Classical Theism, Philosophy, and Religion Forum / Popular level books that introduces Christianity

**Posted by Jason** 3/11/2016 11:30 am

Are there any popular level books that one could recommend people who know little to nothing or have an incorrect prespective on Christianity?

Last edited by Jason (3/11/2016 2:23 pm)

**Posted by Mysterious Brony** 3/13/2016 2:30 am

Try CS Lewis or William Lane Craig

**Posted by Dennis** 3/13/2016 2:40 am

Does Max Lucado's "You are special" count?

**Posted by seigneur** 3/13/2016 3:52 am

Jason wrote:
Are there any popular level books that one could recommend people who know little to nothing or have an incorrect prespective on Christianity?

"Incorrect perspective" can mean too many things. I would say that it's an incorrect perspective to consider polemics against or refutations of incorrect perspectives as something suitable for popular level.

A positive case is the best case. Popular level Christian material that lays out a positive case with minimal polemics is for example catechisms and Sunday school textbooks. They don't tell you (much) about classical theism, but they are suitable when you are really unfamiliar with Christianity. I would also recommend an overview of philosophy of religion or comparative religious studies.

**Posted by 884heid** 3/13/2016 7:19 am

I recently read "The Case For Jesus" by Brant Pitre and i thought it was decent as a book for laypeople. Though, it doesn't offer new or groundbreaking evidence for the case of Jesus' divinity. He relies on the usual allusions and riddles hypothesis to establish Jesus' divinity in the Gospels. I also didn't like his appeals to scholars to interpret Jesus being seated as the right hand of power to God as a statement of co-equality. Since the quoted scholars he used such as Joel Marcus would disagree with that claim since the latter spoke of co-regency, rather than equality.

**Posted by 884heid** 3/13/2016 9:27 am

That's fair, of course. Although Joel Marcus (the quoted scholar) also proclaimed 'near equal' in addition to 'co-regency'. I have read that Pitre is also planning on writing an academic book that deals with the same topic, so i guess that he will address some of the points that might have been raised against his work.

Last edited by 884heid (3/13/2016 9:27 am)

**Posted by iwpoe** 3/13/2016 10:10 pm

Craig sets of my "awful Protestant youth minister" alarms, but he's a good scholar. I like Kreeft's works also.

**Posted by Jason** 3/14/2016 8:49 am

Thank you guys for your replies, I appreciate it. CS Lewis and Peter Kreeft are definitely on the top of my list. I will look at the books from Robert Barron, Frank Sheed, Brant Pitre and Max Lucado as I have not read them. My own journey was started by actually reading the Gospels themselves for sure with a lot of help from various writers including William Lang Craig. Thank you once again for all your replies.

**Posted by Karl3125** 11/14/2016 7:06 pm

C.S. Lewis: Bought my roommate a copy of Mere Christianity last year as a present. (He asked me if I would suggest the "introductions" on my shelf, to which I told him I would buy him Lewis' book.) Someone on Ed's post about Lewis made the point that Lewis made the case for classical theism and other traditionally Thomist positions in layman's language.

P. Kreeft: One of the few academics who can (and does) write for popular audiences. His Summas are on my to-read list.

Paul Little: Another "mere Christianity" guy. His books include Know What You Believe and Know Why You Believe. More on the pop apologetics side.

W.L. Craig: Good for presenting Christians with reasons with their faith. I see nothing wrong with starting them off with Reasonable Faith, them giving them Garrigou-Lagrange's Reality.

Chesteron: Orthodoxy and Heretics.

One could also make the case for some of the works of the Church Fathers as good introductions. Athanasius' On the Incarnation easily comes to mind.