Recommended Apologetics Books
The following list is not meant to be exhaustive. Nor does the listing of every book indicate unqualified endorsement of the author, or even the whole book itself. The case of Dr. Craig’s more recent, troubling experiments with Genesis 1 and 2, are a case in point. Arguably any of his materials should be left off. On the other hand, once upon a time, I found his thoughts on the matters surrounding the cosmological argument, the reliability of the New Testament documents, and the empty tomb to be clarifying.
My own preference in stocking the libraries of others is to take a “big boy” approach to the learning process. Assuming that the individual is a proactive enough thinker, the goal should be to maximize profound ideas and not necessarily to avoid the presence of every stumbling block. Part of intellectual maturity is the art of chewing the meat and spitting out the bones. One can hardly develop such a skill without at some point graduating past the boneless, skinless products. If the goal is turning out apologists who know why they believe, then survival of a smart man’s dumb ideas are an easy-enough to spot landmine. Just walk around it and advance.
Introductory Surveys on Apologetics
Douglas Groothuis, Christian Apologetics
Douglas Groothuis, The Knowledge of God in the World and the Word
R. C. Sproul, Defending Your Faith
Norman Geisler, Christian Apologetics
Norman Geisler & Peter Bocchino, Unshakable Foundations
Nathan Greeley, Christian Apologetics
J. P. Moreland, Scaling the Secular City
William Lane Craig, Reasonable Faith
Philosophical Apologetics
R. C. Sproul, The Consequences of Ideas
R. C. Sproul, If There is a God, Why Are There Atheists?
Edward Feser, Five Proofs of the Existence of God
Edward Feser, The Last Superstition
James Sennett & Douglas Groothuis, ed., In Defense of Natural Theology
Evidential Apologetics
Josh McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict
Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ
John Warwick Montgomery, Faith Founded on Fact
Gary Habermas & Michael Licona, The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus
Steven Cowan and Terry Wilder, ed., In Defense of the Bible
Science and Apologetics
R. C. Sproul, Not a Chance
William Dembski, Intelligent Design
Phillip E. Johnson, Darwin on Trial
Stephen C. Meyer, Signature in the Cell
Stephen C. Meyer, Darwin’s Doubt
Del Ratzsch, Science and its Limits
Method in Apologetics
R. C. Sproul, John Gerstner, & Arthur Lindsley, Classical Apologetics
Steven B. Cowan, ed. Five Views on Apologetics
J. V. Fesko, Reforming Apologetics
David Haines, ed. Without Excuse
David Haines, Natural Theology
Keith Mathison, Toward a Reformed Apologetics
World Religions and Cults
James Sire, The Universe Next Door
Walter Martin, The Kingdom of the Cults
Norman Geisler & Abdul Saleeb, Answering Islam
James White, What Every Christian Needs to Know about the Qur’an
Douglas Groothuis, Unmasking the New Age
Classic Works of Apologetics
Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho the Jew
Origen, Contra Celsum
Augustine, Against the Academicians
Augustine, The City of God
Thomas Aquinas, Summa Contra Gentiles
Pascal, Penseés
John Locke, The Reasonableness of Christianity
Joseph Butler, The Analogy of Religion
William Paley, Natural Theology
William Paley, A View of the Evidences of Christianity: Volume 1 Volume 2
John Henry Newman, A Grammar of Assent
Francis Beattie, Apologetics, or The Rational Vindication of Christianity
G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy
C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
C. S. Lewis, Miracles
Étienne Gilson, God and Philosophy
Francis Schaeffer, He is There and He is Not Silent
