according to Bart.” (B)

Wilkins, Michael and Moreland, J.P., eds. Jesus under Fire. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995. (I)

15 comments :

Anonymous said...

Thanks for putting this together, it is quite helpful.

bossmanham said...

That photoshop made me laugh.

Anonymous said...

Where´s Swinburne from that list, I wonder!

JD said...

I'm pretty surprised he didn't recommend Moreland's Scaling the Secular City.
(PS: we need to petition Baker Books and Dr. Moreland to update that classic).

JD said...

The only section I would add to Craig's list is a section on making apologetics practical and add books like Tatics, people skills, communication, critical thinking and interpersonal techniques.

Anonymous said...

Excellent post, Brian!

Dominic K said...

Thanks. I heard him mention a few in a past interview but this is a great list.

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous--I've always wondered whether Craig and Swinburne get along. They seem to very infrequently cite each other's work (or even acknowledge it). I suspect part of it is the difference in their concepts of God (specifically on omniscience) as well as other doctrines (such as inerrancy). In any case, "Is there a God?" by Swinburne could easily be added to that list.

Kief said...

I frequently hear Craig mention Swinburne when naming off top-rate philosophers who are Christian. He seems to have a good deal of respect for him.

emmzee said...

Craig discusses Swinburne's theories at length in his Philosophy of Religion class, at least during the classes recorded for the DVD lectures. He seems to find Swinburne's theories helpful and worth thinking about even though he disagrees with him on some finer points. I'd also add Swinburne's book "Was Jesus God?" to the list, even though I also disagree with some of Swinburne's points, it's still a fascinating read.

JD said...

A few other great books Dr. Craig has highly endorsed in his talks, not listed here are:
1. The Logic of God Incarnate, Thomas Morris
2. The Design Inference, William Dembski
3. The Nature of Necessity, Alvin Plantinga
He mentions these books, and a few others listed here, in the talk, Advice to Christian Apologists. In that talk Craig sites Swinburne favorably as well.

Anonymous said...

No Ravi?

Brian said...

It should be noted that in Craig's original Q/A post he mentions that his list is just a brief one -- he also suggests fuller recommendations can be found at the end of each chapter of his book Reasonable Faith.

Daniel said...

Thank you for posting this. Bibliographies are so useful!

Anonymous said...

jwwartic,

yes I´ve wondered that too, although I think that Swinburne is a level up as a philosopher from Craig. Still I wonder why Craig doesn´t cite Swinburne more often (albeit their differences).

And I can´t see any reason why The Existence of God and The Resurrection of God Incarnate isn´t on the list.

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