Getting Started with Apologetics: How to Learn to Defend Your Faith
By Natasha Crain
In my last post, I explained what apologetics is and why you absolutely have to care as a Christian parent today. As promised, this is a follow up post to help you get started learning how to defend your faith. Without further ado, here are seven things you can do.
1. Get to know who the leading apologists are and read their books.
Of course you’re not going to read every book by every leading apologist when you’re just getting started. But a great first step is to familiarize yourself with the big names in apologetics so you can look into what those authors have written. I’ve highlighted some below. To get a feel for what they write, look at their books on Amazon. Click on the titles and check out the table of contents. If you do this for several authors below and their books, you’ll quickly gain an overview of the major topics apologists address (and identify a few books for your reading list!).
This is far from an exhaustive list. I’m highlighting the authors I feel offer the best starting point for people new to apologetics.
- J. Warner Wallace: Wallace is a homicide detective and the author of Cold Case Christianity, which I recommended here as the best of the 42 books I read in the last year. It is an excellent starting point for understanding the nature of apologetics and I can’t recommend it highly enough. (On a side note, I had the great opportunity to guest post on his blog recently. Check out “Preparing Kids to Encounter Atheism Online” if you missed it.) Here is his website, where he blogs daily.
- William Lane Craig: Craig is perhaps the best known apologist and has written many books. I read his “master” book, Reasonable Faith, this year. This was a fantastic and very detailed survey of key apologetics topics. I wouldn’t recommend diving straight into it if you’re new to apologetics (but absolutely would if you’ve done some preliminary reading!). He has several other books, however, that are more concise in nature. Here is his Amazon author page and here is his website (which contains extensive writings).
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- Lee Strobel: Strobel is a former atheist and journalist who has written several investigative-style books, such as the Case for Christ, the Case for Faith and the Case for the Creator. His books are written at the “popular” level and are a good introduction. Here is his Amazon author page and here is his Twitter account (his Facebook page isn’t active).
- Hank Hanegraff: Hanegraff is a radio host known as the “Bible Answer Man” and the author of many books. I read his book, “Has God Spoken? Proof of the Bible’s Divine Inspiration,” this year and would recommend it highly. Here is his Amazon author page and here is his website.
Other key apologists to look for include Paul Copan, Ravi Zacharias, J.P. Moreland, Norman Geisler, Josh McDowell, Sean McDowell, N.T. Wright, and C.S. Lewis…
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And what about defending the Truth regardless of what your faith says, for a change? If the claims of your faith are contained inside the Truth, then you’ll be defending both at the same time. Two birds with one stone. But if you say you want to defend your faith, regardless of anything else, sounds like an intellectually dishonest endeavor. Sounds fishy and dishonest.