The Question Of God - Suggested Readings

The Question of God - Suggested Readings Online Articles

Books

 Audio

 Video

Introductory Reading Can You Prove God Exists? – Dr. Peter Kreeft http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics/gods-existence.htm Festival Victoria 2005 Address – Maj-Gen Michael Jeffery, Governor-General of Australia http://www.gg.gov.au/speeches/textonly/speeches/2005/050320b.html

The Absurdity of Life Without God – Dr. William Lane Craig http://www.bethinking.org/resource.php?ID=129&TopicID=8&CategoryID=14 Classical Theistic Arguments Twenty Arguments For The Existence Of God - Peter Kreeft & Ronald K. Tacelli http://www.apologetics.com/default.jsp?bodycontent=/articles/theistic_apologetics/kreeftarguments.html The Justification of Theism – Prof. Richard Swinburne http://www.leaderu.com/truth/3truth09.html Language, Being, God, and the Three Stages of Theistic Evidence – Dr. Dallas Willard http://www.dwillard.org/articles/artview.asp?artID=42 Natural Theology and the Design Inference The Return of the God Hypothesis – Dr. Steven Meyer http://www.arn.org/docs/meyer/sm_returnofgod.pdf Arguments from Aesthetics and Desire The Argument from Desire – C.S. Lewis http://www.philosophyofreligion.info/desire.html Aesthetic Arguments for the Existence of God – Peter S. Williams http://www.quodlibet.net/pdf/williams-aesthetic.pdf Two Dozen (or so) Theistic Arguments – Prof. Alvin Plantinga http://www.calvin.edu/academic/philosophy/virtual_library/articles/plantinga_alvin/two_do zen_or_so_theistic_arguments.pdf The Evidence for Christianity

The Evidence for Christianity - Dr William Lane Craig http://www.bethinking.org/resource.php?ID=100&TopicID=4&CategoryID=6 Mere Christianity - C.S.Lewis http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060652926/sr=81/qid=1147050178/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-7634376-4872866?%5Fencoding=UTF8 Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics – Dr William Lane Craig http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0891077642/sr=81/qid=1147050086/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-7634376-4872866?%5Fencoding=UTF8 The Historical Jesus

The Historicity of the New Testament – Dr. J P Moreland http://www.bethinking.org/resource.php?ID=207&TopicID=1&CategoryID=2

Why the Historical Jesus Matters – Dr. Stephen T. Davis http://www.wcg.org/lit/jesus/davis.htm

The Resurrection – Dr. Alister McGrath http://www.bethinking.org/resource.php?ID=205&TopicID=1&CategoryID=2

Did Jesus Exist? – Early Non-Christian References – Paul Barnett http://www.ivpress.com/title/exc/2768-3.pdf

Divine Experiences and Miracles The Varieties of Religious Experience - William James http://www.csp.org/experience/james-varieties/james-varieties3.html#3-7 Reflections on Charismatic Renewal - Donald & David Phypers http://www.alibris.com/search/detail.cfm?chunk=25&mtype=&wtit=more%20than%20tong ues%20can%20tell&qwork=4465852&S=R&bid=8609068748&pbest=9%2E95&pqtynew= 0&page=1&matches=1&qsort=r The Testimony of Ian McCormack http://www.aglimpseofeternity.org/testimony.htm The Testimony of David Berkowitz www.forgivenforlife.com The Testimony of Philip Yancey http://www3.zondervan.com/features/authors/yanceyp/interview.htm

An assortment of various online testimonies http://www.christian-faith.com/testimonies/Mminfo.html http://www.testimonies.com.au/topics/index.html http://www.carm.org/testimonies.htm

Christian Living and Ethics Christianity Today Website www.christianitytoday.com Tony Campolo - Speaking my Mind http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ENBRX2/sr=81/qid=1147050287/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-7634376-4872866?%5Fencoding=UTF8 Morality, Ethics and Medical Ethics http://www.bethinking.org/categories.php?CategoryID=9 Debates

 The Question of God - C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/questionofgod/why/index.html The Existence of God – Modern Debates: http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theism/debates.html General Resources

General Archeological and Biblical History Resource Site http://www.bible-history.com/  Popular Audio Resources (General Topics) http://www.bethinking.org/audio.php

An Introduction to Scripture The writings of the Old and New Testaments, collectively referred to as the Bible, are regarded by Christians as the primary source of authority for all matters of faith and conduct. When reading the Bible, it is important to select a translation that is readable, yet conveys the intended meaning of the text as accurately as possible. For a balanced, moderately literal translation suitable for study, I recommend The New International Version (NIV). For a more thought-for-thought based translation, the New Living Translation (NLT) or Contemporary English Version (CEV) are highly readable. For a paraphrase using everyday language and style, The Message is a very popular choice. The full text from these translations and others can be found at: http://www.biblegateway.com/ For newcomers, I would recommend first reading the Gospel of Luke, and then the book of Acts, which chronicle of the life of Jesus and the beginnings of the early church. They are written in a biographical style by the same author (Luke), and can be read together as a continuous narrative. An understanding of the life of Jesus, his teachings, emphasis and purpose, is a solid foundation from which further interpretation and analysis of the rest of Scripture can be undertaken. For a parallel description of the life of Jesus, from a much more personal perspective, read the Gospel of John, which was written by one of his close followers. The New Testament Epistles, written by the apostles and early followers of Jesus, discuss general rules for Christian living, and contain further exposition of the life and teachings of Jesus. I recommend reading Philippians (Paul), Colossians (Paul), James (James), and 1st John (John), which are written by several different apostles, who have their own individual personalities and communication styles. For a summary of the ancient history of the nation of Israel during the time of Moses, and a concise summary of the Law, I would recommend the book of Deuteronomy. This book was a favorite of Jesus, who often quoted from it when questioned about the interpretation of the Law. The Bible also contains several areas of Wisdom Literature, such as the book of Proverbs, which contains many short quotations of general advice for wise living, and the book of Ecclesiastes, which wrestles with existential questions of meaning and purpose in life. The book of Job, which culminates in the epic and poetic passage of Job 38-42, is dedicated solely to the issues of evil and unjust suffering in the world. One of the unique features of the Bible is the existence of predictive Prophetic and Messianic Literature, the most famous examples of which are the passages of Isaiah 53, and Psalm 22, which foretell the life and death of Christ in specific detail. The question of eternal life is addressed in the Old and New Testaments through such passages as Ezekiel 18, Luke 10: 25-37 and Romans 2: 6-8. Finally, perhaps the most famous of Jesus’ addresses is the ‘Sermon on the Mount’, which can be found in Matthew 5 - 7, is widely considered to be the pinnacle of Jesus’ teachings.

Other Recommended Christian Authors Augustine, C.S.Lewis, Blaise Pascal, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Philip Yancey, John Wesley, Nicky Gumbel, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dallas Willard, N.T.Wright. See www.indelink.com for many more.