Best Books to Defend your Faith or Understand Christianity
The idea of defending something shouldn’t come as a surprise to people. Growing up with a bunch of nerds I heard a lot of arguments for why Star Wars was great or why it sucked. Same went for Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Stargate, and every other book, movie, or show out there. This goes for religions as well. The common term today is apologetics (Greek meaning to defend a case in a court of law)* which refers to arguments used to defend different aspects of Christianity.
Being a history teacher and an author on the topic myself, I thought that I would compile a list of books that I have used to help defend Christianity as historically accurate and logically true. This list is not in any actual order.
1. Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus
Up first is an excellent book discussing the differences between Islam and Christianity. Nabeel Qureshi narrates his life as he struggles with his Muslim faith. Growing up a strong devout Muslim, Qureshi begins to have doubts once he meets his college best-friend who is a Christian. As the years progress Qureshi begins to see the validity of Christianity and cracks begin to form in his worldview.
This is a book for anyone who wants to understand Islam better while seeing the differences between it and Christianity. Qureshi does a great job keeping the autobiography going while still explaining why he eventually became a Christian.
Purchase: Amazon
2. Exodus: Myth or History
One of my favorite history reads of last year comes from David Rohl. He used to work in the rock industry but decided that he wanted to be an archeologist. He is agnostic but believes that the Old Testament is historically accurate.
Throughout this book he argues something called the “new chronology” which pushes the Egyptian timeline back 300 years. He argues through archeology that a new understanding of Egyptology is true and that the old timeline is wrong. Great read for anyone who loves history, especially Old Testament history.
Purchase: Amazon
3. Mere Christianity
This book takes us back to the middle 20th century and C.S. Lewis’s profound arguments. This was originally a radio talk that was remade into a book. Here Lewis walks the reader through multiple arguments for God through “right and wrong, human nature, morality, marriage, sins, forgiveness, faith, hope, generosity, and kindness.
C.S. Lewis was an atheist for much of his adult life until he was compelled to admit that God was real through logic and literature. Because of his background he is able to speak from his non-religious past and his religious present. Great book for those who enjoy classics and a more conversational writing style.
Purchase: Amazon
4. Case for Christ
Lee Strobel’s book is probably one of the most famous modern Christian defense books of this list. He was agnostic most of his young adult life until his wife turned to Christ. Watching her grow into a more loving and mature person drew him to investigate Christianity.
Strobel was an investigative journalist and he used his skills to put Christianity under a microscope. He interviews experts from multiple different fields to try to crack the validity of the scriptures. This is a good book for anyone who likes a simple systematic approach with a conversational twist.
Purchase: Amazon
5.Making Sense of God
Last on this list, though definitely not least, is Tim Keller’s book for the post-modern world. As a pastor in New York, Keller was great at explaining Christianity in a way that young professionals could understand. All to often apologists will use old stuffy words that “hip” young people won’t understand. Keller brings God’s truth in terms that anyone can understand.
This is Keller’s second book on apologetics which he wrote focused on the American post-modern way of thinking. He explains why the truth matters and how Christianity has the best answers for our modern problems. This book is great for anyone who is young, in college, or needs help understanding why Christians fight for truth and love the way that they do.
Purchase: Amazon
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