On Wednesday, Februrary 8 (2017) we will begin a 6(ish)-week study of apologetics, using a fairly down-to-earth and easy to read book entitled “Why Should I Believe Christianity“, by RTS professor James N. Anderson. NO HEAVY LIFTING! Don’t let the subject matter scare you away, even if you came last year.
This book is really designed for secular unbelievers, but can certainly strengthen the faith of all believers, while at the same time, providing us with a useful piece of literature that is is an excellent resource to give to a secular minded friend. Not all types of unbelievers are targeted here, but rather the “default” position of our culture, secular (naturalistic) atheism. (The sorts of people who don’t believe in God or anything super-natural, and attribute our existence entirely to natural processes like evolution).
Anderson challenges the reader to consider if his/her secular world-view can make sense of the world we live in (such as accounting for human experiences like morality, justice, human dignity, and the ability to do science), or if it flies in the face of our human experience. Simultaneously, he shows how Christianity does make sense of these experiences. For those who participated in last year’s study of “Covenantal Apologetics”, while the author (Scott Oliphint) endorses Anderson’s book, this is no where nearly as difficult, dense, verbose, or academic. PRELIMINARY DETAILS (to be worked out):
- WHEN: 6:30pm arrival – plan to be started within 5 minutes!
- WHERE: We are meeting at the Cole’s house in Dover
There are 8 chapters in the 230 page book – if you’re curious, here’s a good little outline/summary on the author’s blog: http://www.proginosko.com/2016/10/why-should-i-believe-christianity/ Hopefully this summary piques your interest!
The outline/schedule for the study is as follows:
- Introduction Discussion – Feb 8
- Chapters 1&2 – read to discuss on Feb 15 (40 pages)
- Chapter 3 – read to discuss by Feb 22 (42 pages)
- Chapter 3 – continue discussion on March 1
- Chapter 4 – read to discuss by March 8 (46 pages)
- Chapter 5 – read to discuss by March 15 (26 pages)
- Chapters 6 – read to discuss by March 22 (26 pages)
- Chapters 7 – read to discuss by March 29 (34 pages)
- Chapters 8 – read to discuss by April 5 (12 pages)
- Conclusion video by James N. Anderson, and intro to next Study – starting 4/19!
The book is fairly large-print, so don’t let the number of pages scare you – it should be a fast read!
To buy on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1781918694/ref=cm_sw_su_dp Please come with a paper-copy rather than the Kindle copy as there is prone to be a lot of page-turning in the discussions, and consistent pagination is very helpful for group study. Let’s all be on the same page, so to speak…no – literally! For further and final details, please contact Martin.
This is James Anderson’s biography
This is James Anderson’s blog