Book Reviews from Evidence for God from Science
Science
- Intelligent Design 101: Leading Experts Explain the Key Issues
- What's So Great About Christianity
- God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God?
- Debunking Dawkins: The God Delusion
- Creation As Science: A Testable Model Approach to End the Creation/evolution Wars
- Why We Believe What We Believe: Uncovering Our Biological Need for Meaning, Spirituality, and Truth
- The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief
- Peril in Paradise: Theology, Science, and the Age of the Earth
- Who Was Adam?: A Creation Model Approach to the Origin of Man
- Origin of the Human Species
- Origins of Life: Biblical and Evolutionary Models Face Off
Eschatology (End times)
- The End Times Passover
- Why Christians Will Suffer "Great Tribulation"
- Earth Turns Heaven: The End and Beyond
- Who Will Be Left Behind and When?
Bible/Philosophy
- The Irrational Atheist: Dissecting the Unholy Trinity of Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens by Vox Day
- There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind by Antony Flew
- Misquoting Jesus: Does Bart Erhman Prove the New Testament is Corrupt?
- A World of Difference: Putting Christian Truth-Claims to the Worldview Test
Cults
Science
Book Review: Intelligent Design 101: Leading Experts Explain the Key Issues
Intelligent Design 101 is a short, good introduction into the arguments for intelligent design theory from leaders in the field. If you have hesitated to buy one of the more specific books on intelligent design because of fear of getting lost in the technical discourse, this is a good way to get introduced to all the areas of discussion without getting bogged down in too many technical details. Once you have finished this book, you will be ready to take on some of the more detailed aspects of the theory, with an understanding of the basic concepts and issues. More...
Book Review: What's So Great About Christianity by Dinesh D'Souza
With the recent onslaught of books written by atheists to attack Christianity, best selling author, Dinesh D'Souza has come back with a comprehensive response to them all in his newest book, What's So Great About Christianity And the rave reviews have been pouring in:
- "Dinesh you should be executed."
- "Go back to India you narrow-minded punk..."
- "...I want to punch him in the face."
- "Dinesh is far and away the dumbest human being on this planet."
- "Self-absorbed cretin."
- "...He is the quintessential little ugly deformed ...fascist nerd with a barren intellect and an even more [despicable] soul."
- "I hope you die..."
Book Review: God's Undertaker:
Has Science Buried God?
John Lennox, professor of mathematics and philosophy of science at Oxford University has written a book in reply to the New Atheists, which addresses the question of intelligent design in the universe. Lennox's background is readily seen in his writing, which primarily consists of philosophical arguments against many of the arguments by atheists such as Richard Dawkins. Lennox excels in destroying some the pitiful "logical" and philosophical arguments of Dawkins. Most of the book is spent giving an overview of intelligent design, including design in the universe, earth, biology, origin of life and the genetic code. Lennox covers the basics of the science behind intelligent design quite well in a concise manner (the book is less than 180 pages long). He doesn't get bogged down in the highly disputed areas of intelligent design, such as biological design and irreducible complexity. Lennox records some amazing admissions by secular scientists. More...
Book Review: Creation As Science: A Testable Model Approach to End the Creation/evolution Wars
Reasons
To Believe's third in a series of books proposing a testable creation model
takes on the origin and design of the universe. Previous books,
Origins of Life: Biblical and Evolutionary Models Face Off
and Who
Was Adam?: A Creation Model Approach to the Origin of Man, examined the
origin of life on earth and the origin of mankind, respectively.
Creation As Science develops a biblical creation model and compares
the predictions of this model compared to a naturalistic model, young earth
creationism, and theistic evolution. This biblical creation model is divided
into four main areas, the origin of the universe, the origin of the Solar
System, the history of life on earth, and the origin and history of mankind.
More...
Book Review: Why We Believe What We Believe: Uncovering Our Biological Need for Meaning, Spirituality, and Truth
Robert
Walmann, the co-author of Andrew
Newberg's (professor of Radiology and Psychiatry) new book, Why We Believe
What We Believe, wrote me asking that I review his book. This
book is a sequel to Newberg's book, Why God Won't Go Away. The new book
has strengths and weaknesses, but, should be of some
interest to those who have an interest in spiritual matters and human behavior. The book is primarily written to address the question of how the brain
works so that we arrive at what we believe to be true. Neither author is a
Christian, as can be evidenced from the many jabs directed at Christians and
Christianity scattered throughout the book. However, the book cannot be said to be non-spiritual, since New
Age and Far Eastern religions seem to receive little or no criticism (co-author, Mr.
Waldman seems to be into New Age-type spirituality), and are actually endorsed. Likewise, atheists may not
be entirely comfortable with the content, since it clearly challenges their
cherished belief that that have no beliefs. More...
Book Review: The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief
Francis Collins, the former head of the Human Genome Project, has written a
book presenting his case for belief in theism. Although Collins presents much of the evidence
supporting a Christian worldview, he discounts nearly all of it, rejecting
the origin of life as requiring any input from God.
Collins goes on to reject creationism, relegating virtually all of
Genesis (other than Genesis 1:1) to being
"poetic" and "allegorical." Another chapter is devoted to criticizing
intelligent design, indicating that it is a "God of the gaps" approach
"ironically on a path toward doing considerable damage to faith." Collins
proposes that God designed the universe with such precision that humans would be
the end result. Thus, although Collins believes in ?quot;theistic evolution," the
only part he accepts as being theistic was the original design of the universe.
Although Collins calls it "spiritually satisfying" and "intellectually
rigorous", I think most believers would find it biblically troublesome and
scientifically irrelevant. More...
Book Review: Peril in Paradise: Theology, Science, and the Age of the Earth
Mark S. Whorton, Ph.D.
has written a book written for Christians that examines creation paradigms
on the basis of what the Bible says. Many Christians assume that the young earth
"perfect paradise" paradigm is based upon what the Bible says. In reality, the
"perfect paradise" paradigm fails in its lack of biblical support and also in
its underlying assumptions that it forces upon a "Christian" worldview. Under
the "perfect paradise" paradigm, God is relegated to the position of a poor
designer, whose plans for the perfect creation are ruined by the disobedience of
Adam and Eve. God is forced to come up with "plan B," in which He vindictively
creates weeds, disease, carnivorous animals, and death to get back at humanity
for their sin. Young earth creationists inadvertently buy into the atheistic
worldview that suffering could not have been the original intent of God, stating
that the earth was created "for our pleasure."
More...
Book Review: Who Was Adam?: A Creation Model Approach to the Origin of Man
Are
humans just advanced apes or have they been specially created in the image of
God? Publications by scientists almost never ask the question, whereas
publications by theists seldom examine the scientific data that relates to the
question. However, two scientists raised in non-Christian homes, Fuz Rana (Ph.D.
in chemistry) and Hugh Ross (Ph.D. in astronomy), have written a new book (Who
Was Adam?: A Creation Model Approach to the Origin of Man) that examines
the question of human origins by comparing biblical and evolutionary models.
More...
Book Review: Origin of the Human Species?
Dr.
Dennis Bonnette offers a
philosophical analysis of the theory of evolution with particular application to
human origins. Dr. Bonnette presents evolutionary theories (both theistic and
non-theistic), along with creationists' explanations. Dr. Bonnette, being a
Roman Catholic, defends the traditional Roman Catholic interpretation of human
origins from the book of Genesis. Although he does not take an official position
on the superiority of any one theistic model, his book seems most compatible
with an old earth creationist approach. The book describes a "natural" or
"philosophical" species, as a group of biological species that is functionally
similar. More...
Book Review: Origins of Life: Biblical and Evolutionary Models Face Off
Probably the single most potent scientific argument against atheism
is the problem with a naturalistic origin of life. This very problem led me to
become a deist as a biology major at USC in the early 1970's. The problems for
atheists have gotten no better since that time. In fact, the last 30+ years of
research have turned up even more problems than those that existed when I first
studied the theories. Fuz Rana (a biochemist) and Hugh Ross (an astrophysist)
have teamed up to write the
definitive up-to-date analysis of the origin of life. The book examines the origins of life from the
perspectives of chemistry, biochemistry, astronomy, and the Bible. A biblical
creation model is presented along side the naturalistic models to help the
reader decide which one fits the data better. This is an excellent book to give
to your unbelieving friends, since it presents a testable creation model that is
clearly superior to any naturalistic model.
Eschatology (End times)
Book Review: The end Times Passover
The
End Times Passover: Etymological Challenges to Millenarian Doctrines is the
first of two books by Joe Ortiz's on end times events and prophecy. Both books
refute the prevalent pre-tribulation rapture scenario, although this book
focuses more on the rapture and the New Jerusalem. At just over 500 pages, the
topics are covered in much detail. To his credit, Mr. Ortiz quotes long passages
of scripture and commentaries, so that readers know that nothing is taken
out-of-context. More...
Book Review: Why Christians Will Suffer "Great Tribulation"
Why Christians Will Suffer "Great Tribulation" is Joe
Ortiz's sequel to His book, The End Times Passover, which is
reviewed
separately on this site. Mr. Ortiz makes the point that "The" Great Tribulation
is actually not mentioned in the Bible. The definite article "the" is not part
of Matthew's description of end times tribulation events.
So, Christians will suffer great tribulation in the end times, although it will
vary from the tribulation the saints have received throughout recorded history
only by degree to which the saints will be persecuted. Many Bible teachers are
claiming that end times Christians will escape tribulation and be raptured prior
to these events (often referred to as "pre-tribulation rapture" or "pre-trib
rapture"). Since Christians are not destined for wrath,
why would God put us through great tribulation?
More...
Book Review: Earth Turns Heaven: The End and Beyond
Earth
Turns Heaven: The End and Beyond by Maria Vatsa is written from an
interesting perspective. Although it was submitted to me as scientific
examination of creation and beyond, it might more aptly be called A Brief
History of God's Time. Although Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time
was mentioned in the introduction, I didn't really get how that applied to the
book until I read to the end of the book. Earth Turns Heaven is a
sweeping examination of God's plan for the creation - from the beginning of time
until the end of time, and beyond. As such, it is not really an examination of
the science, but an examination of the Bible from beginning to end, since
scripture is quoted extensively.
More...
Book Review: Who Will Be Left Behind and When?
Dave Bussard
has written a theological examination of the eschatology promoted in the Left Behind
books. The Left Behind
series has been very popular with Christians. This fictional account of end
?imes prophecy promotes the pretribulational rapture interpretation of Jesus
Christ's return. According to this interpretation, Jesus will return to earth
twice - once in an imminent, silent rapture of the Church, and second in
judgment of the earth. In Who Will Be Left Behind and When?, Dave Bussard
examines the teachings of the Left Behind series in light of what the
Bible says. It does an excellent job of presenting specific pretribulational
rapture teachings, including scriptures cited by proponents, and explains what
those biblical passages really say in context, and what other relevant
scriptures say about that specific teaching. Written in a highly readable style,
this book is the perfect introductory comparison of pre-trib vs. pre-wrath
rapture interpretations. At only 161 pages, this book presents the issues in an
easy-to-understand style that will keep your interest to the end. Once you have
a basic understanding of end times prophecy, you might want to consider
Before God's Wrath,
published through Strong Tower
Publishing.
Philosophy
Book Review: The Irrational Atheist: Dissecting the Unholy Trinity of Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens by Vox Day
Vox Day (pen name for Theodore Beale) has written a new book
The
Irrational Atheist, which takes on authors Richard Dawkins (The God
Delusion),
Sam Harris (The End of Faith) and Christopher Hitchens (God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything).
Day, a gaming programmer and member of Mensa, is simply brilliant in his
analysis of the writings of the new atheists. For the most part, Vox Day sticks
to dissecting the logic and sources atheists use to support their new
"theology." More...
Book Review: There Is a God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind by Antony Flew
Professor Antony Flew
and co-author Abraham Varghese have written a book,
There Is a God,
describing Flew's "conversion" from atheism to deism. Although Flew grew
up as the son of a preacher, the problem of evil and Flew's academic studies
led him to disbelieve in God's existence.
More...
Misquoting Jesus: Does Bart Erhman Prove the New Testament is Corrupt?
In his best selling book, Misquoting Jesus, Dr. Bart Erhman, a well known New Testament scholar and critic, seeks to show that the New Testament is a corrupt document changed through the evolutionary process of scribal alteration, early Christian theological apologetics, and poor scholarship. Since he contends that if God had set out to write a book, he would have preserved an uncorrupted and inerrant work, Dr. Erhman seeks to show that the New Testament is riddled with errors. By showing it is riddled with errors, Erhman seeks to prove that the Bible is not the inerrant word of God, but strictly a human book reflecting human hopes, dreams and aspirations. This paper reviews his arguments and rebuts several of his claims. More...
Book Review: A World of Difference: Putting Christian Truth-Claims to the Worldview Test
Ever since I attended a Reasons To Believe conference in 2000, I have been fascinated
with the approach Ken Samples has taken for testing worldviews for truth. The
wait is finally over and A
World of Difference: Putting Christian Truth-Claims to the Worldview Test
is now published. One of the long-term goals of Reasons To
Believe has been to provide a comprehensive, testable Christian creation model,
and
A World of Difference adds a philosophical piece to that testable creation
model. Specific worldviews that are examined in detail include naturalism (a
completely secular worldview), postmodernism (a skeptical worldview),
pantheistic monism (Eastern mystical worldview), Islam (a radical monotheistic
worldview), and Christianity. More...
Cults
Book Review: The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore by Deepak Chopra
In
his book, The Third Jesus, Deepak Chopra attempts to show that Jesus
Christ was teaching what is now known as Buddhism/Eastern Mysticism. This claim
can only be accomplished by twisting and/or redefining what Jesus said. Mr.
Chopra takes this one step further by questioning whether or not Jesus Christ
said anything that is recorded in the New Testament, and draws from
Gnostic writings for support as to what He supposedly said. He needs to appeal
to these extra-biblical documents to help prop up his theology, because if the
author doesn't use those documents his argument will be even weaker, if not
collapse completely. By doing so Mr. Chopra is clearly displaying an unhealthy
dichotomy, by questioning whether or not the New Testament accurately records
Jesus' life and words, and yet quoting apocryphal works as if they have more
authority. More...
Book Review: Captives of a Concept (Anatomy of an Illusion)
Don Cameron, as a former
member of a Body of Elders of Jehovah’s Witnesses has much experience with
the Watchtower Society. According to Cameron, "The concept that still holds
millions of Jehovah's Witnesses captive is their belief that the Watchtower
Society is God's chosen organization to teach them what he wants them to
believe; that all of God’s directions to mankind comes through this one
'channel of communication.'" Don Cameron goes on to show that the teachings
of the Watchtower have changed since 1919, therefore making the basis upon
which they were chosen as God's organization (their "correct" teaching) to
no longer be valid.
Even with overwhelming evidence that the Watchtower is not God's organization, members are unwilling to even examine this evidence for fear of being disfellowshipped. However, Cameron suggests that Christian "students" ask them to teach them about the history of the organization. Surprisingly, information about the Society's history is contained in their current 750-page book, Jehovah's Witnesses -Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, from which Jehovah's Witness can teach themselves the truth about the Watchtower Society, based upon appropriate questions from their "student." I encourage you to get this book and use it to help your local Witnesses out of their false religion. More...
Last Modified April 26, 2008
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