I remember well when Cold-Case Christianity was first published. I snatched it up, and immediately decided that this was one book that would resonate with the people in Huntsville, TX.

We house the state headquarters for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and we have seven state prisons in the Huntsville area. What does this mean?

• For one thing, we are a general population that values the rule of law and the evaluation of evidence in the court of law.
• This also means that J. Warner Wallace speaks our language.

Therefore, the campus club that I lead (Ratio Christi at SHSU) decided to go through Cold-Case Christianity as a book study and to invite J. Warner Wallace to campus to present a community-wide talk on the material from his book.

It was one of our most successful events ever!

Fast-forward to today. A new Cold-case book has been released, and this one has transformed Wallace’s original Cold-Case book into a smaller package designed for kids in the late elementary and middle school range.

I pre-ordered it so that I could receive an early copy. I wanted to see how he adjusted his arguments to be within a younger person’s reach. Here is my Amazon Affiliate’s Link: Cold-Case Christianity for Kids: Investigate Jesus with a Real Detective. You can also find it available on Wallace’s blog and web site Cold-Case Christianity.

(Incidentally, Wallace has some of the best apologetics posts on the web because he is so thorough with his research. I don’t get paid to say these things. It’s just that I use his material in Ratio Christi all the time because it is so good.)

Now for the Review

The book came in the mail, and as usual my son Thomas pounced on the box to see what was in it. Cool! was the immediate response. Thomas is 14 and this review consists of his comments to me about what he read. It took him a couple of days to read, which is about 4 hours total because he “powered through it” to use his terms.

Thomas’s comments after reading through Cold-Case Christianity for Kids.

1. The graphics were good, helpful, and well-done.
2. All the captions from the figures are quotes from the text – emphasizing the main points.
3. The logical arguments were presented in a way that ANYONE would understand them.
4. The book used real-world examples, which helped.
5. There are some fill-in-the-blank portions for kids to write in answers from their reading.
6. We make conclusions everyday using logic. This book uses this same logic to show that God is the most reasonable conclusion to a) a universe that began to exist, b) a finely-tuned universe, c) big moral truths, and d) information in DNA. (page 50).
7. It was a nice read.
8. It will entertain kids, but it would be best if an adult read it with them.

As a parent, I was very pleased that this book sparked some good conversations. But this happens a lot in our house with my involvement with Ratio Christi.

But if conversations on the truthfulness of Christianity are rare in your house, get this book.

Read through it with your kids. It will start your whole family on the path to exploring God with your mind as well as your heart.

Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.  [Romans 12:2 HCSB]