I spoke at CRU at SHSU’s meeting last Wednesday, and had a great time. Afterward, Shaneil came up to me and asked me what apologetics resources I would recommend. She followed up with an email so that I could put some thought to my answer.
Instead of merely answering this in an email to one person, I thought this would make an easy and broadly applicable blog post. So here goes…
- The poached egg is an “aggregation site” now associated with Ratio Christi that pulls together the blog posts of Christian Apologists world wide. (www.thepoachedegg.net )
Scavenger Hunt topic: Where does the reference to a poached egg come from? It is in a famous book and the answer is on the web site. - For doing research on famous apologists or even famous atheists, Brian Auten’s website is a one-stop shop. (www.apologetics315.com )
Scavenger Hunt (riddle) topic: Why 315? You’ll feel silly when you figure this one out. I don’t think it is explicitly stated on Brian’s site because I think he thinks it is obvious. And as you get into apologetics, it IS obvious. - For the best audio podcasts (and now video) on Christian Theology I go to Dr. William Lane Craig’s site Reasonable Faith. (http://www.reasonablefaith.org/ also available on iTunes) I say this is the best, not because I think his theology trumps that of other theologians. I say it is the best because Dr. Craig is so careful to present ALL theological views on a given passage or topic before telling you what HE thinks is the most reasonable view of the passage or topic.
- For the most encouraging messages for Christian living and apologetics, Ravi Zacharias is my encourager. In many ways he has been my Pastor for the past three years through his daily podcasts. I listen to him every morning on the way to work. His podcasts are on iTunes or can be downloaded directly from his web site (www.rzim.org )
- Anything written by Greg Koukl is a must-have. His book Tactics – A Game Plan for Sharing Your Christian Convictions has got to become required reading for any Christian interested in evangelism via apologetics. Often, a person is completely closed off from hearing the Gospel before their misconceptions about God, Christians, the Church, the Bible, etc are addressed in a caring and personal way. He also has topical newsletters which would be PERFECT for your small group. They are downloadable pdf’s. Find them at www.str.org or http://www.str.org/explore#&format=Article. Finally, Greg hosts a call in radio show for 3-hours every Tuesday. He posts a podcast of this radio show to iTunes on Wednesday of each week and I listen to these faithfully as well because of the excellent and wise way Greg handles the VERY difficult questions that callers ask him. (I wouldn’t know where to begin with some of these questions.) Greg Koukl’s podcast has enabled him to be my mentor from afar.
- Few people do live Q&A better than Frank Turek. His books are good. We are using his I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist curriculum with the junior high and high school kids in our church. But if you want short topical video content for a small group, see Frank’s video page (http://crossexamined.org/videos/ ). Scavenger Hunt 3 = see if you can find the videos that were shot in the LSC Theater on the SHSU campus, Fall 2014.
- If I have time or a particular interest I will listen to other podcasts like Justin Brierly’s Unbelievable, or the Lutheran Hour Ministries Issues Etc, or apologetics.com radio. These are all good, but personally can be hit or miss for my particular interest at the time.
I hope this list has provided you with some new resources. Let me know in the comments section if you use some of the same, or if you have some different suggestions.
-Darren Williams