The Popular Encyclopedia of Apologetics: Surveying the Evidence for the Truth of Christianity

by Ed Hindson

The perfect combination of scholarship and accessible presentation for Christians who desire to know how to better understand and defend their faith. Bestselling authors Ed Hindson and Ergun Caner have brought together a who's who of apologetic experts—including Lee Strobel, Norm Geisler, Josh McDowell, and John Ankerberg—to produce a resource that's both easy to understand and comprehensive in scope. Every entry provides a biblical perspective and mentions the key essentials that believers need to know about a wide variety of apologetic concerns, including... Included with each entry are practical applications for approaching or defending the issue at hand, along with recommendations for additional reading on the subject.

Genres: Reference, School, Christian, Nonfiction, Christianity, Theology, Read For School

448 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2008

About the author

also see Edward E. Hindson

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewing reference books is a tricky business, since they aren't designed to be read for pleasure or consumed from cover to cover. The need for brevity forces writers to jettison virtually all artistic flourishes and personal asides, until the prose begins to resemble the technical writing you find in instruction manuals. And how does one evaluate a text whose function is simply to introduce unfamiliar topics and provide a baseline of information for investigating them further?
At over 500-pages long, THE POPULAR ENCYCLOPEDIA OF APOLOGETICS is a hefty tome, which may make you want to seek it out as an ebook. But while this may help save on space, it greatly increases the difficulty of perusal. The book consists of about 180 articles from around 55 different authors, so the best way to absorb it is to look up specific subjects of interest or simply browse through them at random--not read the whole thing from A to Z. I was surprised and pleased to see that many subjects in the book were completely new to me, so you can rest assured that the authors don't just tackle obvious stuff like gay marriage and abortion.
These brief articles are ideal for those who prefer snippets rather than book-length material, or are too pressed for time to do a "deep dive" on a particular subject. Personally, I don't much care for superficial overviews of interesting topics, preferring instead to get an entire book's worth of insight and exploration. However, the value of a handy reference work is undeniable. The scope of the information provided here is breathtaking: history, philosophy, science, ethics, theology... THE POPULAR ENCYCLOPEDIA OF APOLOGETICS tackles it all.

[Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book was alright even though at some point i didn't want to read it but i didn't have a choice i was glad when my reading with this book was over , even though i learn a lot while reading this because some things in this book was interesting and caught my attention even though it was a bit boring.

[Brian Reagan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book would make a decent handbook for most people to begin a study of apologetics and the different cultures, religions, worldviews and cults they might encounter.
However, it is not wholly accurate in how it represents some of the different groups/views, and as almost everything written from an "evangelical" type of view it is biased. The authors are not genuinely fair in the way they present, since they fail to present the religions/views from that religions' viewpoint.
I was a little disappointed in this. Also, the book approaches the answer to these groups from an evangelical baptist perspective, which is frankly not the overall historically accurate Christian doctrine.
The book does present a wide sampling of authors, and so one can at least garner a variety of ways to "hear" how an apologetic is practiced.
Does this book make my tope ten? NOPE!!! It fails to make even the top 1000. Save you money and check it out from a library.

[Estacia · Rating 2 out of 5]

It has some good basic information but I did not like how it was painfully apparent that it was written from a Baptist/Evangelical point of view. There was a lot of misinformation in the book in the sections regarding cults. What it wrote about Seventh-Day Adventists is absolutely not true. Major disappointment in the editors desire to discredit Adventism to the point of misrepresenting its beliefs.

One good thing, however, is that it will lead me to learn more about other religions that are considered cults just to see how much of the rest of it is incorrect. So sad, too. This could have been a wonderful resource had it presented truth instead of propaganda.

[Joe Valenti · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredible resource for all Christians. Hindson, Caner, and the many other guest authors do an incredible job at susinctly explaining and overviewing the different religions, worldviews, and cults that we come into contact with today. An excellent resource for the layperson and the pastor. Every believer should have this book in their library.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great source for information on many Apologetic topics, unfortunately due to my own experience I can say the section on the Jehovah's Witnesses is not all together correct, especially in accord with how to approach one... the real answer should be "don't."

[☠︎︎༒︎✞︎ ѕℓιм ☠︎︎༒︎✞︎ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for school it was for my Apologetics class. This book wasn't that bad to read even though I got bored at times reading it but it was somewhat interesting I learn a lot while reading this book.

[Michaelpatrick Keena · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent tool to understand and equip for sharing to others not only regarding the many errors saddly espoused; but more important the truths of the Gospel.

[Shelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hindson makes understanding Apologetics appealing to the novice. His ability to simplify difficult concepts is truly a gift.

[Roschelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for Information regarding Apologetic.

[Brandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book provides added perspective and insight to different religions and cultures to many current topics.

[Ramona Stone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provides a clear grasp on apologetics.