In this episode of the Author Talks with Shaun Tabatt Podcast I interview Randal Rauser about his book The Swedish Atheist, the Scuba Diver and Other Apologetic Rabbit Trails (IVP, 2012).

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About the Book:
In the real world, we don’t usually sit in lecture halls debating worldview issues in systematic arguments. Chances are that we’re more likely to have haphazard, informal conversations over a latte in a coffee shop.

Meet Randal Rauser, a Christian, and Sheridan, an atheist. Over the course of one caffeinated afternoon, they explore a range of honest questions and real objections to Christian faith. Do people hold to a particular religion just because of an accident of geography? Is believing in Jesus as arbitrary as believing in Zeus? Why would God order the slaughter of infants or send people to hell? How do you know you’re really real, and not just a character in someone’s book?

Their extended conversation unfolds with all the rabbit trails, personal baggage and distractions that inevitably come in real-world encounters. Rauser provides substantive argument-based apologetics but also highlights the importance of apologetics as a narrative journey. As we get to know Sheridan, we better understand the personal history that drives his atheism and the issues that motivate his skepticism.

This imaginative narrative is a model of the rigorous pursuit of truth in conversation. Apologetics is not just about winning arguments; it is a transformative apprenticeship where eternity touches down in everyday life. It’s about the discovery of truth through winding, weaving, honest, aimless, pointless and completely purposeful conversations between people who desperately want to know the way things really are.

You, dear Reader, are already in this book. Randal has written you into the story, and you’re sitting with him and Sheridan in the coffee shop, listening in on their dialogue. Discover what they have to say to each other–and to you.

About the Author:
Randal Rauser is associate professor of historical theology, teaching in the areas of theology, apologetics, worldview and church history, at Taylor Seminary in Edmonton, Canada, where he was granted Taylor’s first annual teaching award for “outstanding service to students” in 2005. He earned his Ph.D. at King’s College, London, where he focused on the doctrine of the Trinity. You can connect with Randal at RandalRauser.com.

Apologetics Books Recommended in this Episode:

Books by Randal Rauser:

In this episode of the Author Talks Podcast I interview Bill Foster about his book Meet the Skeptic: A Field Guide to Faith Conversations (Master Books, 2012).

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About the Book:
Christian faith almost always meets skepticism. Are you equipped to effectively handle the skeptic’s questions and debates?

Meet the Skeptic is a new approach to equipping believers to engage the non-believing culture. Author Bill Foster takes the multitude of objections and reduces them to four basic categories. Understanding these categories will enable you to effectively share your hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ and clarify the skeptic’s root objection. Foster offers pop culture references and biblical support so that you can:

• Recognize the Red-Flag Words that prop up objections
• Ask probing questions and acquire an ear for opportunities
• Develop an understanding of the skeptics ideas and better fulfill the Great Commission.

This easy to read approach to apologetics and evangelism is a field guide to faith conversations. It is written for teens, college students, and adults and can be used as a group study with the leader’s guide and workbook.

About the Author:
As a Christian apologist and owner of a brand image and design firm, Bill Foster has a unique perspective of how the popular culture perceives and is influenced by the ideas that shape our world. He has created an approach for engaging skeptics that breaks down objections into categories. Bill believes that understanding the worldviews behind these categories, rather than chasing down answers to every objection, is the key to reaching the heart of a skeptic’s thinking.

You can connect with Bill on his website (MeetTheSkeptic.com), Blog (MeetTheSkeptic.wordpress.com), Facebook, and Twitter (@MeetTheSkeptic).

Books by Bill Foster:

Other Resources Mentioned in this Episode:

Book Details:
Authors: Tim Chaffey, Ken Ham, Bodie Hodge
Publisher:  Master Books (2012)
Binding:  Paperback
Page count:  176
ISBN:  978-0890516492

Recommendation:
Review Date:  5/1/2012 by Shaun Tabatt
Rating:  Highly Recommended

Review:

Search for the words “Bible contradiction” on google and you will get search results that exceed six million hits. Perform that same search on Amazon.com and you will find more than two thousand books on the subject. We clearly are living at a time in history where questioning the authority and historicity of the Bible is all the rage.

What does this mean for the Christian? At a basic level, it means you will likely encounter people who do not share your view about the truthfulness and reliability of God’s word (i.e. the Bible). 1 Peter 3 suggests that the Christian needs to be ready to offer a defense for the hope that is within them, doing it with gentleness and respect. In order to offer a proper defense, every Christian should  become somewhat familiar with the the study of apologetics. When people hear the word apologetics for the first time, they will often ask what exactly it is they will be apologizing for. Don’t worry, apologetics has nothing to do with saying you’re sorry. It is actually the branch of theology concerned with offering a defense or proof for Christianity.

The team at Answers in Genesis is extremely passionate about equipping Christians with apologetics resources that will aid them in defending their faith. One of their latest resources is Demolishing Supposed Bible Contradictions: Volume 2, which is a follow up book to Demolishing Supposed Bible Contradictions: Volume 1 (Master Books, 2010). This new volume examines forty alleged Bible contradictions, twenty from the Old Testament and twenty from the New Testament.

If you’re the type of reader who tends to skip over introductory material, I strongly encourage you to take the time to read through Bodie Hodge and David Wright’s introduction. It will help you to better understand some of the types of conversations you may find yourself in with skeptics. Their goal is to help you move away from always “playing” defense in these exchanges. With the right tools and training, you’ll be ready for offense in no time.

The layout of each chapter is very straight-forward. First is the explanation of the “problem” and the relevant Bible verses. Next is the solution, which offers commentary on both sides of the issue, but ultimately gives an explanation that strives to show that the Bible is not contradictory. Each chapter comes to a close with a final section called conclusion, recapping what you learned in the problem and solutions sections in a few sentences. Some of the chapters cover a lot of ground in only a few pages, so the conclusion section does a nice job of bringing it all together, helping you to connect all the dots to ensure you have a good understanding of what you just read.

This book has something to offer Christians of all ages (teen to adult). Some of the articles do dive a bit deep, but the writing will be accessible and understandable to the average man in the pew. If you have more of an academic bent, you will find many good things here too. It’s well-reasoned articles will challenge you to think critically about your Bible and the attacks that are lodged against it. My hope is that this book will whet readers’ appetites to delve even further into the study of apologetics. Should you want to go further, you will definitely want to consider the many great apologetics titles published by Master Books.

Author Information:

Tim Chaffey is a writer for Answers in Genesis. He earned his master of arts degree in Biblical and theological studies in 2005 and began teaching at Tri-State Christian School soon after. He is currently the associate pastor of Martintown Community Church.

Mr. Bodie Hodge attended Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and received a B.S. and M.S. in mechanical engineering. His specialty was a subset of mechanical engineering based in advanced materials processing, particularly starting powders. Currently, Bodie is a speaker, writer, and researcher for Answers in Genesis USA. He is the author of The Fall of Satan and co-author of Dragons: Legends & Lore of Dinosaurs.

Ken Ham is the president/CEO and founder of Answers in Genesis – U.S. and the highly acclaimed Creation Museum. Ken Ham is one of the most in-demand Christian speakers in North America. Ken’s emphasis is on the relevance and authority of the book of Genesis and how compromise on Genesis has opened a dangerous door regarding how the culture and church view biblical authority. His Australian accent, keen sense of humor, captivating stories, and exceptional PowerPoint illustrations have made him one of North America’s most effective Christian communicators.

Where to buy:

• Amazon: Print, E-book
• Barnes & Noble: Print , E-book
• ChristianBook:  Print, E-book

Related Media:

• Sample (Introduction & 1st chapter)
• Book Trailer

Disclaimer:
This book was provided by New Publishing Group for review. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.

Book Details:
Authors:  Bill Foster
Publisher:  New Leaf Publishing Group (2012)
Binding:  Paperback
Page count:  144
ISBN:  978-0890516515

Recommendation:
Review Date:  4/17/2012 by Shaun Tabatt
Rating:  Highly Recommended

Review:

“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15, ESV)

“But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, 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, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For lit is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.” (1 Peter 3:14-17, ESV)

The preceding Bible verses are those that are often referred to when people talk about the necessity of sharing your faith. With such specific direction from the New Testament, one might assume that all Christians, everywhere are sharing their faith at every turn, but is that really the case? Consider these disturbing statistics I found at Bible.org:

• Ninety-five percent of all Christians have never won a soul to Christ.
• Eighty percent of all Christians do not consistently witness for Christ.
• Less than two percent are involved in the ministry of evangelism.

The preceding statistics are from the early nineties, so I suspect the numbers may be slightly worse today. I know some of my readers would suggest that a lack of burden for sharing your faith and reaching the lost could indicate that you may not truly be a Christian. While that is certainly a possibility, it is outside of the focus of this book, which makes it outside the focus of this review. Perhaps that is a discussion we can have another time.

There are a plethora of reasons Christians will give for why they don’t share their faith. Fear of rejection, lack of confidence, and lack of training will surely rank high on the list. In Meet the Skeptic, Bill Foster strives to boost the Christian’s confidence in his / her ability to engage in conversations about their faith. One of the things that makes this book different from many other apologetics books is that it doesn’t offer rote answers for the skeptic’s objections. Bill wants to teach his readers a mental framework that will allow them to learn about and respond directly to the worldview that are behind the skeptic’s objections.

The worldviews covered in the book are spiritual, moral, scientific, and biblical. For each of these four worldviews, the book offers an overview (“In a Nutshell”), the root ideas behind it (“sample objections”), illustrations, and “red-flag words” to listen for. I read the book through the first time without the workbook, but have since had a chance to look it over. Bill throws a lot of information at you throughout the book, so I think the workbook would be a useful tool to help the reader learn the material as thoroughly as possible. There is also a leader’s guide, making this a ready-made course for a Sunday school class or small group.

I would highly recommend Meet the Skeptic to the Christian who has been looking for a tool that will allow them to be more effective in sharing their faith with unbelievers. The ideal audience for this book ranges from teen to adult. My overall rating is 4 out of 5 stars.

Author Information:
Bill Foster teaches apologetics and Bible study to adults, college students, and teens. He has been involved in explaining and defending the biblical worldview for the last fifteen years. He holds a B.A. in English from Furman University and an M.F.A. in Graphic Design from the Savannah College of Art & Design. He is the owner of HigherWerks, Inc. a brand image and design firm. Bill has been married to his wife, Karla, since 1994.

Where to buy:

• Amazon: Print, E-book
• Apple: E-book
• Barnes & Noble: Print , E-book

Related Media:

• Meet the Skeptic Website – www.meettheskeptic.com
• Meet the Skeptic on Facebook – www.facebook.com/meettheskeptic
• Meet the Skeptic on Twitter – www.twitter.com/meettheskeptic
• Book Trailer

Disclaimer:
This book was provided by New Leaf Publishing Group for review. The reviewer was under no obligation to offer a favorable review.