Handbook of Christian Apologetics

I know Father Tacelli from earlier days, before he was ordained, and after he was ordained. The book he and Professor Kreeft have put together is, as I expected, brilliant. I* wish father Tacelli himself would write more and give us the benefits of his truly great mind.
I recommend this to all Catholics and anyone interested in intelligent theology. Clear, concise, and spiritual in every way.
Buy it now.

This is an excellent book for discussion groups (includes great, thought-provoking discussion questions at the end of each chapter) and an excellent overview of Christian apologetics with a good list of recommended reading in the appendix. Also, the chapters on Hell and Heaven are perhaps the best I've read (even though the information in these chapters is based mostly on quotes from C.S. Lewis) On the downside, being that the authors are both professors of philosophy, I would have expected more information about reasoning, logical fallacies and the nature and limitations of proof. I think the majority of apologetic problems can be dealt with if people understood what consistutes a valid argument to begin with as well as the common fallacies BOTH believers and skeptics fall for. Also, some of the objections they grapple with in the book are dismissed a little too easily --- especially with the arguments for God's existence. While many of their replies may be effective for someone with little philsophical knowledge, they are often too simplistic for answering more sophisticated and philosophically-informed objections. This is a great introductory book, but readers seriously interested in apologetics and in answering intellegent objections to the Christian faith, will need to dig much deeper into these issues.

This book lists,outlines,and explains all the arguments for and against all the major Christian teachings. It covers the existance and nature of God, cosmology, evil,divinity of Christ, resurrection, historicity of the bible, heaven, hell, salvation and other religions. It also provides study questions and would be an excellent textbook.
It is precise, logical and a joy to read.

Christian apologetics are a demanding and difficult subject for most people.

This book is written so well that a scholar could read it without being bored and a layman without any background in theology could read it, understand it and use the information.

It is an excellent book for Sunday school programs; youth groups, ladies groups, almost anyone or any group would be edified and informed by this book.

In addition to being readable, it is also amazingly comprehensive. It is a great opportunity to get (almost painlessly) a basic theological education in one volume.

This book is a great introduction to apologetics, and it contains many helpful answers to useful and interesting questions. It seems to be written in an intelligent, thoughtful manner, and explains the problems with both the modernist and fundamental Christian views (as well as atheism and agnosticism, of course).

While most of the answers are useful, however, the concise nature of the book (with generally half a page to three pages dedicated to each answer) often requires additional reading to completely lay the question to rest. I'd label this a great book that brings up some interesting issues and can be used as a diving board to further study.

This is a handbook for the Catholic Apologetics who have taken on the call to put on the whole armor of God in Ephesians 6:10 ... in a world where the pen is mightier than the sword ... and the truth will set anyone free... this is a definitive guide on the discourse against the deceptive lies of counter-Christian theology.

This book is very clearly written. It starts with an introduction to apologetics. The second topic is the relationship between faith and reason -- they really support each other. After that, it starts to defend Christian faith in several key areas, always using clear definitions, common objections to Christian positions, and reasonable rebuttals to the objections.

This is a must for any apologetics library as well as anyone interested the truth of Christianity! It has tons of great info and Kreeft writes it in a way that keeps your interest. I have 50+books by atheists and Christians, this is the one I like the most; I have given answers to many atheists from this book. I gave this book a 4 star rating because it does not go too deep into some things, but it does cover many many subjects and gives great answers/arguments on most subjects. thanks, chris

Peter Kreeft does a masterful job with Ronald Tacelli in writing this book. I am very impressed by it. I have personally given this book to friends as it has been so helpful to me. It very clearly and concisely explains many various proofs for Christianity -- I strongly recommend this book.

...

There's good reason why Kreeft and Tacelli's book is always cited as one of THE apologetics resources to have.

It covers a HUGE array of topics in a sharp, accessible manner.

The book has TONS of valuable and useful information.

This book makes you THINK.

A SPECTACULAR resource!!

...

I am new to christian apologetics but this book has helped me learn a lot about it. In addition this book equipped me with the knowledge I need to confront other about the faith. I cant say I agree with them in everything.. mostly just the creation-evolution part but other than that this book was excellent and I would recommend it to everyone.

I own this and bought it because of its reputation. I know Kreeft became Catholic after writing this. For me, the Aquinas style of anticipating your opponent's response and then refuting it is excellent. This is a somewhat difficult technical read; most folks will have to go slowly and pay attention.

This book covers all the bases, discussing many different complex theological and philosophical topics in an easy to read format. I use this book all of the time when explaining certain aspects of Christianity to others. If you have any type of question about the Faith, chances are you will find an answer or explanation here.

Also, you can't go wrong buying a book written by these authors. Peter Kreeft, Ph.D. and Fr. Ronald Tacelli,S.J. are excellent writers and professors.

This book gives a good general overview of all the crucial arguments for Christianity. While the arguments are not exhaustive they are enough to equip any Christian with the ability to defend Christianity.

This is an easy to read, extremely clear, and concise book that makes the most sense of any thing that I have ever read. It has really opened my eyes to the sensible, easy to understand arguments, for Christianity, that I have known in my heart, but have been unable to put clearly in words. I am so glad I purchased this book.

The authors are strong in their use of philosophy, logic, and some psychology in their apologetics. But they are fairly weak in their use of contemporary science and contemporary Biblical interpretation. To say, for example, that the scientific proposal of biological evolution has little empirical backing and is probably losing ground today is inaccurate. And to say that Jesus clearly and strongly claims to be literally the "Son of God" (apparently in the eternal-ontological sense) simply is something not found in the gospels, despite his claim to some kind of divinity in only a few verses in the last-written Gospel of John. What is needed here are a more- sophisticated analysis of the notion of mission-functional divinity compared to eternal-ontological divinity, plus an analysis of the meaning behind some of the various gospel titles of Jesus.

Harvey Bollich, Ph.D.

I was very interested in the review. I am however looking for more specific information about the Chatti Tribe since my ancestral city in Germany is Lissberg, and my earliest ancestor is Hans Leys in January 1599.

The following is a critique of Handbook of Christian Apologetics, by Peter Kreeft and Ronald K.Tacelli. Apologetics - the position that logic and reason can lead one to the truth of Christian claims. These two philosophers of religion at Boston College, open their toolbox of logic in chapter one to lay the foundation to "hundreds of answers to crucial questions" about
Christianity. In order to use logic as their mechanism to establish validity to their compendium of religious claims, they select an amenable, philosophical modem that respects reason and mystery at the same time (Medieval, philosophical approach). They reify reason on page 17. The dichotomy of"faith"and "reason not blending well, needs finessing here, it seems, for their task
of promoting mythology as reality. They befriend reason to allow logic to enter, i.e. "Reason is the friend of divine authority," and four other statements using this affectation. Then a
minilesson in logic to affirm their intentions of going full bore with skills honed from the more formal studies of their philosophical educations - to unite reason with religion.
They run into problems on the next page (19). Shrapnel from flying fallacies under point 3, puts holes in their minilesson of logic on the previous page. They ask, "Is empirical knowledge the only kind possible? Or is there another kind?" Their answer: "There must be another kind; for there can't be an empirical demonstration that the only kind of demonstration is
empirical." Now to pause for a moment to ponder this very important answer/claim. If this claim is accepted by the credulous, unsuspecting searcher for "hundreds of answers to crucial questions", the searcher may be snared into 373 more pages.
Kleeft and Tacelli incorporate an "apothegm" here in the above quotes - a startling or paradoxical aphorism, to make a case for lubricating the reader into their unsupported claim. This fallacy is referred to as "argumentum ad ignorantiam". Simply stated: if you can't prove that empirical knowledge is the only possible knowledge, then there must be another (i.e. there must be another way of obtaining reliable knowledge other than empiricism). Again the apothegm by itself is a paradoxical contrivance not lending suitable notion to any claim - including the one that their whole thesis rests upon: "for there can't be (this is a conclusion "there can't be" without previously discussed premises to support validity - for i.e. maybe there can be - a falsifyable claim) an empirical demonstration
that the only kind of demonstration is empirical." Again the contention of this ruse is to conclude that the inability to prove something does not exist - substantiates its existence. The inability of an empirical demonstration to falsify other paths to knowledge certainly can not lead one to the conclusion that indeed, there must be other paths.
I'm perplexed at their pledge to use logic in support of their arguments. The next page they abandon that pledge long enough, it seems, to slide some presumptions by the unsuspecting
searcher who relies on their credentials as guides to the truth. Are their tools just rusty or are they disingenuous for the sake of "hundreds of answers to crucial questions"?
Their statement, top of page 20 - "We believe that the wise old saying, `if a thing is worth doing,
it's worth doing well' is true of reasoning too", seems to be something that they don't do so well.

The book begins by defining reason, and it takes several pages. The goal is to show how faith and reason are friends. If they were truely friends why doesn't the definition from Websters suffice ?
reason: 1 a : a statement offered in explanation or justification <gave reasons that were quite satisfactory> b : a rational ground or motive <a good reason to act soon> c : a sufficient ground of explanation or of logical defense; especially : something (as a principle or law) that supports a conclusion or explains a fact <the reasons behind her client's action> d : the thing that makes some fact intelligible 2a (1) : the power of comprehending, inferring, or thinking especially in orderly rational ways : INTELLIGENCE (2) : proper exercise of the mind (3) : SANITY b : the sum of the intellectual powers
faith: 2a (1) : belief and trust in and loyalty to God (2) : belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion b (1) : firm belief in something for which there is no proof.
I prefer the more parsimonious definitions provided above, they are clear and concise. In defining reason the words explanation, justification, rational, logical, intelligible, comphrending, and thinking are used. In defining faith the words belief, trust, loyaly, doctrines, and no proof are used. None of the words employed to define faith require rational inquiry, support of a conclusion, or thought. The foundation begins to crumble.
If one person can use faith to justify a belief, another person can use faith to justify a diametrically opposed belief. For example, faith provides no way of discerning who is correct when someone says that they have faith that God created the universe and someone else says that they have faith that the Invisible Pink Unicorn created the universe. Since it is clear that faith cannot be used to reliably justify any belief, we have to conclude that faith is irrational. In fact, in the entire history of human civilization, the only methods that we have been able to come up with for determining whether or not some claim is true are reason and objective experimentation that is repeatable, i.e., the scientific method. [...]
The twenty arguments for the existence of god. Those arguments not supported by the contents of the bible are equally applicable to what ever you personally require as a divine supernatural entity worthy of worship. The ontological arguments is effective argument for Invisible Pink Unicorn. Placing a limit on the greatness of a god is like placing a limit on the largest possible number. It becomes greater when you add 1. Having read the bible, in particular the old testament, god is described as having attributes that are less than perfection. The words kill/murder appear more often than the word love. Often in the name of god.
Pascal's Wager is logically flawed it limits the possible gods to only one. Man has worshipped and feared hundreds of gods, B. Pascal shouldn't have limited his matrix to just the one he worshipped. The argument is also based on fear and intimidation. If this were a compeling argument I would be inclined to pick the religion with the worst hell.
The greatest enemy of religion is reason. -- Martin Luther
Reason should be destroyed in all Christians. -- Martin Luther
To open the eye of faith, is to close the eye to reason. -- Benjamin Franklin
The atheist/non-theist does not claim that god is disproved, they claim that god is unproven. The burden of proof is on the one making the affirmative claim, the claim for the existence of god.
Evil is not an explanation for atheism/non-theism. Atheism exist because the existence of a supernatural god is an extraordinary claim that is not supported by extraordinary evidence. Additionally, once you step into the supernatural all bets are off because the only thing required for something to be true is that it be believed.
Faith does not require evidence. Its foundation is a belief in an assertion without evidence, and in many cases in spite of the existing evidence to the contrary. In this regard Christianity is like other religions, it's based on superstition and wishful thinking.
Reason is limited to the facts. Faith is without limits.

The "Handbook of Christian Apologetics" had the odds stacked against it to begin with.

If you're a brave enough soul, go ahead and buy this book. I dare you. Be prepared to endure:

(1) The ineffably unreadable prose;

(2) The meandering "logic" paths the authors take to prove the basis for the basis for the basis (and so on....) of the original question asked;

(3) The utterly useless charts that hinder -- rather than help -- understanding of the subject;

(4) and the ubiquitous "fire-and-brimstone", "hallelujah" praises that mar the credibility of every Christian treatise, no matter how objective they seem at first glance.

Even a book with terrible content could be salvaged somewhat by concise, lively writing. The horror this book's prose inspires can't be stressed enough. Any reasonably adept reader will CRINGE with every turn of the page. This book is the ambrosia of anyone who enjoys reading fine print and legal text for fun.

The arguments themselves will remind you of the joke about President Clinton's evasion of...erm...more pressing issues by asking for the definition of the word "is". Normally, I'd be grateful that a book like this made every effort to ensure complete understanding of the argument, but this one just gets ridiculous. By the time you're finished reading through all the paragraphs diagramming your question and explaining all the intricacies of it, you'll have forgotten what the question was to begin with. Perhaps that's the point of all the muck, but that kind of argument isn't going to compel or sway an opponent of Christianity. So, this book is essentially worthless.

I can't remember if the book acknowledged that a matter of faith is something that can't be completely proven. This is probably because I went into the reading version of "highway hypnosis" and read a good hundred pages into the book before realizing I hadn't retained a single thing. At any rate, it's important for a defender or doubter of ANY faith to understand that all the reason in the world can't truly satisfy a matter of faith one way or another.

So, even if this book were well-written (it isn't) and if it had efficient arguments (it doesn't), it still couldn't do what it claims it can. So, again, it's completely worthless.

Save your money and your time. Frankly, I'm embarrassed to even have this on my shelf at all.

It is neither a "Handbook" or "Christian." He renounced the Gospel of Christ and converted to the Great Whore of Rome. His betrayal like Judas is a shame to the Gospel and his Reformed heritage. His book is a waste of time as well as filled with false information. Good for birdcages, doorstops, or starting firs.