Recommended Books

<strong>Apologetics Books</strong>

Introductions:

I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, by Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek, is in my opinion probably the best intro to apologetics.

Christian Apologetics, 2nd Edition, by Norman L. Geisler is another excellent intro.

Christian Apologetics: An Anthology of Primary Sources, edited by Khaldoun A. Sweis and Chad V. Meister, is just what the title suggests. It gives an overview of various issues in apologetics, such as the existence of God, the resurrection, the reliability of the Bible, the problem of evil, etc., all written from the primary sources.

Resurrection:

The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, by Gary R. Habermas and Michael R. Licona, is a fantastic work that is focused on the minimal facts approach to the resurrection.

The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ, by Gary R. Habermas is a great work on the existence and resurrection of Jesus.

<strong>Biblical Studies Books</strong>

Bible Surveys and Introductions:

Old Testament

A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, 3rd edition, by Gleason L. Archer is an excellent work that deals with the authorship, dating, and higher critical issues of the Old Testament books. It is an excellent response to the Documentary Hypothesis.

Old Testament Survey: The Message, Form and Background of the Old Testament, by William Sanford  LaSor, David Allan Hubbard, and Frederic William Bush is a graduate-level book that introduces what the title suggests. This is a good, and detailed book; although, it is somewhat more liberal at times as it endorses critical views like the documentary hypothesis (multiple authors of the Pentateuch).

New Testament

Introduction to the New Testament, by D. A. Carson and Douglas Moo is a standard work for seminarians. It is conservative and an overall good book.

New Testament Introduction, 4th ed., by Donald Guthrie is a more academic-level work from an overall conservative perspective. With over 1000 pages, this work goes into much detail and length regarding higher critical issues (i.e. authorship, date, etc.).

<strong>Hermeneutics Books</strong>

The Hermeneutical Spiral: A Comprehensive Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, by Grant R. Osborne is another good text on hermeneutical. Unfortunately, like most others, it at least implicitly denies, in the appendix, that an objective knowledge can be had. This is another standard work for seminary students (I have used it as well).

How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth, by Gordon D. Fee and Douglas Stuart is an excellent popular-level work on how to interpret the Bible. I used it for my college class on Bible Study Methods.

Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, 3rd ed., by William K. Klein, Craig L. Blomberg, and Robert L. Hubbard, Jr., is a good work that introduces readers to the basic principles of hermeneutics. I have not read the 3rd edition, but the 2nd is good, with the exception that it argues that the interpreters’ bias and presuppositions seemingly make it impossible to have an objective understanding of the meaning of the text. I used this book for my seminary hermeneutics class, and it was used when I took the class. It is a standard work for colleges and seminaries.

Objectivity in Biblical Interpretation, by Thomas A. Howe is a one of a kind work that argues that we can have an objective understanding (not infallible) of the biblical text, even while having biases and presuppositions.

<strong>Philosophy Books</strong>

Metaphysics:

An Elementary Christian Metaphysics, by Joseph Owens is an excellent introductory work to Thomistic metaphysics, as well as epistemology.

Introduction to the Philosophy of Being, by George Klubertanz, is a general introduction to Thomistic metaphysics.

Methodical Realism by Etienne Gilson is a great book arguing for a realist view of philosophy.

Epistemology:

Man’s Knowledge of Reality: An Introduction to Thomistic Epistemology, by Frederick D. Wilhelmson is a great book to start with if you want to learn epistemology from a moderate realist perspective, over against a critical realism.

Cognition: An Epistemological Enquiry, by Joseph Owens is another good book on Thomistic epistemology. It is more advanced than Man’s Knowledge of Reality.

What Can We Know? An Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge, by Louis P. Pojman is a good overview of contemporary views of knowledge.

Philosophy of Religion:

An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion, 3rd ed., by Brian Davies is an excellent overview of philosophy of religion from a Thomistic point of view. It does a good job introducing the material while giving the reader a good analysis at the same time.

Philosophy of Religion: A Guide and Anthology, edited by Brian Davies, is a superb collection of primary source material in the philosophy of religion. I use this book in one of my Ph.D. reading seminars.

Philosophy of Religion, 2nd ed., by Norman L. Geisler and Winfried Corduan is another excellent book on the philosophy of religion. It is not as broad as the intro by Davies, but it goes into more detail in some of what it does cover.

 

 

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