Book Review: Faith's Reasons for Believing by Robert Reymond

Reviewed by James Anderson

The subtitle of Robert Reymond’s latest book on apologetics gives a fair impression of its purpose and tone: “An Apologetic Antidote to Mindless Christianity (and to Thoughtless Atheism)”. Reymond’s goal is to counter not only the attacks of “militant atheists” like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, but also the “mindless Christianity” of believers who are unable or unwilling to offer any reasons for the faith they profess.

The book is adapted from lecture material originally prepared for a seminary course in apologetics and is therefore pitched at that level. Reymond’s approach to apologetics is self-consciously presuppositionalist, with the title of the book designed to reflect that approach. Our method in apologetics should not be to start from a position without any faith commitments and to use our reasoning to construct a position of faith ‘from scratch’. Rather, we should unashamedly start with the faith we already profess, and reasoning in a manner consistent with that faith we should explain why it makes good sense to believe as we do. Reymond insists that “one’s first principle … is all-important in Christian apologetics”. You either begin with the conviction that the Bible is God’s Word and ground your knowledge and reasoning on that firm foundation, or else you build on some other foundation that will ultimately prove to be quicksand.

read more...

Available at Monergism Books

Review Copyright © 2007 Discerning Reader