(Part 9) Best christian theology books according to redditors
We found 4,168 Reddit comments discussing the best christian theology books. We ranked the 1,297 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 161-180. You can also go back to the previous section.
Adam Kotsko's book Prince of this World explores the way that 'demonic' is inverted from defining the oppressor (i.e. Babylon, Rome, etc) to defining the oppressed. He uses the rhetoric surrounding black victims of police brutality as 'demonic' to further drive in this point. It's worth a look if you are interested.
>So, if I'm not mistaken, Satan was a fallen Angel.
Yes.
>Does Satan have the equivalent of Angels (Demons, I guess?) in Hell with him? If so, how does that work?
Yes, demons are fallen angels. When the angels were created, they could make a decision for God or against God. Those who chose against God are called demons.
>And on the topic of Angels, does Heaven have the same amount of Angels as mentioned in the bible or are there new Angels all the time?
I can't recall a Bible verse says how many angels there are.
For more on this, read Kreeft's Angels and Demons: What Do We Really Know about Them?
Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis
The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism - Tim Keller
Gunning for God: Why the New Atheists are Missing the Target - John Lennox
The Doctrine of the Knowledge of God - John Frame
Van Til's Apologetic: Readings and Analysis - Greg Bahnsen
The last two are more in-depth philosophy-wise than the first three.
It's a very specific, yet largely influential vein of belief in protestant Christianity. So you can rule out Catholics and most mainline Protestants from this group from the get-go.
Within Protestantism and within the Evangelical sect of Protestantism, there's the point of view called "Millenialism". Basically, from 5 verses in the Bible, specific phrases indicate the end of times are supposed to go like this:
The Holy Land is reunited under Jewish rule, with a Westerner (anti-christ, like Nicolae Carpathia from Left Behind) brokering the deal. Then major wars will break out, the West will collapse, and that will signal the "Rapture" where all true believers are "caught up" and are taken to heaven. Those that are left have to face the Antichrist and the Unholy Trinity (False Prophet, Satan, Antichrist) in a 1000 year-long conflict called "The Tribulation". And after suffering that conflict, what humans are left can redeem themselves and be caught up back in heaven. Then Jesus/God is supposed to defeat the Unholy Trinity and move the "Kingdom" of Heaven (all the souls or people, whatever) back to Earth for eternity, cleansing it of the horrors and destruction from the pre-Trib years and Tribulation itself.
source: Attended a Baptist school in NC for a year where they taught this stuff as part of their "Bible" class. We actually watched Left Behind and then read the relevant passages/commentaries on this to compare how the movie lined up with what the school/teacher/attached church believed and taught. And for them, wars/famine/conflict and then the reunification of the Holy Land is the catalyst to the end times and thus their meeting their maker. I actually had a teacher from that school that retired in 2011 because he believed Harold Camping's prediction of the Rapture happening in May 2011.
It's fucking stupid and it's from as cherrypicked of passages as there gets in the Bible and Christianity. But a substantial swath of Americans believe it, given Evangelical Protestantism is incredibly strong across the country, with an entire quarter of the continent being their main base. I was actually given a book by my Catholic pastor called The Rapture Trap as to why that "eschatology" (study of the end times) is dangerous for Catholics and Christians as a whole.
edit: I'm an ex-catholic that attended this "non-denominational" school in NC, but the school was attached to and funded by a very conservative Baptist Church.
For me I'm going to go a bit old school. First "The Abolition of Man" by C. S. Lewis, which argues for a sort of 'Universal Truth'. I thought it was endlessly fascinating, and it's really an easy, short read. (The audio book was only an few hours long). There's also Lewis's "Mere Christianity" which is once again easy and short. In it he sort of starts with a shortened version of the argument found in Abolition, and from there discusses why Christianity itself works as the 'Universal Truth'.
If your looking for something thicker, I would suggest G. K. Chesterton's "Heretics", which blasts away the philosophy of his contemporaries (Which is still applicable today), "Orthodoxy" which discusses his own conversion and his own search for truth, and "The Everlasting Man" which discusses the history of mankind and Christianity's role in it. (This was also the book that converted Lewis' intellect).
Chesterton is not necessarily a difficult read because of lengthy words, or because he references something no longer fashionable, but because of his ideas. I like to think I can understand things fairly well, but I had to pause often to go over a phrase, or to really think about a thought he presented. But both authors are very enjoyable.
Unclean by Richard Beck
The Language of God by Dr. Francis Collins
The Lost World of Genesis One by John H. Walton
Birth and Death: Bioethical Decision Making by Paul D. Simmons
The Authenticity of Faith by Richard Beck
Beyond The Firmament by Gordon J. Glover
All of these were required reads for me as I pursued a biology degree at a Christian university. I hope these help, and I wish you the best! If you have any questions about any of the books, please feel free to ask!!
Wait until you see this book. https://www.amazon.com/Guinea-Pig-Nativity-Bloomsbury/dp/1408844796/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=guinea+pig+nativity&qid=1571115883&sr=8-1
The similarities of the crucifixion and resurrection to pagan stories are usually overstated.
Richard Carrier has one book out and another on the way addressing the issue from a more scholarly direction. Proving History is the first book. The second is due out in a few months if I remember correctly.
Robert M. Price also has a good work on the subject. The Christ-Myth Theory and Its Problems
Start with those two. They both have talks on YouTube about the historicity of the gospels. I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm utterly convinced, but they are pretty compelling. Carrier and Eherman have had a bit of a feud over the issue and again, Carrier seems to have the better argument.
Currently:
Always Ready by Greg Bahnsen
The Reason for God by Tim Keller
Reasons for Faith: Philosophy in the Service of Theology by Scott Oliphint
The Defense of the Faith by Cornelius Van Til
Contending with Christianities Critics by Paul Copan, William Lane Craig et al.
Dethroning Jesus: Exposing Popular Culture's Quest to Unseat the Biblical Christ by Darell Bock and David Wallace
If you want to read extra-biblical sources, you can start with something like Old Testament Parallels., which has excerpts arranged by their possible similarity with the OT canon. For more comprehensive coverage, look at Outside the Bible (3 vols).
Heiser has his defenders on here, but from a historian's perspective my view is that his approach to those ancient texts has been unduly shaped by his theological agenda. You can compare his approach with the work of some others, including David Penchansky, Twilight of the Gods, Mark Smith, The Early History of God, Elaine Pagels, The Origin of Satan, Adam Kotsko's The Prince of This World, and Thomas Römer, The Invention of God.
On Enoch and the Apocalyptic tradition in particular, look at John Collins's The Apocalptic Imagination, and Anathea Portier-Young, Apocalypse Against Empire.
Now that I type this out, these would make a kick-butt course syllabus. Hmmm...
I'll also offer Adam Kotsko's recent
Prince Of This World, which surveys the political-theological evolution of Satan, and the monstrous employments to which this symbol has been put to use. The excerpts I have read are excellent.
I'm agnostic leaning toward a hard no on a literal Satan. Human evil and sin are real and vivid enough without the involvement of some kind of mythologized ringleader
A quick but fascinating read is Preparing for Christ's New Name.
There will be no rapture.
I recommend this book on the matter: https://www.amazon.com/Rapture-Trap-Catholic-Response-Times/dp/0965922820
Read his book to learn more about the heretical theology behind the so called New Apostolic Reformation:
Defining Deception: Freeing the Church from the Mystical-Miracle Movement https://www.amazon.com/dp/0986444243/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_sy7QAbC64W1RC
> https://www.amazon.com/Lifetimes-When-Jesus-Buddha-Other/dp/1401923151/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523666138&sr=1-2&keywords=jesus+and+buddha
>
> https://www.amazon.com/Jesus-Buddha-Parallel-Sayings-Seastone/dp/1569751692/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523666138&sr=1-1&keywords=jesus+and+buddha
>
> https://www.amazon.com/Living-Buddha-Christ-20th-Anniversary/dp/159448239X/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1523666138&sr=1-3&keywords=jesus+and+buddha
Some basics.
Roy Varghese has a fascinating approach to this. Vid
And his book, The Christ Connection: How the World Religions Prepared the Way for the Phenomenon of Jesus., which I have yet to read.
In addition to everyone else's answers, I found the Strange Fire book and Defining Deception to be helpful. Also the documentary American Gospel: Christ Alone is helpful but it is more on the prosperity gospel though than of the gifts discussion but they do talk about it a little bit.
I don't want to insult you by implying that you are ignorant as you did to me. Let me just say this, I am very well read on both subjects. Religious studies is the obsession of my life. In fact I am married to a woman who is a professor of comparative religious studies because she was one of the very few people I could have a decent conversation with about these subjects. I don't want to spend the whole night looking up references to prove something to you. I would invite you to study the similarities between the teachings of these two masters. I have a feeling that you wont. If you sounded a bit less hostile and even remotely willing to learn, I would have walked you through it point-by-point.
I was once just as sure as you are that they were totally different messages. I probably would have gotten angry just like you if those assumptions were challenged. I understand there are massive differences between how the religions that they spawned operate and the official Dogma of those bodies.
I will leave you with just one book that makes my argument in a simple and concise way. You can choose whether you would like to investigate it yourself or not.
I'm not implying I'm smarter than you. I simply had the right person come along, at the right time and show me the similarities. He recommended some books. I read them and now it's impossible for me not to recognize. It's hard to see through all the noise that surrounds both of these religions especially Christianity. you have to remember that their own followers can't even agree on what they really were trying to say.
I guess the choice will hinge on whether your desire for knowledge is greater than your desire to be right.
Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings (Seastone) https://www.amazon.com/dp/1569751692/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_qQq-BbZC87AP9
Fam, I relate quite a bit with this kind of struggle. I can say with confidence though that I bowed the knee to Christ when I was nine. Before that, I can’t remember hardly anything about myself, only that I was raised in a solid believing family. So like you, I can’t remember any time in my life where I didn’t seek Christ. Going through high school & early college (I’m now 23), I seriously doubted whether or not I “knew” what I was committing to or acknowledging. But what’s given me confidence today has just been simply examining myself like Paul told us to see whether or not we are in the faith. That’s given me assurance of my salvation.
Whenever I hear a struggle like this though I consider it super encouraging that you desperately want scripture to be true. To me, that sounds like the Spirit testifying to the heart. Also, I think we should consider that God has shown some people (like you & I) so much grace that we’ve spent most of our lives with him (as opposed to being exposed first to many aspects of life that a lost person experiences). It gives us all the more reason to praise him; he saved us quite early!
P.S. - Strictly concerning the apologetic issue, over the past few months I’ve become acquainted with presuppositional apologetics, a.k.a. not your grandmother’s apologetics. The essence of this form of apologetic is that no other worldview even makes sense of us or the world we live in without truth found in scripture, and a proper understanding of what God says in scripture completely knocks down any argument against it. It’s a worthy deep-dive but I’ll just name drop if you’re curious about more: Cornelius Van Til, Greg Bahnsen (two early practitioners), K. Scott Oliphint , Sye Ten Bruggencate , Douglas Wilson , Jeff Durbin .
I can recommend a few. Mark Smith's The Early History of God is a good resource for early Canaanite mythology. For ancient Hebrew cosmology, Gordon Glover's Beyond the Firmament is a good introduction. Glover is a Christian, but he doesn't shy away from the real meaning of the text. Paul Seely (also a Christian) has some really good articles on ancient cosmology. Some of them are online here.
A fantastic book on this subject is: The Rapture Trap: A Catholic Response to End Times Fever by Paul Thigpen.
It does a wonderful job explaining where this belief comes from and how it may actually be harmful to Christians who support it.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Rapture-Trap-Catholic-Response/dp/0965922820
In my opinion the guy you are looking for is Cornelius Van Til. This is exactly what his apologetic method is all about. You may have heard of presuppositional apologetics, covenental apologetics, etc. Van Til is your guy, however, he is not an easy read. You will have to really take the time to study him to understand what he is talking about.
He is incredibly brilliant and assumes the people reading his writings are as brilliant as he is, most are not, including me. However, taking the time to wrestle with him is incredibly rewarding and there really is no better source for what you are after.
I would recommend
https://www.amazon.com/Defense-Faith-Cornelius-Van-Til/dp/0875526446
That specific version, as Dr Oliphint’s notes are integral to providing the background and context for what Van Til is saying.
If Van Til is a little much I would also strongly recommend K Scott Oliphint. He is a Van Til scholar and studied under him. He currently teaches apologetics at Westminster Theological Seminary. You can just search for him on YouTube and start there.
Also the guys over at reformedforum.org probably have some good stuff.
I hope that helps.
>Though we cannot imagine exactly what the Manifestations
Np! This is a friend's book and wonderful study on the subject
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0879612673/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i0
Check out “Angels and Demons: What do we really know about them?” by Peter Kreeft
Great book!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0898705509/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_-LQEDb3WJQMBH
The main ones I know of are Magnificat and Word Among Us.
If you're looking for something older, you may try The School of Jesus Crucified or even the Liturgy of the Hours, which includes sermons and other non-Biblical writings.
We don't know a lot about Angels, but the few indications that we have are that the lowest Angels have an intellect greater than all the Humans on earth put together. There are at least 8 levels of Angels above that. Serephim, Cherubim, etc.
Angels have a different type of intellect than we do. They quickly and fully acquire knowledge, and do not learn and forget gradually like we do. So, when they decided to betray God, there was no going back. When they fell from God's grace, they deformed into demons.
Please note that intellect is separate than moral will. Having a great intellect comes with equal risk of making immoral choices.
Satan was God's most glorious Angel, Lucifer. He was supposed to bring light to the whole Earth (Lucifer = The light bringer). He decided that he was far too great to serve mankind. In God's infinite wisdom, God uses Satan and his demons to test us to see where our loyalties are. Adam and Eve failed that test, but Jesus opened the door back to Heaven for those who truly want to choose God instead.
Dr. Peter Kreeft wrote a good book based on Scripture and traditional knowledge going back thousands of years
Angels and Demons: What Do We Really Know about Them?
https://www.amazon.com/Angels-Demons-What-Really-about/dp/0898705509
Dr. Kreeft's overview: https://youtu.be/cvSsXK174aQ
Some good info here.
Read Alex Gottdank's book Christ's New Name. This guy (imo) is the authority on Christianity as it relates to the Faith, and vice versa.
[insert meme about last name]
If he's not already, get him into praying the divine office. You can get the single volume set or the four volume set.
It would be lovely if the two of you prayed together. I would recommend (if this is foreign to either of you) to start with Night Prayer (compline). It's the shortest version, to be prayed before you go to bed (or 9pm if you keep the Hours) and it introduces you to the style of prayer.
Morning Prayer (
matinslauds) is great - I love starting my day with it.For you I would recommend reading Rome Sweet Home and/or Born Fundamentalist, Born Again Catholic.
Here, just use my Christmas list:
NIV Zondervan Study Bible
The Goldsworthy Trilogy
Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God
Perspectives on Israel and the Church: 4 Views
Tough Topics
Tough Topics 2
God's Design for Man and Woman
Planet Narnia
Paul and the Law
Covenantal Apologetics
The Erosion of Inerrancy in Evangelicalism
There's plenty more I'd recommend (like anything from John Piper), but that's a decent start.
I would start with
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9_o7NGTkJc
and/or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JEFy-ZtEzg
That's Spike Psarris. For all I know, he may not even know the philosophy behind presuppostionalism. If so then he is just doing it organically. He just takes naturalistic observations and carries them to their logical conclusions.
If that floats your boat then I would go one of two ways:
You could check out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEOY4LNRMd8
for the more pedestrian version of presuppostitionalism... Or you could go all in and check out
https://www.amazon.com/Christian-Apologetics-Cornelius-Van-Til/dp/0875525113
for the more ivory tower intellectual variety.
The choice is yours between those two. It's just whatever fits your personality better.
I'd recommend John Owen's Overcoming Sin and Temptation and Communion with the Triune God. The first book quite literally changed my life. Then if you want to read the Reformed response to Bellarmine, check out Turretin's Institutes of Elenctic Theology. This book is seen in Reformed circles the way Aquinas is in Catholic ones. Calvin's Institutes are incredible, too, and far more accessible.
If you haven't already, you should check out Cornelius van Til's The Defense of the Faith. The book is basically a summary of his presuppositional theory.
I love that book. There's so much to learn and gain from his application of systematic theology to philosophy and his distinction between Reformed theology and the rest of the (Christian and secular) world.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1408844796?pc_redir=1404798434&robot_redir=1
And it includes son inside pics :)
I read a book called Defining Deception abouta year ago which seemed to have some similar content.
That is a great book BTW. They go after Bethel again and again and show how they are unbiblical in many aspects.
Defining Deception
If you want a good history of philosophy with responses to basically everybody, Fr. Frederick Copleston's A History of Philosophy is pretty good.
Here's the first volume: https://www.amazon.com/History-Philosophy-Vol-Pre-Socratics-Plotinus/dp/0385468431/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1543579301&sr=8-4&keywords=frederick+copleston
Edward Feser deals with both the New Atheists, Enlightenment thinkers, and Old Atheists in The Last Superstition, Aquinas, and Neo-Scholastic Essays. Fr. Garrigou Lagrange's Reality is also worth it.
The Last Superstition: https://www.amazon.com/Last-Superstition-Refutation-New-Atheism-ebook/dp/B00D40EGCQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543579343&sr=8-1&keywords=the+last+superstition
Aquinas: https://www.amazon.com/Aquinas-Beginners-Guide-Edward-Feser/dp/1851686908/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1543579366&sr=8-6
Neo-Scholastic Essays: https://www.amazon.com/Neo-Scholastic-Essays-Edward-Feser/dp/1587315580/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1543579366&sr=8-5&keywords=edward+feser
Reality: https://www.amazon.com/Reality-Synthesis-Reginald-Garrigou-Lagrange-P/dp/1477582401/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543579439&sr=8-1&keywords=reality+garrigou-lagrange
Honestly, I tend to think Van Til's Presuppositionalism is a better system than a lot of Catholic philosophy. His book Christian Apologetics is probably his easiest to read, though I'll admit I've had more access to his ideas from his defenders than his actual writing: https://www.amazon.com/Christian-Apologetics-Cornelius-Van-Til/dp/0875525113/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543579550&sr=8-1&keywords=christian+apologetics+van+til
In a less theologically charged but similar category are Alvin Plantinga's Where the Conflict Really Lies and Warranted Christian Belief: https://www.amazon.com/Where-Conflict-Really-Lies-Naturalism-ebook/dp/B005X3SAHY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543579615&sr=8-1&keywords=where+the+conflict+really+lies+science%2C+religion%2C+and+naturalism
https://www.amazon.com/Warranted-Christian-Belief-Alvin-Plantinga-ebook/dp/B0059EQ4DY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543579634&sr=8-1&keywords=warranted+christian+belief
For a physical copy of the complete Office of the Hours, you'll need the 4-vol Liturgy of the Hours.
Christian Prayer has an abbreviated OOR, but it probably won't satisfy what you want.
Just a note about the books. A massive translation project is happening right now -- pretty much like what happened for the Mass a few years ago. The timeline for the new translations being finished -- or at least the final vote -- is 2020. Will they be published in 2020? Nobody really knows.
Even so, I bought my 4-vol LOTH in March. I figured that even if I just got two years out it, then it would still be worth it. I happened to find a good used set on amazon and saved a little bit of money.
And just an fyi about a really cool book, Witness of the Saints: Patristic Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours.
>In the four volumes of the Liturgy of the Hours, the official daily prayer of the Catholic Church, there are nearly 600 selections from the writings of Fathers and saints. Seeing the potential of this vast collection as a theological resource, Milton Walsh has organized these selections by topics according to the four pillars of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. This topical concordance allows the reader to compare what the various authors have written on the same themes, while a chronological timeline of the readings shows their relationship to each other in time.
So this is a fascinating way to study the Catechism. Don't get something like this instead of 4-vol LOTH. This is something that you may circle back around to later on.
Atheist Universe, by David Mills. Great book. It explains everything you have to know to understand how the universe functions without a god:
It also covers a lot more subjects, and states every creationist argument ever used, and then proves them wrong.
In fact, here is the link to the table of contents...
...and the link to the Amazon page
For atheism, there's Atheist Universe, by David Mills. It used to have the secondary title "Why God Didn't Have a Thing to do With It", but now it's "The Thinking Person's Answer to Christian Fundamentalism".
Another good one is The Case Against Christianity, by Michael Martin.
Doctrine of the Knowledge of God by John Frame
Loving to Know:Covenant Epistemology by Esther Meek
Warranted Christian Belief by Alvin Plantinga
Read this book: http://www.amazon.com/Atheist-Universe-Thinking-Christian-Fundamentalism/dp/1569755671
He's being interviewed by Eric Hovind so I doubt it's a spoof. And, you know, the book is real, unfortunately.
There are countless people to listen to
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youtube these names:
Allen Parr https://www.youtube.com/user/thebeatagp/videos
John MacArthur https://www.youtube.com/user/JohnMacArthurGTY/videos
John Piper https://www.youtube.com/user/desiringGod/videos
Ravi Zacharia
Wretched (hosted by Todd Friel) https://www.youtube.com/user/WretchedNetwork/videos
Dr.Michael Youssef https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNp0fugFYw_s19nG-pJ6P0Q
Pastor Greg Laurie https://www.youtube.com/user/HarvestTV/videos
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Ryan Reeves (For historical theology)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrI5U0R293u9uveijefKyAA/videos
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Apologetics (for the tough questions, look up these names)
William Lane Craig
(look up his debates and check out this channel https://www.youtube.com/user/ReasonableFaithOrg/videos )
Sean Mcdowell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyyuVmNDPmo
(Sean McDowell has some solid advice regarding homosexuality)
Alvin Plantinga
Peter van Inwagen
John Lennox
https://www.youtube.com/user/CloserToTruth1/videos
Josh McDowell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq-ZFG3lTiA
https://www.amazon.com/Evidence-That-Demands-Verdict-Life-Changing/dp/1401676707
Thomas Aquinas
C S Lewis https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgwq09sIpLQ
Cornelius Van Til
John Gerstner
John M. Frame https://www.amazon.com/Apologetics-Glory-God-John-Frame/dp/0875522432
If you're struggling with evolution:
From the Christian perspective: Beyond the Firmament
Better evidential book by a non-christian: Why Evolution Is True
I think the best book about the Old Testament is by an archaeologist: The Bible Unearthed. It's written by a Jewish scholar who would be biased towards over claiming for reliability if anything.
Otherwise, wikipedia has a really good overview. Once you get through wikipedia, if you have questions on good resources for a particular part of it, post here and in /r/christianity or message me and we'll help you out on the specifics.
In response to your first point, I highly recommend reading this, it addresses God's possible interactions with other people in the past. There are other books that address this from the perspective of individual cultures as well
In response to your third point. Why does omniscience contradict freewill? Why would the knowledge that someone else has about you, in any way preclude you from freedom of choice?
If I offer a dog bologna in one hand and a rock in the other, I both know what he will choose, and he is still free to choose between the two. Why would they principle not hold true when extended to men and gods?
In response to your fourth point. If God did not create Adam and Eve because of the sin that he knew they would commit, he would be effectively punishing them with death/nonexistence for something they hadn't even done (yet). They freely chose to have children in a world where they understood contained suffering (the same thing that yours and my parents did), why is God responsible for their decisions?
Lol that's him, although that's a very unflattering introduction to him. He's not good in debate, but his Bible Geek podcast is really interesting even if you disagree with him. As far as NT minimalists go, he's who most people on the sub (myself included) would recommend.
Unlike Carrier and friends, he isn't dogmatic and doesn't overstate his case, The Christ Myth Theory and its Problems is a good example.
Also now that I think about it, he did actually translate the NT and other works used by the early church in the Pre-Nicene New Testament, tho I think you might have to get it from us site. He considers himself a cultural Christian, so he's definitely not opposed to Christianity, but he isn't beholden to any particular theology or any of the mythicist theories, so it might be worth checking out. I'm afraid I haven't read it myself though, all I could afford was a free download of The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man, though I do recommend it — the parallels between the Gospels and other Greco-Roman literature are really interesting.
I overall agree with most of the suggestions here. I have some suggestions on what to read following, but I wanted to say one thing first:
The best way to learn to write is to write. If you don't start writing you won't ever start writing. Don't be afraid to write, but:
Four of my favorite teachers and writers in the Reformation tradition are John Calvin, R. J. Rushdooney, Gary North and R. C. Sproul. All of these men wrote and read voluminously, on a wide variety of topics; almost always a consideration of God and his laws enters the picture - whether it's music, movies, war or marriage it is its relationship to the proper Christian life in obedience to God. While writing and reading never saved anyone's soul it can be a profound vehicle for proclaiming the good news and sharing the truth of God to those who have ears to hear it.
Always keep the faith, the mission and works of Jesus Christ, and the Word of God in Scripture foremost in any proposal or statement regarding the church and the Christian individual. This doesn't mean you have to give verse and chapter citations for every paragraph, but keep your perspective and goal fixed by these things. If you are going to dispute something you need to dispute it according to the laws of God's truth, you need to do it with a Christian objective of charity and gospel - and this should be true even if you're just writing sports articles, much less actually looking into things Holy and speaking on scriptural matters.
Recommended Reading:
The Three Forms of Unity, the Heidleberg Catechism, the Canons of Dort. This is my church's creedal declaration. They are very important in continental Reformed churches for defining what it meant to be Christian and Reformed.
The Institutes of the Christian Religion by John Calvin. If you're going to write on theology and systematic points of Christian doctrine this book is an essential starting point.
Turretin's Elentic Theology if you're SRS.
On specific topics you want to research or write on it is often beneficial to start by visiting Ligonier Ministries and trying to find a book, article, sermon or lecture on it. These will give a good introduction and what the Reformed perspective is usually understood as, and you can get authors, books, scriptural references to look into further.
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It seems as though your only source, that isn't the bible, is Bart Ehrman. In fact, almost everything that you've written on the subject is almost verbatim Ehrman's own phrasing, especially this little gem which Ehrman has never provided any evidence for:
> Each and every one of these scholars with a teaching position at a university not only believes that Jesus existed...
So, either you are Ehrman or you've read a single book that validates your viewpoints and have begun a crusade on r/atheism.
I will see your one, single source, and raise you 2 additional doctorates in the field that disagree directly with Ehrman:
On the Historicity of Jesus by Richard Carrier, PhD Ancient History
The Messiah Myth by Thomas Thompson, PhD Theology who also was a professor of religious studies at a few universities despite the incessant assertions of both yourself and Ehrman that every single scholar in a teaching position believes the same as you.
The Christ-Myth Theory and Its Problems by Robert Price, PhD Systematic Theology and PhD New Testament yet another professor of religion at a university.
I would start with
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9_o7NGTkJc
and/or
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JEFy-ZtEzg
That's Spike Psarris. For all I know, he may not even know the philosophy behind presuppostionalism. If so then he is just doing it organically. He just takes naturalistic observations and carries them to their logical conclusions.
If that floats your boat then I would go one of two ways:
You could check out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEOY4LNRMd8
for the more pedestrian version of presuppostitionalism... Or you could go all in and check out
https://www.amazon.com/Christian-Apologetics-Cornelius-Van-Til/dp/0875525113
for the more ivory tower intellectual variety.
The choice is yours between those two. It's just whatever fits your personality better.
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Posted by: p**p
Like this?
I'll definitely check out John Paul II's stuff, any other authors or books you recommend I may check out, too.
I highly recommend Francis Turretin's Institutes of Elenctic Theology . This is perhaps the best multi-volume systematic theology defending Reformed Orthodoxy. Turretin engages with Catholic Theology extensively and offers Protestant answers to Catholic problems.
Anything by Peter Martyr Vermigli is worth reading, but especially check out his treatises on Predestination and Justification. Vermigli was a conservative Protestant reformer who was very familiar with Thomist philosophy and Scholastic theology. His best work was in Eucharistic theology.
Finally, I recommend Allen & Swain's Reformed Catholicity: The Promise of Retrieval For Theology And Biblical Interpretation for an interesting read. Modern Evangelical Christianity has strayed far away from the principles of the Reformation. Doctrines like Sola Scriptura have been perverted and maimed by Evangelicals until they no longer mean what the Reformers meant for them to be. Moreover, Evangelicals are known for "Tradition is bad" arguments wherein they flat reject Christian orthodoxy or the consensus of the Church. This book is a call for Evangelicals to engage with the Ecumenical Councils and Creeds, Patristic Theology, and Reformed Orthodoxy; viewing ourselves as being in continuity with the Great Tradition.
RCIA is a formality. You should seek authentic Catholic teaching in sermons, books and saints.
https://www.youtube.com/user/onearmsteve4192/search?query=anything
https://www.amazon.com/Heretics-G-K-Chesterton/dp/1449599435
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af6a6x87F5Y
I don't think you're going to get too far with this one.
This person literally thinks that legendary tales of dragons is proof man and dinosaurs walked the earth together and is proof of Young Earth Creationism.
Here is their recommended reading on the subject:
http://www.amazon.com/Dragons-Dinosaurs-Darek-Isaacs/dp/088270477X
Many references are to dragons which would be the equivalent to the generic term of many varying types of creatures resembling the came characteristics that we now label as dinosaurs... a term which was coined less than 200 years ago to describe the same creatures.
There are at least two dinosaurs referenced by name, "behemoth" and "leviathan"
Though there are many more, here's a handful of references:
Job 40:15
Job 41:1-34
Isaiah 27:1
Psalm 104:26
Job 41:1-34
Isaiah 51:9
Ezekiel 29:3
Jeremiah 51:37
Isaiah 34:13
Psalms 91:13
I actually just recently finished a great book on this subject. If you're interested I would definitely recommend it.