Book Review title


Field Manual for Christian Apologetics
by John Oakes
Illumination Publishers International (www.ipibooks.com), 2011,
366 pages, $15.00 (paperback), ISBN-13: 978-0-9817373-1-7

book cover I have mentioned in this journal in the past that there are several young men I feel have been uniquely called by God to lead the church into the first part of the twenty-first century in matters related to apologetics. John Oakes is one of these men, and this book is one of his most recent efforts. This book is in a question/answer format and is divided into 16 chapters that are areas of apologetics that have special significance in the twenty-first century. The chapters are given titles like “Reliability of the Biblical Text,” “Supposed Inconsistencies in the Bible,” “Science and the Bible,” “Evolution,” “The Genesis Flood,” “The Relationship Between Christianity and Other Religions,” and so forth.

The way the material is handled is to ask questions in each of the 16 areas listed and then answer them. The wording of the questions is such that those of us who deal with the public will recognize them as the way these questions are usually phrased by skeptics and people with faith problems. Oakes has a Ph.D. in chemical physics from the University of Colorado and is president of the Apologetics Research Society, so his answers are very well handled and very scholarly. In some cases questions are answered by reprinting an article that Oakes has written in the past. “Is Christmas a Christian Holiday?” “Apologetics and the Christian World View,” “Should Intelligent Design Be Prescribed in Public School Curricula?” and “Judas: Another Gospel?” are examples.

This is a great book for building the faith of Christians, and would make a great study for a class of college students because it will generate a lot of discussion. The brevity of the answers is sometimes a problem, and the book really needs an index to find specific issues. However, it is a great tool in answering the questions of others as well as your own questions. We recommend it highly.
 

Back to Contents Does God Exist?, JanFeb12.