Approaching the battlefield?
1. Enemies or Allies?
People concerned for the truth about reality being known are divided into opposing camps. This is understandable. Yet perhaps we could work more towards helping one another. Rather than cheap point scoring and defensively reacting, we could seek to work together! Perhaps what gets lost in debate is that if we truly think our vision of reality is true, then we genuinely want to win the other to our point of view. We want the other side to come what we think the truth is. Ridiculing, belittling and arrogantly never admitting our own problems won't help either us or the person with whom we are disagreeing.
2. Uninformed atheists
It is quite dissapointing when athiests says outlandishly ridiculous things like we don't even know Christ existed or that Christianity is not interested in facts but its merely a leap in the dark. Sadly, uninformed devotees lap up the completely uninformed and completely misleading statements. It is in one sense thoroughly understandable that a person might not know much about something in which they have no interest or that they think is very silly. However, if you are going to critique something effectively and fairly then it is important to know what you are refuting so that you are not punching a straw man. The sad result is that a proper engagement with the real issues doesn't take place. This is true for many atheists but it is also true for many Christians regarding atheism. We can listen to allies critiquing the opposition's "weak and silly" views but never genuinely try to find out why the opposition finds their own world view compelling. What are the substantial arguments on both sides?
3. Uninformed Christians
Christians can not only be uninformed about alternative views, they can even be uninformed about the Christian world view. They may not actually know much about what is in the Bible. People can be very zealous to defend a book in which they actually have very limited knowledge.
A proper study by Christians and non-Christians of real issues can only serve to help everyone.
4. Stepping into the shoes of others
Objectivity is impossible. Can anyone objectively look out at the world in which they exist? We do not come to issues with a blank slate. We all come to issues with the baggage of our upbringing and the network of beliefs we inherited from our mother's breast. Even the things we disliked and rebelled against, have shaped us in ways we usually aren't aware of. If eating dog or horse seems disgusting to us, then this is the culture we grew up in. For others it is not the case. What else are we disgusted by that need not be necessarily wrong? What else do we approve of as self evidently right that isn't necessarily so?
All we can hope to do is have as much humility as we can summon and charitably try to hear where others are coming from. Rather than being quick to score points or quick to gloss over problems in our own world view, we should seek to be honest, open and actually listen – listen in order to understand, not just in order to refute.
5. Book & MP3 list
I can't pretend to have digested everything in these books but they are on my shelf and I often look up things. I read them when I get a chance. I like listening to debates and discussions where people have to engage with the ideas of those with whom they disagree.
A great web site for this is Unbelievable?
feed://ondemand.premier.org.uk/unbelievable/AudioFeed.aspx
You can look up 'Unbelievable?' on iTunes for many past topics for downloading or get the Podcast. They generally have a Christian and a non-Christian in the studio and they have a discussion with each other. It has a more productive feel that a formal debate setting.
Christian Defences - General
A Sneaking Suspicion - John Dickson
Belief: Readings on the Reason for Faith - (ed) Francis S. Collins
C.S. Lewis's Case for Christ - Art Lindsley
Christianity for Skeptics - Steve Kumar
Contending with Christianity's Critics - (eds) Paul Copan and William Lane Craig
Escape from Reason - Francis Schaeffer
Evidence that Demands a Verdict Vol I & II - Josh McDowell
God Actually - Roy Williams
God is Great, God is Good - William Lane Graig and Chad Meister
Know Why You Believe - Paul Little
Hard Questions, Real Answers - William Lane Craig
Is God a Moral Monster? - Paul Copan
Is God Relevant? - Louis Palau
Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis
Naked God - Martin Ayers
Reason for the Hope Within - (ed) Michael J. Murray
Reasonable Faith - William Lane Craig
Simply Christian - N.T. Wright
The Archaeology of The Bible - James K. Hoffmeier
The Dawkins Delusion - Alistair McGrath and Joanna Collicutt McGrath
The Dawkins Letters: Challenging Atheist Myths - David Robertson
The God who is There - Francis Shaeffer
The Reason for God - Timothy Keller
There is a God - Antony Flew
Unshakable Foundations - Norman Geisler and Peter Bocchino
Warranted Christian Belief - Alvin Plantinga
Why I am a Christian - John Stott
Christian Defences - Jesus and the Gospels
Breaking the Da Vinci Code - Darrell L. Bock
Can We Trust the Gospels? - Mark D. Roberts.
Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospels - Craig A . Evans
He Walked Among Us - Josh McDowell
Is the New Testament History - Paul Barnett
Jesus and the Eyewitnesses - Richard Bauckham
Making Sense of the New Testament - Craig Blomberg
More than a Carpenter - Josh McDowell
The Case for Christ - Lee Strobel
The Case for the Real Jesus - Lee Strobel
The Christ Files - John Dickson
The Historical Reliability of John's Gospel - Craig Blomberg
The Historical Reliability of the Gospels - Craig Blomberg
The New Testament Documents - Are they Reliable? - F.F. Bruce
The Truth About Jesus - Paul Barnett
The Two Faces of Jesus - Paul Barnett
Who Was Jesus? - N.T. Wright
Resurrection
Leading Lawyers Look at the Resurrection - Ross Clifford
Resurrection: Truth and Reality - Paul Barnett, Peter Jensen and David Peterson
The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus- Gary R. Habermas & Michael R. Licona.
The Easter Enigma - John Wenham
The Jesus Inquest - Charles Foster
The Resurrection of Jesus: A New Historiographical Approach - Michael R. Licona.
The Resurrection of the Son of God - N.T. Wright
Who Moved the Stone? Frank Morrison
Science and Christianity
Dawkins God: Genes, Memes and the Meaning of Life - Alistair McGrath
God's Undertaker: Has Science Buried God? - John Lennox.
In the Beginning: The Opening Chapters of Genesis
Miracles - C.S. Lewis
Original Sin - Henri Blocher
Questions of Truth - John Polkinghorne and Nicholas Beale
The Myths of Science - Kirsten Birkett
The Language of God - Francis Collins
Coming to Peace With Science - Darrel R. Falk
Philosophy Books
Chris Chrisman Goes to College - James W. Sire
Dissonant Voices - Harold A. Netland
Faith and Reason - (ed) Paul Helm
Michael Polanyi - Drusilla Scott
Philosophy and the Christian Faith - Colin Brown
Philosophy for Dummies - Tom Morris
Sophie's World - Jostein Gaarder
The Gagging of God - Don Carson
The Universe Next Door - James Sire
Warranted Christian Belief - Alvin Plantinga
Books Attacking Christianity - by Atheists and Others
God is not Great - Christopher Hitchens
The Christian Delusion - (ed) John Loftus
The End of Faith - Sam Harris
The God Delusion - Richard Dawkins
The Moral Landscape - Sam Harris
The Portable Atheist - (ed) Christopher Hitchens
Why I became an Atheist - John Loftus