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JohnV · #8 (**permalink**) 07-18-2005, 05:22 PM

I know of no better book, other than the Bible, that defends the Christian faith against allegations than City of God. Augustine did such a good job that the religious beliefs that made charges against the Christian faith were deflated of any power they may have had, some of them never to be raised again, while others remained quiet until they could slowly gain ground again through the indolence of the church. His arguments are very much worth the study.

I can also read He is There and He is Not Silent by Schaeffer with great interest. His book, and less so The God Who is There, but that book too, are of the few modern apologetics books I don't feel like flinging across the room. C.S. Lewis' books are the same. I don't agree with some minor things, but his thoughts are well worth the work delving into.

Normally, if the cover says "apologetics' on it I usually don't bother anymore; it usually isn't worth it. I've read some of those books, and am almost always disappointed by them, sometimes angry enough to throw them across the room. I've read Anselm's Prosologium, and find it a good supplement to Augustine's City of God, Confessions, Enchiridion and On Christian Doctrine; and it is very much in line with Ps. 111, which I call the Philosopher's psalm. Modern writers generally just don't attain to that level of thought. And these books are as relevant today as they were fifteen hundred years ago. So many nodern writers don't interest me.

But, of course, the best two books around are the Book of Psalms, esp. Ps 111, and the first epistle of John. I would add to that the gospel of John, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes as well. Of all the books I've read, I've received the most instruction from them on how to defend the faith, and how to be an apologist, which I see as two different things: how to be one and how to do it: you can't do the latter without being the former first.

These are two fundamental aspects of apologetics: character, and true knowledge. You can't defend the faith if you can't hear what the person is saying. So you have to learn to listen and discern. A lot of times people will respond that you haven't really heard them, but then you have to lead them slowly to realize that you did indeed hear them, better than they think, but that you don't swallow the excuses they put in front of their reasons. And that takes a great deal of patience, but mostly love. Here is character and knowledge working together to both hear and give answers. If there's one stand-out thing I've learned from Schaeffer its that whatever you do must be done out of love for that person, not for your views or for your own purposes: the Spirit supports the former, but not the latter, and it is His work to begin with.