Books By Dave Armstrong: “Mere Christian Apologetics”

[completed in September 2002; published by Lulu in August 2007]

—– To purchase, go to the bottom of the page —–

[Cover design by Chad Toney]

Intended as “general Christian reading” — no Catholic distinctives presented

Table of Contents

[chapters 6, 7, and 10 are hyper-linked and can be read online. Some differences exist in the final book edit]

*
Dedication
Introduction [below]

Chapter One: Why Believe in Christianity?
Chapter Two: Why Believe the Bible?: Archaeological, Prophetic, and Manuscript Evidences
Chapter Three: An Introduction to Bible Interpretation
Chapter Four: The Biblical Basis for Apologetics, or Defense of the Christian Faith
Chapter Five: Miracles, Skepticism, and the Historicity and Believability of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ
Chapter Six: Jesus is God: Biblical Proofs
Chapter Seven: The Holy Trinity: Biblical Proofs
Chapter Eight: God, Morality, Free Will, and Reason
Chapter Nine: The Biblical Evidence for an Eternal Hell
Chapter Ten: Reasons for Suffering and Encouragement and Hope in the Midst of It: A Biblical Compendium

Appendix One: An Unpublished Essay on the Trinity (Jonathan Edwards)
Appendix Two: The Strangest Story in the World (G.K. Chesterton)
Appendix Three: Sermon: On Divine Providence (John Wesley)
Appendix Four: The General Resurrection and Heaven (Charles Hodge)

Recommended Books: Christian Apologetics & Philosophy

*
[285 books listed, under 20 categories; perhaps the most extensive and up-to-date general Christian apologetics bibliography anywhere]

Introduction

The present work is designed and intended as general Christian apologetics, applying to all branches of Christianity, as historically understood and believed, and (hopefully) agreeable to virtually all those of Christian persuasion who subscribe to the Nicene and Apostles’ Creeds.

Many readers will note the deliberate allusion to C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity in the title. The purpose of that work was to identify and elaborate upon Christian doctrines held in common by all Christians. Similarly, my purpose is to present various aspects of Christian apologetics (or, the intellectual and rational defense of the faith) which virtually all Christians accept.

I am a Catholic, yet most of the chapters in this book were actually written when I was an evangelical Protestant apologist. The fact that I didn’t feel any need at all to change the contents after I converted to Catholicism, is an indication, I think, that in these areas, there is large-scale agreement among the different communions of Christianity.

Traditional, “orthodox” Christians (that is, those who hold to the traditional beliefs of their own denomination) – sadly — disagree on many things, but they also agree on much. This book is devoted to the latter category of topics, and as such, contains nothing specifically or distinctively Catholic (with which other Christians would disagree).