The Question of God - Suggested Readings

Online Articles Books  Audio  Video

Introductory Reading

Can You Prove God Exists? – Dr. Peter Kreeft

http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics/gods-existence.htm

Festival Victoria 2005 Address – Maj-Gen Michael Jeffery, Governor-General of Australia

http://www.gg.gov.au/speeches/textonly/speeches/2005/050320b.html

The Absurdity of Life Without God – Dr. William Lane Craig

http://www.bethinking.org/resource.php?ID=129&TopicID=8&CategoryID=14

Classical Theistic Arguments

Twenty Arguments For The Existence Of God - Peter Kreeft & Ronald K. Tacelli
http://www.apologetics.com/default.jsp?bodycontent=/articles/theistic_apologetics/kreeft-
arguments.html

The Justification of Theism – Prof. Richard Swinburne

http://www.leaderu.com/truth/3truth09.html

Language, Being, God, and the Three Stages of Theistic Evidence – Dr. Dallas Willard
http://www.dwillard.org/articles/artview.asp?artID=42

Natural Theology and the Design Inference

The Return of the God Hypothesis – Dr. Steven Meyer

http://www.arn.org/docs/meyer/sm_returnofgod.pdf

Arguments from Aesthetics and Desire

The Argument from Desire – C.S. Lewis

http://www.philosophyofreligion.info/desire.html

Aesthetic Arguments for the Existence of God – Peter S. Williams

http://www.quodlibet.net/pdf/williams-aesthetic.pdf

Two Dozen (or so) Theistic Arguments – Prof. Alvin Plantinga

http://www.calvin.edu/academic/philosophy/virtual_library/articles/plantinga_alvin/two_do
zen_or_so_theistic_arguments.pdf

The Evidence for Christianity

 The Evidence for Christianity - Dr William Lane Craig
http://www.bethinking.org/resource.php?ID=100&TopicID=4&CategoryID=6

Mere Christianity - C.S.Lewis

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060652926/sr=8-
1/qid=1147050178/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-7634376-4872866?%5Fencoding=UTF8

Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics – Dr William Lane Craig

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0891077642/sr=8-
1/qid=1147050086/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-7634376-4872866?%5Fencoding=UTF8

The Historical Jesus

The Historicity of the New Testament – Dr. J P Moreland

http://www.bethinking.org/resource.php?ID=207&TopicID=1&CategoryID=2

Why the Historical Jesus Matters – Dr. Stephen T. Davis

http://www.wcg.org/lit/jesus/davis.htm

The Resurrection – Dr. Alister McGrath

http://www.bethinking.org/resource.php?ID=205&TopicID=1&CategoryID=2

Did Jesus Exist? – Early Non-Christian References – Paul Barnett

http://www.ivpress.com/title/exc/2768-3.pdf

Divine Experiences and Miracles

The Varieties of Religious Experience - William James

http://www.csp.org/experience/james-varieties/james-varieties3.html#3-7

Reflections on Charismatic Renewal - Donald & David Phypers

http://www.alibris.com/search/detail.cfm?chunk=25&mtype=&wtit=more%20than%20tong
ues%20can%20tell&qwork=4465852&S=R&bid=8609068748&pbest=9%2E95&pqtynew=
0&page=1&matches=1&qsort=r

The Testimony of Ian McCormack

http://www.aglimpseofeternity.org/testimony.htm

The Testimony of David Berkowitz

www.forgivenforlife.com

The Testimony of Philip Yancey

http://www3.zondervan.com/features/authors/yanceyp/interview.htm
An assortment of various online testimonies
http://www.christian-faith.com/testimonies/Mminfo.html
http://www.testimonies.com.au/topics/index.html
http://www.carm.org/testimonies.htm
Christian Living and Ethics

Christianity Today Website

www.christianitytoday.com

Tony Campolo - Speaking my Mind

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ENBRX2/sr=8-
1/qid=1147050287/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-7634376-4872866?%5Fencoding=UTF8

Morality, Ethics and Medical Ethics

http://www.bethinking.org/categories.php?CategoryID=9

Debates

 The Question of God - C.S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/questionofgod/why/index.html

The Existence of God – Modern Debates:

http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/theism/debates.html

General Resources

General Archeological and Biblical History Resource Site

http://www.bible-history.com/

 Popular Audio Resources (General Topics)

http://www.bethinking.org/audio.php
An Introduction to Scripture

The writings of the Old and New Testaments, collectively referred to as the Bible, are regarded by
Christians as the primary source of authority for all matters of faith and conduct.

When reading the Bible, it is important to select a translation that is readable, yet conveys the
intended meaning of the text as accurately as possible. For a balanced, moderately literal
translation suitable for study, I recommend The New International Version (NIV). For a more
thought-for-thought based translation, the New Living Translation (NLT) or Contemporary
English Version (CEV) are highly readable. For a paraphrase using everyday language and
style, The Message is a very popular choice.

The full text from these translations and others can be found at: http://www.biblegateway.com/

For newcomers, I would recommend first reading the Gospel of Luke, and then the book of
Acts, which chronicle of the life of Jesus and the beginnings of the early church. They are
written in a biographical style by the same author (Luke), and can be read together as a
continuous narrative. An understanding of the life of Jesus, his teachings, emphasis and
purpose, is a solid foundation from which further interpretation and analysis of the rest of
Scripture can be undertaken.

For a parallel description of the life of Jesus, from a much more personal perspective, read the
Gospel of John, which was written by one of his close followers.

The New Testament Epistles, written by the apostles and early followers of Jesus, discuss
general rules for Christian living, and contain further exposition of the life and teachings of Jesus.
I recommend reading Philippians (Paul), Colossians (Paul), James (James), and 1st John
(John), which are written by several different apostles, who have their own individual personalities
and communication styles.

For a summary of the ancient history of the nation of Israel during the time of Moses, and a
concise summary of the Law, I would recommend the book of Deuteronomy. This book was a
favorite of Jesus, who often quoted from it when questioned about the interpretation of the Law.

The Bible also contains several areas of Wisdom Literature, such as the book of Proverbs, which
contains many short quotations of general advice for wise living, and the book of Ecclesiastes,
which wrestles with existential questions of meaning and purpose in life. The book of Job, which
culminates in the epic and poetic passage of Job 38-42, is dedicated solely to the issues of evil
and unjust suffering in the world.

One of the unique features of the Bible is the existence of predictive Prophetic and Messianic
Literature, the most famous examples of which are the passages of Isaiah 53, and Psalm 22,
which foretell the life and death of Christ in specific detail.

The question of eternal life is addressed in the Old and New Testaments through such passages
as Ezekiel 18, Luke 10: 25-37 and Romans 2: 6-8.

Finally, perhaps the most famous of Jesus’ addresses is the ‘Sermon on the Mount’, which can be
found in Matthew 5 - 7, is widely considered to be the pinnacle of Jesus’ teachings.

Other Recommended Christian Authors

Augustine, C.S.Lewis, Blaise Pascal, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Philip Yancey, John Wesley, Nicky
Gumbel, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Dallas Willard, N.T.Wright. See www.indelink.com for many more.