Book Review: Reasons For Our Hope
Reasons For Our Hope: An Introduction To Christian Apologetics by H. Wayne House and Dennis W. Jowers (B&H Academic, 2011) is a MUST for every Christian’s bookshelf. As Normal Geisler wrote in the Foreword to the book – “Never before has apologetics been needed more.”
Building an apologetics library that works in the real world of ‘faith defense’ is an important task for every Christian – especially parents and others who work with children, teens and young adults.
Reasons For Our Hope is a wonderful resource that addresses multiple aspects of Christian apologetics and is easy to use. The authors, who are both professors, bring the best of their seminary classes to this amazing document.
Dr. H. Wayne House (M.A., Th.D., J.D.) is distinguished research professor of Theology, Law, and Culture at Faith Evangelical Seminary in Tacoma Washington. He taught at Trinity Law School of Trinity International University and is a past president of the Evangelical Theological Society. Good credentials for someone writing a book about Christian apologetics.
Dr. Dennis W. Jowers (M.Th., Ph.D.) is professor of Theology and Apologetics at Faith Evangelical Seminary in Tacoma. Also good credentials for writing a book about Christian apologetics.
The authors divided Reasons For Our Hope into four major sections:
- Apologetic Methodologies and Systems
- Apologetics In Scripture And In History
- Apologetic Problems
- How To Use Apologetics In Engaging The World
I was impressed in reading the book by how thorough and in-depth the authors were in presenting the vast amount of apologetics material. They wrote what is seminary-level information in a way that most Christians will find interesting, clear and easy to understand.
Reasons For Our Hope covers every important aspect of Christian apologetics, so it’s like having several topical books in one cover. Here are some of the subjects covered in the book:
Introduction to Apologetics
Worldviews
Approaches to Apologetics
Categories of Apologetics
How Do We Know the Truth?
The Tension Between Faith and Reason
Natural Theology and Its Contribution to Apologetics
Speaking About God and Ultimate Reality
Apologetics in the Old Testament
Apologetics in the New Testament
Early Apologists of the Second and Third Centuries
Later Patristic and Medieval Apologetics
Apologetics of the Reformers
Enlightenment and Post-Enlightenment Apologetics
Contemporary Apologetics
Use of Philosophy in Apologetics
Skepticism and Its Cure
Postmodernism and Defense of Christianity
The Knowledge of God
The Problem of Evil
Can Miracles Occur and Do They?
How Reliable Are the Sources for Christian Truth?
Answering the Challenges of the Jesus Quests
The Meaning and Importance of the Physical Resurrection of Christ
The Compatibility of Biblical Truth and Modern Science
After giving detailed insight into the history of apologetics and various problems that Christians face in presenting the Gospel, the authors share a wealth of information about how to use apologetics in engaging cultists, secularists, postmodernists, Muslims, and new age mysticism.
I highly recommend Reasons For Our Hope: An Introduction to Christian Apologetics for every Christian interested in both understanding and using apologetics to reach unsaved family, friends, neighbors and co-workers. It’s also a great guide for Christian parents to use in preparing their children to live in an ever-expanding secular society.
“Few contemporary books on the topic are more comprehensive, more systematic, better documented, or better illustrated than this one.” Norman L. Geisler, Ph.D., Professor of Apologetics, Veritas Evangelical Seminary
“Drs. House and Jowers have done a wonderful job at providing, in a single volume, a full-orbed education in the defense of the faith. We haven’t seen a book like this in a long time that delves into the definitions, the methodology, the history, the issues, and the practice of this crucial but neglected field of Christian Apologetics.” Craig J. Hazen, founder/director, Graduate Program in Christian Apologetics, Biola University
“The book’s real strength lies in its treatment of apologetic methodology and the biblical and historical basis of apologetics. It is a delight to see this book published, and I hope it gets into the hands of those who want to know the reasons for our hope.” J. P. Moreland, distinguished professor of Philosophy, Talbot School of Theology
As I mentioned at the beginning, this is a MUST for every Christian’s bookshelf. If you can afford to purchase only a few books about apologetics, be sure to purchase this one. If you can afford to purchase many books about apologetics, be sure to purchase Reasons For Our Hope.
Reasons for Our Hope: An Introduction to Christian Apologetics (Hardcover), By H. Wayne House, Dennis W. Jowers, B&H Academic, 2011
