eBook A Reasonable Response: Answers to Tough Questions on God, Christianity, and the Bible epub

"A Reasonable Response" is a welcome surprise for those that may be weary in purchasing a book that contains the same material that Dr. Craig has written or taught in previous books or other mediums. The title is purposed in that Dr. Craig and Joseph Gorra (who writes both the introduction and the conclusion) mean for it to bear some relation to Dr. Craig's "Reasonable Faith."

Many of the same themes are covered, but A Reasonable Response is meant to provide applications of the subject matter found in his book. This is accomplished by utilizing the 'question of the week' found on his website: reasonablefaith.org. The question of the week provides a springboard to unpack a much more rich and detailed response than one finds posted on his website. The contents are highly accessible and this book is meant for any reader, even those unfamiliar with Dr. Craig's work.

Those familiar with his materials will be very happy to know that this book is not full of cut-and-paste essays. Rather, Dr. Craig uses the questions to expound and clarify many of assumptions and issues not contained on the website. Dr. Craig also hand picks some of the best questions in order to unpack a more extensive response which makes this a great resource, not only in exemplifying how Christians ought to be conversant with their worldview, but this book would also be a great resource to provide to a nonbeliever.

This book also enables the reader unfamiliar with Dr. Craig's academic or advanced materials. The reader is enabled to understand the assumptions that go into his public replies, which makes this an important heuristic tool in learning how to deal with rebutting and undercutting defeaters.

His popular level books and his academic materials some time leave out prerequisite information the respective reader is assumed to know. A good example is Dr. Craig's essay in JP Moreland's "Debating Christian Theism," (see my recent review), a book that liens towards the more academically inclined. In Debating Christian Theism, Dr. Craig's essay, the "Kalam Cosmological Argument," contains scant materials many readers highly familiar with Dr. Craig's writings would be able to locate. Like a Reasonable Response, it is largely devoted to rebutting and undercutting defeaters and unpacking many of the assumptions contained in the premises of his more well-known syllogisms as opposed to simply setting forth arguments most devotees are likely familiar. The paragraph is meant to provide an analogy to the present book.

Those somewhat put off by the cut-and-pasting issue: Craig's new book is perfect, especially for memorization, because the letters and Dr. Craig's responses provide a highly useful medium that enable the reader to memorize Dr. Craig's answers and read how Dr. Craig engages the letters when he applies his responses to arguments raised against Christianity.

Hawking's "The Grand Design" is one example. Unless you have a subscription to `Philosophia Christi' and have read Dr. Craig's 'Much Ado you About Nothing,' you have likely obtained pieces of the primary article that have been provided to the public in a more palatable way. In tackling Hawking on page 191, Dr. Craig brings together both the academic article and the popular writing(s) into single and easy-to-remember responses. In fact, the reader is going to learn more than reading Craig's previous articles as he introduces new materials for the reader.

Another example is an issue of particular import for those interested in more difficult concepts, and one I have not seen sufficiently teased out in the literature: A Reformed Christian that holds to a B-theory of time (e.g., Paul Helm helps corroborate the Reformed view represented herein that unpacks this consequence and can be found in his updated "Eternal God" [pages 218-239]). This view of time presupposes a physical interpretation of relativity that entails a 4-D space-time manifold, a very controversial interpretation among those who are not metaphysical naturalists.

It is here that Craig unpacks a very interesting idea. To paraphrase the argument: one who holds that God remains timeless sans creation (motivated by the ontological truth view of special theory of relativity), must bite the bullet in two ways (1) they cannot adequately answer the question of how a timeless God interacts in time without becoming timeless or changed intrinsically and/or extrinsically (showed to be impossible in other writings laid out in other academic works); and, (2) because the Reformed believer holds to the timeless creation, like Helm who is an eternalist (vs. presentist) and holds that time is an illusion (B-theory), entails the space-time block interpretation. Moreover, human beings (or persons depending on one's locution) are 3-Dimensional slices of the 4-dimensional space-time manifold or bloc. That is, persons or any object are akin to segregated "worms"--persons are "slices" that have different properties at different "times" or spatial coordinates in a geometric view of spactime. Unbeknownst to many of my Reformed friends, this may be possible baggage that comes with a consistent Reformed view, but one that begs to be teased out in the literature. In short, Christians that hold to timelessness and a B-theory of time may find themselves ensnared in a "possible" logical entailment that I have only read in the writings of philosopher David Hunt and Paul Helm.

The reader can picture a slice of bread and one slice represents part of the worm--assuming one is slicing horizontally and not slicing in a crisscross manner raising other issues entirely. Conclusion, on the tenseless view, because each slice represents a completely different person, becomes incompatible with moral responsibility, praise or blame (Craig states "The non-conscious, four-dimensional object of which I am part of cannot be regarded as a moral agent and is, therefore, not morally responsible for anything.)] So, how can God hold a particular worm-representation of "persons" responsible for their deeds? He can't! This is also addressed in another question on the Reformed view and compatablism/universal determination. This argument can be unpacked in a more more logical and sophisticated manner, but this is beyond the scope of this review.

This topic is interesting enough to unpack and read in other books, although it is not a major subject that has been sufficiently addressed as it is implicitly stating that Reformed theologians that hold to "timelessness" are forced to accept this metaphysical and scientific baggage that looks to undermine Christian doctrine. These are very interesting ideas and I am glad that Dr. Craig touches upon them as he is an inspiration to most that read his books.

I have not done justice to the entirety of the book. For example, towards the end of the book Dr. Craig touches on failure, doubt and is very transparent with his own autobiography when addressing the questioner. In summary, the subject matter can be gleaned by looking inside the book. The point of this review is to inform readers of the format of the book: Although it may appear to be a cut-and-paste work, Craig is only minimally culpable, and this enables those who are seeking to understand that their faith is only opposed to sight, not reason or science are all the more better in reading this book.

One of the most famous verses in the Bible used in the field of apologetics is 1 Peter 3:15, "But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect" (ESV). In apologetics when a person "defends" the faith of Christianity it's easy to get "defensive" when arguing with someone of another opinion. The beauty of this book is that Craig and Gorra are able to give the finest evidences for the Christian faith and answer the biggest objections to Christianity and do so while "speaking the truth in love" (Eph. 4:15).

Craig and Gorra are not only a gifted apologists, but loving evangelists and truly demonstrate how the gospel can be the center piece of all evidence with reference to offensive evidences as well as defending attacks on the Christian faith.

The six sections of this helpful book in answering difficult questions are as follows: (1) Questions on Knowing and Believing What Is Real - questions such as: Does Knowledge require certainty?; What is the criterion for a good argument?; Is there such a thing as objective truth?; and Is the price of biblical errancy too high to pay? (2) Questions About God - such as: Is a Maximally Great Being Possible?; Is Trinity Monotheism Orthodox?; and In What Sense Is God a "Simple Being"? (3) Questions about Origins and the Meaning of Life - like the following: Must the Cause of the Universe Be Personal?; Is there a contradiction in God's creation of time?; Is life absurd without God?; and Is Scientism Self-refuting? (4) Questions about the Afterlife and Evil - like: Does creation benefit the lost?; Do the damned in Hell accrue further punishment?; and Was the slaughter of the Canaanites an act of "Divine Genocide"? (5) Questions about Jesus Christ and Being His Disciple: What does it mean that Jesus is the Son of God?; Can one justifiably infer Jesus' resurrection on the basis of the empirical evidence?; and What does it mean to have a personal relationship with God? (6) Questions about Issues of Christian Practice - such as: Do we live in a Postmodern Society?; How might we think about a Christian marrying a non-Christian?; and "Can someone be a "Christian Homosexual?"

Also of immense help are the three appendixes which include: (1) Tips on using the book for small group study; (2) Fostering question-asking and answer-seeking environments; (3) Civility guidelines for (online) "third places."

Perhaps nobody will agree with 100% of the answers given, or be totally convinced of all the evidence or answers provided. However, anyone reading this book will benefit richly from it. The myriad of questions addressed by both believers and non-believers are answered cogently and practically. I will return to this book again and again as a virtual encyclopedia of great answers to great questions on the Christian faith. You will learn from these seasoned apologists how to "always be prepared to make a defense to everyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you" and you will be guided in how to do this "with gentleness and respect."

Don't get me wrong, I generally love the writing of William Lane Craig. For example, I really think highly of Reasonable Faith, a book that is well done and worthy of study. But if you want me to be honest in my reviews, this book tended to bore me. Perhaps it's because there are so many books out there in a Q&A format. Or maybe there were a number of times when I just thought, "Wow, mind-numbing." I'm not a dummy, as I have my own M.Div. and am a Christian apologist. But some of the answers just went way over my head. ObviouslyCraig (philosophically speaking) is heads and shoulders ahead of me and probably you too, as he's on his own planet. However, I wish he would have toned things down (as I believe he did in Reasonable Faith) and made this understandable for the general laypeople for whom I believe it was intended. His middle knowledge and Molinism section drifted, as he provided little to no biblical support for his position. Everything centered on his philosophical argumentation, and thus I think it fell short. His position seems to be a glorified Arminian position, where omniscince is stressed but man keeps his free will. All fine and good, but Dr. Craig, next time please expound more on the scripture. All in all, there are some brilliant answers to some questions and I did learn from reading the book. I just think that there are other Craig writings I'd direct you to before recommending this title.