Many have asked for a list of
recommended apologetics books. This list is an attempt to provide a quick and helpful reference for apologetics reading. Each category is listed in the order in which the books are recommended. An *asterisk indicates a high recommendation. Apologetics 315 reviews are also linked here.
Keep in mind this is by no means intended to be a comprehensive list. Comment with your own recommendations.
(These links are Amazon affiliate links and help Apologetics 315.)
Beginner Apologetics
Know Why You Believe - Paul Little (
review)
*
On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision - William Lane Craig
*
The Case for Christ - Lee Strobel
*
A Little Primer on Humble Apologetics - James Sire (
review)
*
5 Minute Apologist - Rick Cornish
No Other Gods - Phil Fernandes (
review)
The Big Argument: Does God Exist (
review)
The Reason Why Faith Makes Sense - Mark Mittelberg
Apologetic Foundations
*
Love Your God With All Your Mind - J.P. Moreland
*
Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis
*
Testing Christianity's Truth Claims - Gordon Lewis (
review)
*
Trilogy - Francis Schaeffer (
review)
Contend Earnestly for the Faith - Phil Fernandes
The Kingdom Triangle - J.P. Moreland (
review)
Choosing Your Faith … In a World of Spiritual Options - Mark Mittelberg
General Apologetics
*
I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be An Atheist - Geisler & Turek (review)
*
Without a Doubt - Kenneth Samples
*
Contending with Christianity's Critics - Copan & Craig
Hard Questions, Real Answers - William Lane Craig (
review)
True For You But Not For Me - Paul Copan
Who Made God?: Answers to Over 100 Other Tough Questions of Faith - Zacharias & Geisler
When Skeptics Ask: A Handbook on Christian Evidences - Norman Geisler and R. Brook
The Case for Faith - Lee Strobel
The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism - Tim Keller
What's So Great About Christianity - Dinesh D'Souza
Intellectuals Don't Need God and Other Modern Myths - Alister McGrath
To Everyone an Answer: A Case for the Christian Worldview - Moreland, Craig, & Beckwith
Why I Am a Christian - edited by Geisler & Hoffman
Reasons for Faith - edited by Geisler & Meister
That's Just Your Interpretation - Paul Copan
How Do You Know You're Not Wrong? - Paul Copan
Passionate Conviction - edited by Copan and Craig
Unshakable Foundations - Geisler & Bocchino
The Questions Christians Hope No One Will Ask (with answers) - Mark Mittelberg
Jesus
*
The Historical Jesus - Gary Habermas (
review)
*
The Case for the Real Jesus - Lee Strobel
Fabricating Jesus - Craig Evans
Jesus Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents the Historical Jesus - Wilkins & Moreland
Putting Jesus in His Place: The Case for the Deity of Christ - Bowman and Komoszewski
What Have They Done with Jesus? - Ben Witherington III
Reinventing Jesus - Komoszewski, Sawyer, Wallace
Resurrection of Jesus
*
The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus - Habermas & Licona (
review)
Evidence for the Resurrection - Josh & Sean McDowell
*
The Resurrection of the Son of God - N.T. Wright (
review)
The Son Rises - William Lane Craig
Did the Resurrection Happen? - Gary Habermas & Antony Flew
The Risen Jesus and Future Hope - Gary Habermas
Jesus' Resurrection: Fact or Figment?: A Debate Between Craig Ludemann
Miracles
*
Hume's Abject Failure - John Earman
*
In Defense of Miracles - Habermas & Geivett
Miracles - C.S. Lewis
Miracles & the Modern Mind: A Defense of Biblical Miracles - Norman Geisler
Intermediate Apologetics
*
Reasonable Faith - William Lane Craig (
review)
*
Christian Apologetics - Norman Geisler (
review)
*
Scaling the Secular City - J.P. Moreland (
review)
The Rationality of Theism - Copan & Moser
Advanced Apologetics
*
The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology - Craig & Moreland
Naturalism: A Critical Analysis - Craig & Moreland
Cosmological Argument from Plato to Leibniz - William Lane Craig
The Kalam Cosmological Argument - William Lane Craig
Creation out of Nothing: A Biblical, Philosophical, and Scientific Exploration - Craig & Copan
Reliability of the Bible
*
Can We Trust the Gospels? - Mark D. Roberts (
review)
*
The Historical Reliability of the Gospels - Craig Blomberg (
review)
*
The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? - F.F. Bruce (
review)
The Canon of the New Testament - Bruce Metzger (
review)
Is the New Testament Reliable? - Paul Barnett (
review)
The Testimony of the Evangelists - Simon Greenleaf (
review)
Inerrancy - Edited by Norman Geisler (review)
The Canon of Scripture - F.F. Bruce (
review)
From God To Us - Geisler & Nix (
review)
Jesus and the Eyewitnesses - Richard Baukham
Misquoting Truth - Timothy Paul Jones
The Old Testament Documents: Are They Reliable and Relevant? - Walter Kaiser
General Introduction to the Bible - Norman Geisler
Problem of Evil
*
The Problem of Pain - C.S. Lewis
The End of Christianity: Finding a Good God in an Evil World - William Dembski
The Many Faces of Evil - John Feinberg
When God Weeps - Joni Eareckson Tada & Steven Estes
Till We Have Faces - C.S. Lewis
Evil and the Evidence for God - Douglas Geivett
Doubt
*
Doubting: Growing Through the Uncertainties of Faith - Alister McGrath
Faith and Doubt - John Ortberg
In Search of a Confident Faith - Moreland and Issler
Science
A Fine-Tuned Universe: The Quest for God in Science and Theology - Alister McGrath
Science and Christianity: Conflict or Coherence? - Henry F. Schaefer III
The Creator and the Cosmos - Hugh Ross
Why The Universe Is The Way It Is - Hugh Ross
The Fingerprint of God - Hugh Ross
Theism, Atheism, and Big Bang Cosmology - William Lane Craig & Quentin Smith
Philosophy
*
Philosophy of Religion - C. Stephen Evans
**
Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview - Craig & Moreland (
review)
*
Philosophy of Religion - Norman Geisler and Winfried Corduan (
review)
Reason for the Hope Within - Murray (
review)
Faith and Reason - Ronald Nash
Life's Ultimate Questions: An Introduction to Philosophy - Ronald Nash
Loving Wisdom: Christian Philosophy of Religion - Paul Copan
Introduction to Philosophy - Geisler & Feinberg (
review)
An Introduction to Christian Philosophy - Gordon H. Clark and John W. Robbins
Philosophy Made Slightly Less Difficult - Moreland and DeWeese
Longing To Know - Esther Meek
Thinking About God - Gregory Ganssle
Epistemology: Becoming Intellectually Virtuous - W. Jay Wood
Metaphysics: Constructing a Worldview - William Hasker (
review)
Philosophy of Religion: A Reader and Guide - William Lane Craig
The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Religion - William Mann
In Defense of Natural Theology - James Sennett & Douglas Groothuis (
review)
On Pascal - Douglas Groothuis (
review)
Warranted Christian Belief - Alvin Plantinga
God, Freedom & Evil - Alvin Plantinga
Faith & Rationality - Alvin Plantinga
Warrant & Proper Function - Alvin Plantinga
The Nature of Necessity - Alvin Plantinga
The Elusive God: Reorienting Religious Epistemology
by Paul Moser (
review)
Ethics
Ethics: Approaching Moral Decisions - Arthur F. Holmes
Ethics: Options & Issues - Norman Geisler
The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics - Hauerwas and Wells
Moral Choices - Scott Rae
Ethix - Sean McDowell
Abortion
The Case for Life - Scott Klusendorf
Pro-Life 101 - Scott Klusendorf
Defending Life - Francis Beckwith
Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments - Randy Alcorn
Why Pro-Life? - Randy Alcorn
Existence of God
*
20 Compelling Evidences that God Exists - Ken Boa & Rob Bowman (
review)
*
The Case for a Creator - Lee Strobel
The God Who Sits Enthroned - Phil Fernandes (
review)
The Existence of God - Richard Swinburne (
review)
The Existence of God edited by John Hick (
review)
Does God Exist: The Craig-Flew Debate
Does God Exist? - J.P. Moreland and Kai Nielsen
Logic
*
A Rulebook for Arguments - Anthony Weston (
review)
*
Being Logical - D.Q. McInerny (
review)
**
Asking the Right Questions - Neil Browne & Stuart M. Keely (
review)
*
Nonsense: A Handbook of Logical Fallacies - Robert Gula (
review)
Informal Logic - Douglas Walton (
review)
Come Let Us Reason - Geisler & Brookes (
review)
Introduction to Logic - Irving Copi (
review)
Logic - Gordon Clark (
review)
Biblical Logic - Joel McDurmon
Socratic Logic - Peter Kreeft
A Concise Introduction to Logic - Hurley
History of Apologetics
*
A History of Apologetics - Avery Dulles (
review)
*
Classical Readings in Christian Apologetics - L. Rush Bush (
review)
Christian Apologetics Past & Present: A Primary Source Reader - Edgar & Oliphint
Faith in the Age of Reason - Jonathan Hill (
review)
Apologetics Reference Books
*
Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion - C. Stephen Evans (
review)
*
Pocket Handbook of Christian Apologetics - Kreeft & Tacelli
*
Handbook of Christian Apologetics - Kreeft & Tacelli
Holman QuickSource Guide to Christian Apologetics - Doug Powell
Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics - Norman Geisler
New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics - Evans, Campbell-Jack, McGrath
Evidence That Demands a Verdict - Josh McDowell
Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties - Gleeson Archer
Big Book of Bible Difficulties - Geisler & Howe
Charts of Apologetics and Christian Evidences - House & Holden
The Popular Encyclopedia of Apologetics - Hindsun & Caner
Hard Sayings of the Bible - Kaiser, Davids, Bruce, Brauch
Apologetics Study Bibles
*
The Apologetics Study Bible
Apologetics Study Bible for Students
Books on Methodology
*
Faith Has Its Reasons - Ken Boa & Robert Bowman
*
5 Views on Apologetics - Cowan, Gundry, Habermas, Craig
The Apologetics of Jesus - Geisler & Zukeran
Classical Apologetics - R.C. Sproul
Presuppositional Apologetics
*
Apologetics to the Glory of God: An Introduction - John Frame
*
Always Ready - Greg Bahnsen
*
Presuppositional Apologetics Stated and Defended - Greg Bahnsen
The Portable Presuppositionalist - Jamin Hubner
Pushing the Antithesis: The Apologetic Methodology - Greg Bahnsen
Van Til's Apologetic: Readings and Analysis - Greg Bahnsen
The Defense of the Faith - Cornelius Van Til
Christian Apologetics - Cornelius Van Til
Cornelius Van Til: An Analysis of His Thought - John Frame
Every Thought Captive: A Study Manual for the Defense of Christian Truth - Jr. Richard L. Pratt
Cults
*
Kingdom of the Cults - Walter Martin
The Kingdom of the Occult - Walter Martin
Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Mormons - Rhodes & Bodine
Reasoning from the Scriptures with Muslims - Ron Rhodes
Reasoning from the Scriptures with the Jehovah's Witnesses - Ron Rhodes
Reasoning from the Scriptures with Masons - Ron Rhodes
The Challenge of the Cults and New Religions - Ron Rhodes
Angels Among Us: Separating Fact from Fiction - Ron Rhodes
The New Mormon Challenge - Beckwith, Mosser, Owen
Unmasking the New Age - Douglas Groothuis
Atheism
*
God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God? - John Lennox
*
God is Great, God is Good
- edited by William Lane Craig & Chad Meister (
review)
*
The Devil's Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions - David Berlinski
If There is a God, Why Are There Atheists? - R.C. Sproul
A Sceptic's Guide to Atheism - Peter S. Williams
Atheism Remix - Albert Mohler
The Dawkins Delusion - Alister McGrath
The Dawkins Letters - David Robertson
The Real Face of Atheism - Ravi Zacharias
The End of Reason - Ravi Zacharias (
review)
The Twilight of Atheism - Alister McGrath
The Future of Atheism - Alister McGrath & Daniel Dennett
Faith of the Fatherless - Paul Vitz
The Atheist Delusion - Phil Fernandes
Atheism & Theism - Smart & Haldane
There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind - Antony Flew (
review)
The Truth Behind the New Atheism - David Marshall
Apologetics and Evangelism
**
Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions - Greg Koukl (
review)
*
On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision - William Lane Craig
*
Questioning Evangelism - Randy Newman
*
The God Question: An Invitation to a Life of Meaning - J.P. Moreland
How to Argue Like Jesus - Carter & Coleman
Corner Conversations - Randy Newman
When God Goes to Starbucks: A Guide to Everyday Apologetics - Paul Copan
Why Good Arguments Often Fail - James Sire
Conversational Evangelism - David Geisler
The God Conversation - Moreland & Muehlhoff
Dialogical Apologetics: A Person-Centered Approach to Christian Defense - David Clark
Humble Apologetics - John Stackhouse
Reasons of the Heart: Recovering Christian Persuasion - Wiliam Edgar
Apologetics for a New Generation - Sean McDowell
Intelligent Design
*
Understanding Intelligent Design: Everything You Need to Know in Plain Language - Dembski & McDowell
*
The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design - Jonathan Wells
*
The Edge of Evolution - Michael Behe
*
The Design Inference - William Dembski
Icons of Evolution - Jonathan Wells
Evolution: A Theory in Crisis - Michael Denton
*
Signature in the Cell - Stephen Meyer
Intelligent Design: The Bridge Between Science and Theology - Dembski & Behe
The Design Revolution - William Dembski
The Cell's Design - Fazale Rana
The Privileged Planet - Guillermo Gonzalez and Jay Richards
Science and Evidence for Design in the Universe - Behe, Dembski, Meyer
Darwin Strikes Back: Defending the Science of Intelligent Design - Thomas Woodward
Billions of Missing Links: A Rational Look at the Mysteries Evolution Can't Explain - Geoffrey Simmons
Darwin's Black Box - Michael Behe
Darwin on Trial - Phillip Johnson
The Design Matrix: A Consilience of Clues - Mike Gene
Worldviews
*
World of Difference: Putting Christian Truth-Claims to the Worldview Test - Ken Samples
*
Naming the Elephant: Worldview as a Concept - James Sire
*
Total Truth - Nancy Pearcy
Worldviews in Conflict - Ronald Nash
The Universe Next Door - James Sire
Postmodernism / Relativism
*
Relativism - Koukl & Beckwith
Truth Decay - Douglas Groothuis
A Refutation of Moral Relativism - Peter Kreeft
Classics in Apologetics
The First Apology of Justin - Justin Martyr
Irenaeus Against Heresies - Irenaeus
The Apology - Turtullian
Against Celsus - Origen
*
Confessions - Augustine
*
The City of God - Augustine
Monologium & Proslogium - Anselm
Summa Contra Gentiles - Thomas Aquinas
*
Summa Theologica - Thomas Aquinas
*
Institutes of the Christian Religion - John Calvin
The Analogy of Religion - Joseph Butler
*
Natural Theology - William Paley (
review)
A View of the Evidences of Christianity - William Paley
**
Pensées - Blaise Pascal (
review)
DVDs
The Lee Strobel Film Collection
*
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
The Privileged Planet
Unlocking the Mystery of Life
Darwin's Dilemma (
review)
Icons of Evolution
Collision (Wilson & Hitchens)
Gary Habermas presents this lecture at the European Leadership Forum entitled: Recent Objections to Miracles. Habermas co-authored the book In Defense of Miracles with Douglas Geivett. This audio is from the ELF Podcast here.
Many have asked for a list of recommended apologetics books. This list is an attempt to provide a quick and helpful reference for apologetics reading. Each category is listed in the order in which the books are recommended. An *asterisk indicates a high recommendation. Apologetics 315 reviews are also linked here.
In conjunction with our series of posts for Terminology Tuesday, here is a more comprehensive quick-and-useful guide to philosophical, ethical, and biblical terms by Norman Geisler (more Geisler stuff here).
The Big Argument: Does God Exist? is a collection of twenty-four essays from various scholars in a variety of fields such as philosophy, science, history, and archaeology. Judging the book by its cover, the book’s cover art, paper, and binding gives the impression that the content might be equally poor in quality. However, that is not necessarily true. The content was much richer than the first impression may let on.
Darwin or Design (by Jason Rennie) is a collection of audio interviews with 25 people on both sides of the intelligent design question, including PZ Myers, Michael Behe, Guillermo Gonzales, Elliott Sober, Massimo Pigliucci, Henry Schaefer, and more. There are interviews on what evolutionary theory currently thinks, what is intelligent design, the philosophy of science, and others. This is 9 1/2 hours of content in a podcast feed. Originally found at podiobooks.
William Lane Craig and Francisco J. Ayala debate the subject: Is Intelligent Design Viable? The debate was moderated by Dr. Bradley Monton at Indiana University. More about the participants here.
Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church presents this talk: What Should I Do With My Doubt? Keller shares some helpful insights into the nature of doubt and how to deal with it. Check out his Reason for God book also.
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Here are four very good courses from BiblicalTraining. Now you have to go right to biblicaltraining.org to get the audio. They do not allow direct linking to their audio files.
Ron Rhodes presents this lecture on How to Witness to Jehovah's Witnesses. This is a good introduction to what JW's believe and how to interact with them. More about Ron Rhodes and a good list of his resources at Truthbomb. Check out all of Ron Rhodes books here, which includes Reasoning from the Scriptures with Jehovah's Witnesses.
"...of all the evidences of the real work of the Spirit, a habit of hearty private prayer is one of the most satisfactory that can be named. A man may preach from false motives. A man may write books and make fine speeches and seem diligent in good works, and yet be a Judas Iscariot. But a man seldom goes into his closet, and pours out his soul before God in secret, unless he is in earnest."
Dinesh D'Souza presents this talk entitled: How to Speak to an Atheist. Check out his book: What's So Great About Christianity. His latest book is Life After Death: The Evidence. D'Souza is an avid debater and has debated Christopher Hitchens and other leading atheists.
This is an interview with Anthony Horvath, director of Athanatos Christian Ministries Online Academy of Apologetics. As noted in an earlier post, the Apologetics Academy is beginning the fall semester on Monday, November 2nd. In this interview Anthony talks about the vision behind the course, the classes offered, and explains the sign up process. For those interested in getting further equipped in apologetics, this academy might be what you are looking for. See here for classes offered.
Here is a lecture by Corbin Carnell on the subject of C.S. Lewis' Problem of Pain by Veritas.org. Full MP3 Audio here.
“Your days at the most cannot be very long, so use them to the best of your ability for the glory of God and the benefit of your generation.”
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution by Richard Dawkins is the famous biologist’s most recent book since his best selling The God Delusion. This is a well-written book, complete with illustrations and beautiful color sections. In it, Professor Dawkins presents evidence for evolution. The purpose of this review is to survey some of Dawkins’ ideas and weigh up the overall logic of his case for evolution; in particular, does Dawkins present a good case that macroevolution is a fact?
Ravi Zacharias points out that the most important question shared by theists and atheists is the one of how we should live. Zacharias presents a case for why atheists have no acceptable answer for this question, while arguing that Christianity presents a satisfying answer. Found at Veritas.
BiblicalTraining.org provides an introductory study of the beliefs and practices of Islam. The course demonstrates how Islamic thought is different from Christian thought and how the gospel can be most effectively communicated to members of the Islamic faith. There are 24 separate lectures totaling approximately 16 hours.
