|
Review Summary: Very disappointing |
Date: 2008-12-27 |
|
| |
Details: I was terribly disappointed by this book. I began reading with real excitement, hoping I would meet someone who could articulate some insights that make religious belief a compelling and legitimate position.
Sam Harris, whom Zacharias addresses in this book, is a powerful writer and a very sharp thinker - regardless of whether one agrees with him or not - and I hoped I would find here a worthy intellectual opponent. I like to see important ideas debated by strong champions; I like to read "both sides" expressed in their full glory. Sadly, Zacharias does not come close. I realize there will be people who applaud his book, because they agree with his basic beliefs, and want to fall in behind the "right side", even if it is argued so poorly. This book feels like it was dashed off in a huff of moral outrage mixed with supreme confidence in the author's being on the right side. Sadly, it is a half-baked (at most), undeveloped, slapdash ticking off of a few old arguments sprinkled with some emotional stories, and is completely unsatisfying as a response to the well-developed claims of Harris and the New Athiests. |
| |
|
Review Summary: The Joel Osteen of Atheism |
Date: 2008-12-27 |
|
| |
Details: In this short read [I'm a slow reader and it only took a few sittings] Zacharias lays out his intentions and then proceeds in dissecting the falsehood of Harris' vociferous rants, all the while progressing toward a build of Christian theism.
As a believer not much impressed by the silly fallacies prevalent among the New Atheists, I was glad to see Ravi not grant Harris too much credit. In fact, I found myself laughing out loud occasionally at the ridiculous atheist quotes scattered throughout, as well as the sloganeering gems all of my wanna-be-smart-false-convert-turned-intellectual-skeptic friends have been testing out on me recently.
If you're familiar with Zacharias you likely won't find an immense amount of new insights, though I will say the few new tidbits are captivating. I can say Ravi does seem a tad flabbergasted at the sophomoric incredulity posed by the David Cooks of Atheism, and that may be why he didn't grant us a D.A. Carson sized rebuttal!
I might suggest beginning around page 80, where Ravi starts to school Harris on biblical prophecy, as well as eastern religiosity, the cesspool out of which Ravi grew. It is at this juncture the gavel starts pounding.
Just as it's disingenuous for an atheist to paint the Rick Warrens or the Joel Osteens of so called evangelicalism as the unique beacons of theological integrity, it's just as unfair to consider Dawkins, Dennett, Hitchens, or the aforementioned Harris as the logotypes of so called atheism. And that's probably why Ravi's response is so concise. |
| |
|
Review Summary: Fantastic response to New Atheists |
Date: 2008-12-20 |
|
| |
|
Details: Ravi is one of the best apologist of our time. I enjoy how he takes each point that the atheists makes and breaks it down so you can see the inherent flaws in the logic. This book reminds me of the proverb, "One seems righteous until another comes to plead their case." Highly recommended read. |
| |
|
Review Summary: Another classic response! |
Date: 2008-12-12 |
|
|
| |
|
Details: Make sure you read this because you want to learn - not for leisure! haha.. its an excellent read! Ravi always has his standards! |
| |
|
Review Summary: Quick & Easy Apologetic Primer |
Date: 2008-11-18 |
|
|
| |
|
Details: Being familiar with Ravi's work, I was satisfied with the content of this short and concise book. While other reviewers criticized it for being shallow, I actually found it to be quite pithy and to the point. Rather than producing a sprawling and exhaustive seven-course-meal tome on apologetics, Ravi has boiled the salient points down to a quickly digested, high-caloric, high-energy snack. This book is designed to get the answers into people's hands quickly and easily in order to engage the enemy. This is a weapon for quick, special-forces, minute-man warfare rather than an all out WMD. |
| |
|
out of 23 Reviews
