I have a believing sister who is preparing for college. Although raised in a Christian home, she hasn't been exposed to naturalism, Kant, relativism, and all the other goodies she's bound to have thrown at her by Dr. Joe Q. Philosophy. What are the best lay books for a person preparing to defend the faith in a college environment?

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Joel Batts
Christ Presbyterian Church (PCA) - Memphis, TN

"Why wasn't God watching? Why wasn't God listening? Why wasn't God there for Georgia Lee?"
- Tom Waits
But you, O God, do see trouble and grief;you consider it to take it in hand. The victim commits himself to you; you are the helper of the fatherless. - Psalm 10:14

While I don't have any book recommendations that come to mind, in my experience, the hardest critics of Christianity weren't my philosophy professors, but more so my English and art instructors. While this is a set rule, it seems, though, that at my college, professors can take sides on any issue except the one they are teaching (i.e. political science, Bible, philosophy, etc).

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Dan Pemberton
Vacaville, CA

Member, First Baptist Church San Luis Obispo
Formerly ABUSA (We left, so I guess that makes us American Baptists Unleashed!)

Christianity and Liberalism-J. Gresham Machen
Any book defending the inspiration and authority of Scripture, I have found Gordon Clark's God's Hammer: The Bible and its Critics to be extremely helpful.
Always Ready-Greg Bahnsen
Why We are Not Emergent: By Two Guys that Should Be-DeYoung and Kluck
Communion With God (Puritan Paperback)-John Owen
Forgotten Trinity-James White
Theology Books in General.
These are books I have found helpful as I have gone through a secular university. My assumption is that your sister will get a heavy dose of liberalism, not just in the classroom, but while walking around campus. Books on liberalism will be very beneficial. I am also a firm believer that truly understanding the Christian faith is the best defense. So whatever good, solid Theology books you can get for her that you think she will read and comprehend, I think, will do the best.

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Brian Vandenburg
Attend Intown Presbyterian Church (PCA)
"The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed, and obeyed, depends not upon the testimony of any man, or Church; but wholly upon God (who is truth itself) the author thereof: and therefore it is to be received, because it is the Word of God."-Westminster Confession of Faith
http://wittenberg1517.wordpress.com/

Gary DeMar's Surviving College Successfully

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Daniel Ritchie
Saintfield, Northern Ireland - Queen's University, Belfast:History/Politics
Member of Dromara Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland (Covenanter)

Judy Robertson's Out of Mormonism

Hey, you never know...

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Dan Pemberton
Vacaville, CA

Member, First Baptist Church San Luis Obispo
Formerly ABUSA (We left, so I guess that makes us American Baptists Unleashed!)

Come to my Sunday School class. (kidding)

"Defending your Faith" by Dr. R.C. Sproul is a good one. He is not a presuppositionalist, but a Thomist, but many of the things he goes over are extremely useful. He covers non-contradiction, causality, "chance", Kant, Descartes, etc. very well and I think it's a good read for anyone who needs a bit of groundwork.

Is she going to be comming to good ol' Tiger High? Regardless of where she goes, she should get in with the RUF group there. The RUF ministers tend to be good at fielding apologetical questions, as they are kind of in that environment all the time.

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Andrew DeShazo, Deacon, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, Memphis, TN
"All of us stumble in many ways, but if anyone is never at fault in what he says, then he is mature, able to control his whole body."(James 3:2)

A Good Bible and prayer for discernment.

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Andrew Barnes
Husband of Dena
Pastor of Tchula Presbyterian Church

I definitely second the recommendation of Machen's Christianity and Liberalism. Though only 195 small pages, there's a reason it's still a classic that is every bit as relevant today as it was when it was originally written in 1923. It effectively exposes relativistic, non-orthodox expressions of Christianity for actually being no Christianity at all, and firmly establishes the foundation of orthodox Protestantism as the natural outcome of starting at the simple root of following Christ at all.

As far as combating explicit denials of Christianity, the number one book I would recommend (to anyone actually, but even more so to college students, which is the audience for which the book was written) is Every Thought Captive by Dr. Richard Pratt. Dr. Bahnsen's books are great, to be sure, but Pratt's book really gets right to the point and shows the reader who is unfamiliar with apologetics the big picture, as well as how it applies to different types of questions - and all that without getting into the philosophical jargon of the "Transcendental Argument." It's also a short 166 pages. For people just starting out in biblically defending their faith, I can't recommend it highly enough.

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Chris


A passion to know and reflect Christ by living and demonstrating the truth and richness of the historic Reformed faith

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Christopher Blum
Member of Riveroaks Reformed Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Germantown, TN
Currently attending Trinity Presbyterian Church of Northern Kentucky (PCA) in Burlington, KY

Click to get: Board Rules -- Signature Requirements -- Suggestions?

I don't know of any books to recommend, but I am going to attend Ohio Northern University for the next six years as a pharmacy major and (if my schedule can fit it) a philosophy minor. I would appreciate prayer as well as recommendations for Christian responses to non-Christian philosophies, if they are not already covered above.

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Ben - C&MA - Ohio

"What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ." - Philippians 3:8

The Battle Belongs to the Lord by K. Scott Oliphint
Oliphint is a presuppositionalist. He discusses various Scriptural passages about apologetics such as Jude 1-4, Acts 17, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, Romans 1:16-18, 19-32, 1 Peter 3:15-16, and so on.

Apologetics to the Glory of God by John Frame

Without a Doubt: Answering the 20 Toughest Faith Questions by Kenneth Richard Samples

Creation and Change by Douglas Kelly

Bones of Contention: A Creationist Assessment of Human Fossils by Marvin Lubenow

The Word of God and the Mind of Man by Ronald Nash

Foundations of the Christian Faith by James Montgomery Boice

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Curt Hayashida
member, Community Bible Church (Non-denominational)
Vallejo, CA

How about "Understanding the Times", by David Noebel?

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Jim
Elder, Harvest Reformed Church (RCUS)
http://www.harvestreformedchurch.org/
http://tbftgoggi.wordpress.com/

Upon a life I did not live; upon a death I did not die, Another's death, Another's life, I'd rest my soul eternally
Omnia dicta fortiora,si dicta Latina
Si vis pacem, para bellum

I'm reading through that now for my Sunday School class.

It seems pretty solid to me, although I think the author is an Arminian. It's long though, really long.

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Andrew DeShazo, Deacon, Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, Memphis, TN
"All of us stumble in many ways, but if anyone is never at fault in what he says, then he is mature, able to control his whole body."(James 3:2)

Zenas,
Yes he is Arminian and I certainly don't agree with everything he says, however, I think it is a decent overview of common world views that a college student will run into.

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Jim
Elder, Harvest Reformed Church (RCUS)
http://www.harvestreformedchurch.org/
http://tbftgoggi.wordpress.com/

Upon a life I did not live; upon a death I did not die, Another's death, Another's life, I'd rest my soul eternally
Omnia dicta fortiora,si dicta Latina
Si vis pacem, para bellum