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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
The New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics is a must-have resource for professors and students, pastors and laypersons--in short, for any Christian who wishes to understand or develop a rational explanation of the Christian faith in the context of today's complex and ever-changing world. Packed with hundreds of articles that cover the key topics, historic figures and contemporary global issues relating to the study and practice of Christian apologetics, this handy one-volume resource will make an invaluable addition to any Christian library.Editors Gavin McGrath and W. C. Campbell-Jack, with consulting editor C. Stephen Evans, have divided the dictionary into two parts: Part one offers a series of introductory essays that set the framework for the dictionary. These essays examine the practice and importance of Christian apologetics in light of theological, historical and cultural concerns. Part two builds on these essays to present numerous alphabetized articles on individuals, ideas, movements and disciplines that are vital to a rational explanation of the Christian faith. Both essays and articles are written by leading Christian philosophers and theologians. Together, they form an indispensable resource for Christians living in today's pluralistic age.

Customer Reviews: Read 2 more reviews...

1 out of 5 stars

A Secular Fifth Column? October 6, 2008
This book is worth than worthless - it actively undermines Christianity. Consider the entry on slavery. It spends time talking about how Christianity tolerated slavery because (1) it emphasized the importance of an afterlife, and (2) it is better to be slave to a man than slave to sin. It has selective quotes from Church fathers defending slavery. It had a brief throwaway line about the abolitionists being Christian, then immediately spent time talking about how this was really a secular concept that emerged from Enlightment figures like Rouseau who upheld the equality of all men.

The reality is quite different. Christians were opposed to slavery from the beginning. How Christianity Changed the World points out that church fathers encouraged slave owners to free their slaves - an alien concept to Roman morality. Brian Tierney points out in The Idea of Natural Rights: Studies on Natural Rights, Natural Law, and Church Law 1150 1625 (Emory University Studies in Law and Religion) that the doctrine of "active" human rights emerged during the middle ages from church scholars scholars hundreds of years before the secular Enlightenment. The anti-slavery movement was overwhelmingly Christian much like the anti-abortion movement today. And of course, let's not forget the "scientific racism" of the secular Enlightenment, which was championed by skeptics like David Hume. Even when secular people opposed slavery they undermined the argument by also upholding the view that blacks were inferior. By contrast, decidedly un-Enlightened thinkers such as John Wesley and other Methodist leaders (Methodism was a fundamentalist denomination at the time, much like pentecostalism today), upheld the radical view that blacks were just as intelligent as whites, and could achieve just as much given an equally good start in life. IIRC, that point is well made in Christianity on Trial: Arguments Against Anti-Religious Bigotry

Another random example of the secular bias is the entry on James Frazier, who wrote the book The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion: A New Abridgement from the Second and Third (Oxford World's Classics), which holds that Christianity ripped of ancient pagan religions. It spends time talking about Frazier's life and influences, but does not include a single objection to Frazier! (Instead see the very dry and boring The Gospel and the Greeks: Did the New Testament Borrow from Pagan Thought? (The Student Library)).

If you are an atheist this would be a valuable reference. If you are a Christian then please, please, please do not support this book with your money.

3 out of 5 stars

Does Not Appear to "Defend" Christianity April 24, 2007
4 out of 11 found this review helpful

I thought the book has a lot of "iffy" opinions that don't even pretend to support Christianity. I thought the chapter on Islam is a perfect example of this. If you are really looking for arguements for your Christian faith, I would not recommend this. I really don't mind reading various opinions, but that is not what I paid for.

1 out of 5 stars

Secular-Progressive Spin on Christianity April 11, 2007
6 out of 12 found this review helpful

I could not bring myself to believe this was a serious search for the truth based on my review of a few topics with which I had considerable familiarity. The material presented in this book appears to be a secular-progressive attempt to cast doubt about Christ and Christianity under the guise of a serious work. It seems to be most selective in regard to the information presented and should not be used by any serious student in search of the truth. There are just too many good books on this subject to waste your time reading this one!

3 out of 5 stars

Not as useful as Baker's Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics April 1, 2007
15 out of 16 found this review helpful

Two of the three previous reviewers included comparisons with Norman Geisler's Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, a volume of similar size and scope. I would like to offer my own comparison of the two, focusing on topics that come up most frequently in Christian apologetics, namely the existence of God, the problem of evil, biblical contradictions, miracles, the resurrection, creation, etc. Coverage by page count for the two are as follows:

Evidence/Arguments for God: Baker 32-1/2 pages, IVP 11 pages
Problem of Evil: Baker 5-1/2 pages, IVP 3-1/2 pages
The Resurrection: Baker 23-1/2 pages, IVP 5 pages
Bible Criticism: Baker 5-1/2 pages, IVP 2 pages
Bible Difficulties/Errors: Baker 6-1/2 pages, IVP 5-1/2 pages
Miracles: Baker 38 pages, IVP 5-1/2 pages
The Trinity: Baker 7-1/2 pages, IVP 3-1/2 pages
Views of Creation/Origins: Baker 15-1/2 pages, IVP 4-1/2 pages
Science & the Bible: Baker 9 pages, IVP 2 pages
Evolution: Baker 9-1/2 pages, IVP 2-1/2 pages
Big Bang Theory: Baker 4 pages, IVP 1/2 page
C. S. Lewis: Baker 5 pages, IVP 1 page
Salvation of Infants: Baker 5-1/2 pages, IVP 0 pages

In addition, the articles in the Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics tend to be more structured, with sub-headings, text tables and numbered lists, which make them easier to follow and to browse. The articles in IVP's New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics are almost exclusively undifferentiated paragraphs of text.

Furthermore, in the area that I am personally most familiar with (science & the Bible), the articles in the Baker Encyclopedia are much more informative, presenting arguments on all sides of an issue.

As for the argument that multiple contributors are better than one, remember that systematic theologies tend to have single authors.

Therefore, between the two, I recommend Norman Geisler's Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics over IVP's New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics.

5 out of 5 stars

An Amazing Resource! January 11, 2007
8 out of 12 found this review helpful

This is, to put it quite simply, an amazing resource. This is one of the few books that I simply have to recommend to anyone who is even slightly interested in the topic. In my opinion really all Christians should have this book, if not just to have a resource to keep themselves moderately informed of the changing apologetics landscape, and its historical backgrounds. Filled with hundreds of articles on topics ranging from the Kalaam cosmological argument, to Leibniz, Hegel, Logical Positivism, Naturalism, Immanuel Kant, David Hume, Apologetic Methodology, etc... and essentially any topic one could think of in relation to the subject of apologetics, this is an absolute must-buy for anyone interested in apologetics and meta-apologetics (that is, how to do apologetics itself). Whether you are the jaded veteran or the bright eyed beginner, this book really does a fantastic job of outlining the basic components of any given topic, while not getting bogged down in the particulars, and hence does a startlingly good job of balancing between accessibility and depth of information.

What sets this book apart from, say, Norman Geisler's similar offering, is the fact that it benefits strongly from a multiple contributor standpoint. Where Norman Geisler's apologetics encycopedia was (despite being a solid effort by one man) obviously over-reliant on one man's point of view (which happens to be decidedly neo-thomistic in its framework, which makes Geisler's critique heavily steeped in "classical" apologetic method) this book has a number of different contributors who represent numerous different backgrounds (e.g. not just theology and philosophy, but biology, chemistry, physics, and all of their sub-disciplines, along with a host of different ideas on apologetic methodology itself) which gives the book a very welcome inter-disciplinary approach. Among some of the notable contributors are of course, W.L. Craig, W. Dembski, Del Ratszch, Alister McGrath, Veli-Matti Karkainnen, J.P. Moreland, John Frame, and a host of others. If you are considering buying this book, but are still undecided, I can tell you that overall this book is well worth the somewhat steep price. It is a welcome contribution to the field of apologetics, and will, undoubtedly, be used for years to come.