Review of “Christian Apologetics: Past and Present,” Volume 2
Christian Apologetics: Past and Present is a two-volume compendium of primary sources that document the variety of reasons Christians have given in defense of their faith over the two millennia of its existence. This second volume covers the period from 1500 to the present. The authors divide it into four parts: (1) “The Reformation, Post-Reformation (Protestant), and Catholic Reformation”; (2) “Modernity and the Challenge of Reason,” from roughly the late 17th through the mid-19th centuries; (3) “The Global Era: Christian Faith and a Changing World,” which covers the mid-19th through early 20th centuries; and (4) “Issues Today and Tomorrow,” which covers the mid-20th century to the present. Each section includes selections by authors from across the ecumenical spectrum–Protestant and Catholic–with Reformed evangelical authors receiving special focus in parts 3 and 4. Each part begins with an “Introduction” that frames the historical context the excerpted apologists worked within and concludes with a “Follow-Up” that briefly describes apologetic authors and works not excerpted for the book. I recommend both volumes for Christian apologists, pastors, seminary professors or readers, or laypeople interested in the historical development of Christian apologetics.
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Great resource; even though Apologetics is not a key interest of mine, this collection of original resources looks like something worthwhile for my more general interest.
Dale Brueggemann
January 28, 2012 at 1:57 am