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The Swedish Atheist, the Scuba Diver and Other Apologetic Rabbit Trails
About this book
In the real world, we don't usually sit in lecture halls debating worldview issues in systematic arguments. Chances are that we're more likely to have haphazard, informal conversations over a latte in a coffee shop.Meet Randal Rauser, a Christian, and Sheridan, an atheist. Over the course of one caffeinated afternoon, they explore a range of honest questions and real objections to Christian faith. Do people hold to a particular religion just because of an accident of geography? Is believing in Jesus as arbitrary as believing in Zeus? Why would God order the slaughter of infants or send people to hell? How do you know you're really real, and not just a character in someone's book?Their extended conversation unfolds with all the rabbit trails, personal baggage and distractions that inevitably come in real-world encounters. Rauser provides substantive argument-based apologetics but also highlights the importance of apologetics as a narrative journey. As we get to know Sheridan, we better understand the personal history that drives his atheism and the issues that motivate his skepticism.This imaginative narrative is a model of the rigorous pursuit of truth in conversation. Apologetics is not just about winning arguments; it is a transformative apprenticeship where eternity touches down in everyday life. It's about the discovery of truth through winding, weaving, honest, aimless, pointless and completely purposeful conversations between people who desperately want to know the way things really are.You, dear Reader, are already in this book. Randal has written you into the story, and you're sitting with him and Sheridan in the coffee shop, listening in on their dialogue. Discover what they have to say to each other—and to you.
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Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Copyright
- Contents
- Introduction
- 1. The Sacramental Properties
- 2. Why a Good Argument Ain't Such a Bad Thing
- 3. The Grande Conversation Begins
- 4. "Reasonable" Scientists, "Deluded" Believers and the Quest for Objectivity
- 5. What Must You Do to See a Buffalo or Cast a Vote?
- 6. God, Matter and Other Astonishing Hypotheses
- 7. Faith: It's In the Air
- 8. So Which Beliefs Are "Properly Basic"?
- 9. God Is Not a Hypothesis
- 10. How to Show That "God Loves Me" Is False
- 11. The Swedish Atheist and the Scuba Diver
- 12. Will the Real Atheist Please Stand Up?
- 13. I Just Happen to Believe in One Less God Than You
- 14. The Pastry I Freely Choose
- 15. Naturalism, Scientism and the Screwdriver That Could Fix Almost Anything
- 16. God as a Simple Answer
- 17. A Giant Mickey Mouse Balloon and the Keebler Elves
- 18. From Personal Cause to Most Perfect Being
- 19. Why Zeus, at Least, Isn't God
- 20. Would a Most Perfect Being Have a Most Imperfect Church?
- 21. Would a Most Perfect Being Command Genocide?
- 22. What Hath a Most Perfect Being to Do with a Most Horrendous Hell?
- 23. An Eternal Eye for and Eye
- 24. Three Types of Relativist and Two Types of Evil
- 25. Good Humans, Genocidal Aliens and Serial Killers Who Know What They Want in Life
- 26. Playing Games with Morality
- 27. God Is Dead and You Have Killed Him, Et Cetera
- 28. What Does God Taste Like?
- 29. The Light Cast by Little Amazing Moments of Providence
- 30. The Taliban and the Serenity Prayer
- 31. Feel Free to Sit on the Fence, but Don't Get Caught in the Lava Flow
- 32. Adieu
- 33. A Love Supreme
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- About the Author