Book Review: Arguing with Friends by Paul Buller

Many of us are self-taught apologists, learning by trial and error as we go, but few of us have written a book about our experiences. Paul Buller has done just that. The engineer from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, has written a primer on apologetics entitled Arguing with Friends: Keeping Your Friends and Your Convictions. In it, he outlines what he has learned along the way, pointing out some pitfalls and highlighting what he believes are the most important aspects of doing apologetics well.

In his overview of the work, Buller writes, “this book will help you understand what separates a successful conversation from an unsuccessful one, and give you some general strategies . . . to increase your success (3).” The author has chosen the analogy of training at the gym as the structure for the book, noting that many Christians are “completely out of shape when it comes to discerning and sharing Truth through civil discourse” (5). He also explains that, when he uses the word “arguing”, he isn’t talking about quarrelling, but about explaining one’s beliefs and the valid reasons behind them.

Author Interview: Paul Buller

Today's interview is with author of Arguing with Friends: Keeping Your Friends and Your Convictions. He also runs the blog whyjesus.ca and arguingwithfriends.com. He talks about influences in apologetics, conversational apologetics, the goal in personal interactions with others, understanding arguments (this Monty Python skit), tactics vs. strategies, learning from mistakes in doing apologetics, and advice for effective communication. He's giving away a couple copies of his book:
Enter the drawing here.

Full Interview MP3 Audio here (40 min)

Enjoy.
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