1. Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism, by Arthur C. Brooks; New York: Basic Books, 2006
2. The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success, by Rodney Stark; New York: Random House, 2005
3. Religion of Peace? Why Christianity is and Islam Isn’t, by Robert Spencer; Washington, D.C.: Regenery Publishing, 2007
4. Scientists of Faith: 48 Biographies of Historic Scientists and their Christian Faith, by Dan Graves; Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1999
5. The Religion of Israel: From It’s Beginnings to the Babylonian Exile, by Yehezkel Kaufmann, New York: Schocken Books, 1960
6. Hard Sayings of the Bible, by Walter C. Kaiser, Jr., Peter H. Davis, F.F. Bruce, and Manfred T. Brauch; Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1966
7. When Critics Ask: A Popular Handbook on Bible Difficulties, by Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe: Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1992
8. What’s So Great About Christianity, by Dinesh D’Souza; Washington, D.C.: Regenery Publishing, 2007
9. The Canon of Scripture, by Frederick Fyvie Bruce; Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press, 1988
10. Orthodoxy or The Everlasting Man, by G.K. Chesterton
11. On the Reliability of the Old Testament, by K.A. Kitchen; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2006
12. The Stones Cry Out: What Archaeology Reveals About the Truth of the Bible, by Randall Price; Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 1997
13. The Black Book of Communism, by Stephane Coutois; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999
14. The Resurrection of the Son of God, by N.T. Wright; Minneapolis, MN: Augsbury Fortress Publications, 2003
15. Real Jesus, by Luke Timothy Johnson; New York: Harper One, 1997
16. The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable? by F.F. Bruce; Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2003
Who said Atheists want to burn these books? An “Atheist,” or some conservative Christian? Have you ever heard of Ayn Rand? She basically built the nihilistic model of conservative selfhood. She is also a professed Atheist (though not an Atheist by ethical standards). Same with Karl Rove, the architect of the political right.
Who said anything about Ayn Rand? She’s one of my favorite authors, and I love her writing, but that’s a completely irrelevant comment. Please explain your logic to me. Please.
I would have expected a Rand interest. So, would Ayn Rand, the culminating “philosophical” force of all of those authors–individualistic nihilism–and an Atheist, would SHE want those books burned? Isn’t that contradictory? And returning to my question, what Atheist has said they’d want these books burned? I understand the assumption, but its somewhat misplaced, because real Atheists advocate anything that increases the diversity of ideas, unless of course they are inherently anti-democratic, anti-pluralistic ideas.
Ok. I understand your point. And I don’t think it’s true that an Athiest would want to burn all those books. I used to be Agnostic, but I never would have discouraged someone from being open-minded about anything, especially religion. I’m pretty sure it’s just one of those attention-grabbing titles that are meant to pull people in and draw in their attention, but I realize how it might do the opposite–drive people away, and possibly even come off as insulting…
I also think, however, that it is too broad a generalization to say that ALL Athiest “advocate anything that increases the diversity of ideas.” I have known quite a few closed-minded Athiest. And yes, I have also known quite a few (probably more) closed-minded Christians. I’m not saying that’s right, but that is the reality in which we live. Not EVERY Athiest defends the same ideas, just like not EVERY Christian advocates the same morals.
Before I begin, I first want to say that I appreciate your comments Jesse and Shelby. I think it is good to state open ideas on this forum and I believe it is also healthy to look at different viewponts and digest them to form an opinion.
So here is my goal for this post…
I was not trying to offend anyone in anyway, including atheists, because I am not here to offend people. I would like to consider myself an open-minded Christian when it comes to listening to others and engaging their ideas and worldviews. I have my absoulte beliefs though… and I want to make that clear!
We live in a world today that is frankly a world in relativism and secular humanism as the forefront of human worldview, philosophy, and thought. I agree with you Jesse that it is inaccurate to say that atheists what to “burn” books. I am trying to approach this like Shelby stated as it is an “attention-grabbing” title. (Remember though that I did NOT write this list, including the title) So my goal in posting this was to show a list of excellent books that do, in my opinion, dismantle atheism as a rational worldview and philosophy and point to Judeo-Christian ethics and philosophy as the correct and superior worldview.
Grrr….goodness, I am so offended! Just kidding. I just had to make the point. And I wholly understand your attention-grabbing principle–this is the blogosphere afterall, and hey, it got me didn’t it! Nonetheless, I’m thankful we could discuss. Have a wonderful rest of your weekends.