Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics

by Norman L. Geisler

The Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics offers valuable information and advice to a wide audience: pastors and Christian leaders, students on college campuses, those involved in counter-cult ministries – all Christians who encounter skeptics. The author provides extensive coverage of key individuals, philosophical systems and concepts, contemporary issues, difficult biblical passages, classic apologetic arguments, and specific challenges. This resource joins several other volumes in the Baker Reference Library in offering the finest to evangelical scholarship to both scholars and lay people. Each of the contributions is easy to understand and easy to use (thanks to their one-volume format). These volumes serve as ideal home reference books for laity, handy resources for pastors and church leaders, and reliable supplemental texts for courses in Christian colleges and seminaries.

Genres: Reference, Christianity, Theology, Christian, Religion, Philosophy, Nonfiction

864 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1998

About the author

Norman L. Geisler (PhD, Loyola University of Chicago) taught at top evangelical colleges and seminaries for over fifty years and was a distinguished professor of apologetics and theology at Veritas Evangelical Seminary in Murrieta, California. He was the author of nearly eighty books, including the Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics and Christian Ethics. He and his wife lived in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Reviews

[Jeremiah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I havn't read this prodigious book completely but I have read a lot of it. It is a great resource for Christians to have, no doubt, but I think Geisler took on too much here. The newer IVP Apologetics Encyclopedia is probably a stronger book because of the contributions by a varitey of experts in each of the areas that were written about. Geisler does have an "encyclopedic" mind himself, but no one can claim as much detailed information as is needed for a work this huge (nearly 800 pages).I should add that many of the entries are just awesome though and to have this much apologetics material between two covers is a delight. I love this field of study so much that a book like this can serve as early morning devotional reading or night time reading for my kids...ok, maybe not.
Really, I waver between 3 & 4 stars for this one.

[Phileo Truth · Rating 5 out of 5]

For one who has many objections to the Christian faith but is willing to examine intelligent and quite rational explanations for the veracity of Christianity, its central figure-- Jesus the Christ, and its holy book-- the Bible, I recommend you begin with an article or two. The credible explanations should demonstrate to an honest skeptic that Christianity is not fanciful nor mythical.

For a serious student of the Bible and church history, this encyclopedia is for you. Full of solid, scholarly examinations of central-to-the-faith Biblical topics, proofs of the Bible as a reliable historical document, and hotly disputed misconceptions about Christianity, the articles are relevant and thorough.

Unbeliever or believer should find clarification about Christianity within its articles.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good breadth and sometimes good depth...but I have definitely picked this book up a lot and although an encyclopedia, have read it cover to cover.

[Dholtrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I say I have read I mean I have read parts of this. Its a comprehensive reference book that has virtually everything you could want to know about Apologetics. A must have for anyone serous about knowing what they believe.

[Edmond · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was the cornerstone of my evangelical scholarly career…it was a complete fraud. Looking at the bibliography, Norman Geisler was not a well read, scholar, pseudo-scholar. The entire evangelical claim to be an intellectual religion is false. I have done the reading, Geisler was wrong on every thinker he talks about in this book. The book is a political propaganda designed to discredit the thinkers geisler talks about.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though I have not read every entry, this a great reference work for the apologist's library. Though a very comprehensive tome, it's probably too much for one person to cover this much material and be thorough.

[Chuck Bonadies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite book on apologetic, but a good reference work.

CB

[Scott Hayden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great reference book of thinkers and their thoughts. Contains the naysayers as well as the defenders. Readers should know beforehand that Geisler freely inserts his own critiques and positions.