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Making the Case for Faith and The Existence of God
Nathan Jacobson: A List of Published Works Responding to the "New Atheists"
Radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt concluded 2009 by broadcasting a debate about God between polemicists Michael Shermer and Gregory Koukl, thereby bidding adieu to what he called "The Decade of the New Atheists". It was indeed a remarkable cultural phenomenon how four atheologians in particular rose to prominence by selling scads of books: Sam Harris with The End of Faith (2004), Christopher Hitchens with god is not Great (2007), Daniel Dennet with Breaking the Spell (2006), and, of course, Richard Dawkins with The God Delusion (2006). But just as noteworthy, perhaps, is the cavalcade of able critics who rose to these challenges to Christian theism. As with the cottage industry of criticism that accompanied Dan Brown's and then Ron Howard's The Davinci Code, these broadsides served as provocation for countless apologists. Of course, none of them were remotely as successful as their atheistic rivals in terms of sales. One wonders whether they will slip into oblivion just as Hume survives in philosophy readers, while most of his contemporaneous critics do not. Whatever happens, the swift and mostly scholarly response to this one decade's worth of the perennial barrage on Christian theism leaves it an open question whether, in the final analysis, it was the atheists or their counterparts who owned the aughts. Consider the following list an opportunity to judge this contest of ideas for yourself.
Richard G. Swinburne in Truth Journal Vol. 3 (1991)
Why believe that there is a God at all? My answer is that to suppose
that there is a God explains why there is a world at all; why there are
the scientific laws there are; why animals and then human beings have
evolved; why humans have the opportunity to mould their characters and
those of their fellow humans for good or ill and to change the
environment in which we live; why we have the well-authenticated account
of Christ's life, death and resurrection; why throughout the centuries
men have had the apparent experience of being in touch with and guided
by God; and so much else. In fact, the hypothesis of the existence of
God makes sense of the whole of our experience, and it does so better
than any other explanation which can be put forward, and that is the
grounds for believing it to be true. This paper seeks to justify this
answer; it presents in summary arguments given in more detailed form in
my book The Existence of God,1 and seeks to rebut criticisms
of those arguments given in J.L. Mackie's book The Miracle of
Theism.2
J.P. Moreland (Baker Academic: Jun 1, 1987), 288 pages.
Moreland's work must be considered one of the premier works on apologetics written by an evangelical. Although William Lane Craig is probably now worthy to be called the dean of evangelical apologists, Moreland's volume from the 1980s still stands alone as the best single volume in dealing with challenges to the Christian faith. This is due in large part to two factors: the format of the book and Moreland's concise way in handling the issues under discussion. ~ Shannon Richie ... "No evangelical now writing on apologetics surpasses Moreland in philosophical ability. Every person who intends to speak for Christ to the contemporary mind should master the content and spirit of this book." ~ Dallas Willard, University of Southern California.