Read Along: Chapter Four—Our Athens

Today we begin Chapter Four of the Read Along with Apologetics 315 project. This is a chapter-by-chapter study through the book The Gospel in the Marketplace of Ideas: Paul's Mars Hill Experience for Our Pluralistic World by Paul Copan and Kenneth D. Litwak. (Hear the introductory interview about the book here.) Below you will find an audio intro for Chapter Four, a brief summary of the chapter, a PDF workbook with questions for the chapter, and some notable quotes. You're also encouraged to share your comments and feedback for each chapter in the comment section below. Feel free to interact on the Christian Apologetics Alliance Facebook page here.

Terminology Tuesday: Coherentism

Coherentism: An epistemological theory holding that the justification for beliefs consists in the relations among the beliefs. A coherentist thus typically denies that there are any special propositions that are basic or foundational. Rather, the structure of beliefs is like a web in which some beliefs are more central than others but in which some beliefs give mutual support to others as part of a network. More radical forms of coherentism not only adopt a coherentist account of justification but also a coherentist account of truth, in which true propositions are those that would be part of an ideally coherent system of beliefs.1

1. C.Stephen Evans, Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), p. 24.

Weekly Apologetics Bonus Links (08/15 - 08/22)

Here are this week's recommended apologetics links. Enjoy.

KINDLE DEALS:
• Alive: A Cold-Case Approach to the Resurrection - 1.99
• Did Jesus Rise From The Dead? by WLC - 3.99
• A To Z With C. S. Lewis by Louis A. Markos - 0.99
• Holman Guide to Interpreting the Bible - 2.99
• The Love of Wisdom: A Christian Introduction to Philosophy - 2.99

WEEKLY LINKS:
• Can We Trust the Prophecies of Joseph Smith?
• Book Review: “Total Truth” by Nancy Pearcey
• Atheists contradict themselves by seeking invocations
• Will You Wait for a Long Answer to Your Short Question?
• Defending the Faith Apologetics Conference - Texas, September
• The One Minute Apologist Interviews Brett Kunkle on Mormonism
• Apologetics helps young men to resist being shamed by their secular peers
• You Don’t Think Learning the Biblical Languages is Worth It? Think Again
• Resources to Help You Respond to the Problem of Evil (Free Bible Insert)
• Kenneth Samples Summarizes 10 Ways Christian Belief Creates a Hospitable Environment for Scientific Inquiry

Apologetics 315 is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit. Would you support us?

• Shopping via Amazon? If you use this link, a bit of your purchase goes to fund Apologetics 315. Thanks for those of you using the link, as it helps Ap315.
Canada here. UK here.

• Would you like to help with interview transcription? If so, contact Ap315 here.

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Read Along: Chapter Three—Paul's Athens

Today we begin Chapter Three of the Read Along with Apologetics 315 project. This is a chapter-by-chapter study through the book The Gospel in the Marketplace of Ideas: Paul's Mars Hill Experience for Our Pluralistic World by Paul Copan and Kenneth D. Litwak. (Hear the introductory interview about the book here.) Below you will find an audio intro for Chapter Three, a brief summary of the chapter, a PDF workbook with questions for the chapter, and some notable quotes. You're also encouraged to share your comments and feedback for each chapter in the comment section below. Feel free to interact on the Christian Apologetics Alliance Facebook page here.

Terminology Tuesday: Egoism

Egoism: The theory that humans do or should seek only their own individual happiness. Psychological egoism holds that as a matter of fact people seek always and only their own good. Moral egoism holds that it is right or good that humans should act in this way. Ayn Rand's novels provide a dramatic illustration and defense of egoism. Traditional Christian teaching, in contrast, has condemned universal egoism as a form of sinful selfishness, to be distinguished from a proper regard for one's self and its needs.1

1. C.Stephen Evans, Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), p. 38.

Book Review: Programming of Life by Donald E. Johnson

Programming of Life by Donald E. Johnson (paperback or video) came to my attention fairly recently. The prospect of a case for God's existence being made from my area of training (computer science) especially caught my attention. The fact that the author is formally trained in both information science and biochemistry seemed to give him a unique set of credentials to authoritatively compare the code in DNA to computer programming code. The book is short at only 127 pages (included appendixes) and is divided into nine chapters. This review will be a chapter-by-chapter summary, but should not be confused with providing Johnson's case comprehensively or precisely.

Introduction
Chapter 1: Math Basics: Probability and Large or Small Numbers
Johnson prepares his readers by providing a quick tutorial of some basics required to understand his arguments. It is commonly misunderstood that "chance" is a force; however, it is rather merely an expression of likelihood of an event taking place versus its not taking place. If an event has any likelihood of taking place, it is considered "possible," but possibility should only be claimed in scientific observations have demonstrated the event to have taken place. "Plausibility" is a value of the level of possibility (0-1; 0=impossible; 1=certain; 0.5 is the threshold for an event to be considered "plausible"). Johnson prepares the reader for the significance of these concepts by explaining the lowest limit of physical possibility given all the resources (atoms in the system, the fastest chemical reactions in the universe, and the age of the systems) of the universe (10-108), galaxy (10-96), solar system (10-85), and earth (10-70). He explains that if the probability of an event taking place is lower than these physical barriers, the event is indistinguishable from impossible within that system, and the proposed event may be considered scientifically falsified.

Weekly Apologetics Bonus Links (08/08 - 08/15)

Here are this week's recommended apologetics links. Enjoy.

KINDLE DEALS:
• Alive: A Cold-Case Approach to the Resurrection - 1.99
• Did Jesus Rise From The Dead? by WLC - 3.99
• A To Z With C. S. Lewis by Louis A. Markos - 0.99
• Holman Guide to Interpreting the Bible - 2.99
• Holman QuickSource Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls by Craig Evans - 2.99

WEEKLY LINKS:
• Debating Darwin
• The Art of Listening
• New Quick-Reference App
• Faith, Progress and Pinker’s Angels
• Peter Kreeft on How to Communicate
• Responses that Stimulate Conversation
• 33 Logical Fallacies Everyone Should Know
• Read Along Introduction: Interview with Paul Copan
• What Everyone Should Know About The Problem of Evil

Apologetics 315 is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit. Would you support us?

• Shopping via Amazon? If you use this link, a bit of your purchase goes to fund Apologetics 315. Thanks for those of you using the link, as it helps Ap315.
Canada here. UK here.

• Would you like to help with interview transcription? If so, contact Ap315 here.

Get these sorts of links and more by following on Twitter.
For daily post links, please follow on Facebook.

Read Along: Chapter Two—Was Paul's Speech at Athens a Mistake?

Today we begin Chapter Two of the Read Along with Apologetics 315 project. This is a chapter-by-chapter study through the book The Gospel in the Marketplace of Ideas: Paul's Mars Hill Experience for Our Pluralistic World by Paul Copan and Kenneth D. Litwak. (Hear the introductory interview about the book here.) Below you will find an audio intro for Chapter Two, a brief summary of the chapter, a PDF workbook with questions for the chapter, and some notable quotes. You're also encouraged to share your comments and feedback for each chapter in the comment section below. Feel free to interact on the Christian Apologetics Alliance Facebook page here.

Weekly Apologetics Bonus Links (08/01 - 08/08)

Here are this week's recommended apologetics links. Enjoy.

KINDLE DEALS:
• Alive: A Cold-Case Approach to the Resurrection - 1.99
• Did Jesus Rise From The Dead? by WLC - 3.99
• A To Z With C. S. Lewis by Louis A. Markos - 0.99
• Holman QuickSource Guide to Creation - 2.99
• A Reasonable Response by William Lane Craig - 3.99
• Mere Apologetics by Alister E. McGrath - 3.82
• QuickSource Guide to Christian Apologetics - 2.99
• Holman QuickSource Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls by Craig Evans - 2.99

WEEKLY LINKS:
• Ratio Christi Event Calendar
• Come Reason Ministries New Website
• Nothing Is Off Limits If You Are A Christian
• From Mormonism To Christianity Conference 2014
• The Most Important Passage for Doing Apologetics
• 10 Reasons Why There Really Was a Historical Jesus
• Video: Finding Christ in Culture by John Mark Reynolds
• Why Does Every Christian Need Abductive Reasoning? (Video)
• Win an Autographed copy of Lee Strobels The Case for Christianity Answer Book

Apologetics 315 is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit. Would you support us?

• Shopping via Amazon? If you use this link, a bit of your purchase goes to fund Apologetics 315. Thanks for those of you using the link, as it helps Ap315.
Canada here. UK here.

• Would you like to help with interview transcription? If so, contact Ap315 here.

Get these sorts of links and more by following on Twitter.
For daily post links, please follow on Facebook.

Read Along: Chapter One—Welcome to Athens

Today we begin our with Chapter One in the Read Along with Apologetics 315 project. This is a chapter-by-chapter study through the book The Gospel in the Marketplace of Ideas: Paul's Mars Hill Experience for Our Pluralistic World by Paul Copan and Kenneth D. Litwak. (Hear the introductory interview about the book here.) Below you will find an audio intro for Chapter One, a brief summary of the chapter, a PDF workbook with questions for the chapter, and some notable quotes. You're also encouraged to share your comments and feedback for each chapter in the comment section below. Feel free to interact on the Christian Apologetics Alliance Facebook page here.

Read Along Introduction: Interview with Paul Copan

Tomorrow we are launching another weekly Read Along program. (For the past two Read Along’s, see here and here.) The goal: group book study and discussion, one chapter at a time. This will be a Thursday feature, starting tomorrow, August 7, 2014. So you have one day left to order your copy of the book. (Or the Kindle version.)

We'll be reading: The Gospel in the Marketplace of Ideas: Paul's Mars Hill Experience for Our Pluralistic World by Paul Copan and Kenneth D. Litwak.

This book seeks to embolden the church’s witness in today’s society by showing how Paul's speech to the Athenians (found in Acts 17) provides a practical model for Christians today. The authors encourage Christians to "be more biblically informed, culturally astute, and creatively engaged to winsomely challenge the idols of our time and to point contemporary Athenians beyond ‘an unknown God’ to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Each week an audio intro for each chapter by Paul Copan will be provided, along with a brief synopsis and study questions. You’ll also be able to connect with others readers here in the comments on Apologetics 315, or on the Christian Apologetics Alliance Facebook page. And stay tuned for more upcoming features as we read along.

TODAY'S INTERVIEW
Today we get ready for the read-along with an introductory interview with co-author Paul Copan. In this interview, Paul introduces himself and his co-author Kenneth D. Litwak, talks about the goal of the book, and what readers can expect to gain from reading it.

Full Interview MP3 Audio here (8min 35sec)

Be sure to subscribe to the Podcast Feed here, and also on iTunes here.
Then join us tomorrow as we kick off chapter one.

Enjoy.

Terminology Tuesday: Problem of Evil

Problem of Evil: Difficulty posed by the existence of evil (both moral evil and natural evil) in a world created by a God who is both completely good and all-powerful. Some atheists argue that if such a God existed, there would be no evil, since God would both want to eliminate evil and would be able to do so. An argument that evil is logically incompatible with God's reality forms the logical or deductive form of the problem. An argument that evil makes God's existence unlikely or less likely is called the evidential or probabilistic form of the problem. Responses to the problem include theodicies which attempt to explain why God allows evil, usually by specifying some greater good that evil makes possible, and defenses, which argue that it is reasonable to believe that God is justified in allowing evil, even if we do not know what his reasons are.1

1. C.Stephen Evans, Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), p. 42.

Weekly Apologetics Bonus Links (07/25 - 08/01)

Here are this week's recommended apologetics links. Enjoy.

KINDLE DEALS:
• Alive: A Cold-Case Approach to the Resurrection - 1.99
• Did Jesus Rise From The Dead? by WLC - 3.99
• A To Z With C. S. Lewis by Louis A. Markos - 0.99
• Holman QuickSource Guide to Creation - 2.99
• A Reasonable Response by William Lane Craig - 3.99
• Mere Apologetics by Alister E. McGrath - 4.99
• QuickSource Guide to Christian Apologetics - 2.99
• Holman QuickSource Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls by Craig Evans - 2.99

WEEKLY LINKS:
• The Argument from Conscience
• 5 Things I Love About Apologetics
• Is Religion the Cause of Violence?
• August Apologetics Conference in WA
• More on arguments from signs and wonders
• How Each of Us Can Become the Fifth Gospel
• Exclusive Interview with Dr. Timothy McGrew, PhD
• Pascal’s Wager: The Utility Argument Explained
• Classic Debate: William Lane Craig vs. Antony Flew
• Where Did these Minimal Facts about the Resurrection Come From?
• Here's a book apologists should pick up: The Gospel in the Marketplace of Ideas

Apologetics 315 is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit. Would you support us?

• Shopping via Amazon? If you use this link, a bit of your purchase goes to fund Apologetics 315. Thanks for those of you using the link, as it helps Ap315.
Canada here. UK here.

• Would you like to help with interview transcription? If so, contact Ap315 here.

Get these sorts of links and more by following on Twitter.
For daily post links, please follow on Facebook.