Have you ever decided, last-minute, to attend a conference that you weren’t even confident you understood the content–but you had recently become familiar with members speaking at the conference and thought “why not?” I really like those speakers, so it should be good. And then, less than a week later of discovering said workshop, you found yourself in this conference and feeling like these people were YOUR PEEPS? Have you ever just felt like Jesus led you to a place you were supposed to be? [For me, it was after a three year long struggle with my faith and the church]
I did, last weekend. I saw the advert for “Women In Apologetics 2021 Conference” on the Instagram page of the Center for Biblical Unity about five days before the conference. I had become familiar with Monique Duson through her Center for Biblical Unity through Instagram about two weeks ago, and then both she and Theology Mom Krista Bontrager the week after that on their All the Things podcast/show (that I have managed to view, or listen to on my runs, at least half of their shows in one week). Whew! So in summary, within two weeks I discovered one resource, that led to another, that led to an explosion of resources!
I spent two evenings and one day online in this conference, and I’d like to share the books I have now as my own required reading. I see them as useful to anyone in the Christian faith as they are focused on apologetics: The branch of theology that is concerned with defending or proving the truth of Christian doctrines.
| Title | Author | Description |
| Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words | William D. Mounce | To really understand the bible, you have to understand the language and words of origin. |
| Was Jesus a Socialist? | Lawrence W. Reed | This is the biggest influence on young people: Was Jesus a Socialist ? Does socialism fit within Biblical principles? |
| Mama Bear Apologetics: Empowering your kids to challenge cultural lies *study guide launches February 2021 | Hillary Morgan Ferrer | “A mom-to-mom guide to equip you to teach your kids how to form their own biblical beliefs.” |
| Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth: 12 Questions Christians should ask about social justice | Thaddeus J Williams | “Thaddeus Williams transcends our political tribalism and challenges readers to discover what the Bible and the example of Jesus have to teach us about justice.” |
| Live Not by Lies: A Manual for Christian Dissidents | Rod Dreher | “..draws on the wisdom of Christian survivors of Soviet persecution to warn American Christians of approaching dangers.” |
| Tactics, 10th Anniversary: A Game Plan for discussing Your Christian Convictions | Gregory Koukl, Lee Strobel | “…demonstrates how to artfully regain control of conversations, keeping them moving forward in constructive ways through thoughtful diplomacy.” |
| The Triumph of Christianity: How the Jesus Movement Became the World’s Largest Religion | Rodney Stark | “…traces the extraordinary rise of Christianity through its most pivotal and controversial moments to offer fresh perspective on the history of the world’s largest religion.” |
| Science and the Mind of the Maker: What the Conversation Between Faith and Science Reveals About God | Melissa Cain Travis | “…points to powerful evidence that the opposite is true—that cosmology, astronomy, biochemistry, and other disciplines strongly support what she calls “The Maker Thesis,” which explains the origin, rationality, and intricacy of nature and the human mind’s capacity to comprehend it.” |
| Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers | Dane C. Ortland | “How does Jesus feel about his people amid all their sins and failures?” |
| How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth: Fourth Edition | Gordon D. Fee | “It’s meant to be read and comprehended by everyone from armchair readers to seminary students.” |
| Another Gospel?: A Lifelong Christian Seeks Truth in Response to Progressive Christianity | Alisa Childers | “Another Gospel? describes the intellectual journey Alisa took over several years as she wrestled with a series of questions that struck at the core of the Christian faith.” |
| Burning Down ‘The Shack’: How the ‘Christian’ bestseller is deceiving millions | James B. De Young | “Exploring the nature and character of God, from Scripture, De Young concludes that it is necessary to proceed carefully with The Shack, lest important truths be skewed and even jettisoned.” |
| The Resurrection of the Son of God (Christian Origins and the Question of God, Vol. 3) | N.T. Wright | “..forces the historian to read the Easter narratives in the gospels, not simply as late rationalizations of early Christian spirituality, but as accounts of two actual events: the empty tomb of Jesus and his “appearances.” |
| Did Jesus Exist?: The Historical Argument for Jesus of Nazareth | Bart D. Ehrman | “..vigorously defends the historicity of Jesus, and provides a compelling portrait of the man from Nazareth.” |
| The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus | Gary R. Habermas | “This is an accessible, comprehensive, and persuasive resource providing detailed evidence for the resurrection of Jesus.” |
| On Social Justice: St. Basil the Great (Popular Patristics) | St. Basil the Great | “St Basil’s homilies on the subject of wealth and poverty, although delivered in the fourth century, remain utterly fresh and contemporary.” |
| Unveiling Grace: The Story of How We Found Our Way out of the Mormon Church | Lynn K. Wilder | A gripping story of how an entire family, deeply enmeshed in Mormonism for thirty years, found their way out and found faith in Jesus Christ. |
| Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith | Douglas Groothuis | “In this systematic text, Douglas Groothuis makes a comprehensive apologetic case for Christian theism–proceeding from a defense of objective truth to a presentation of the key arguments for God from natural theology to a case for the credibility of Jesus, the incarnation and the resurrection.” |
| I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be An Atheist | Norman L. Geisler | “…argue, however, that Christianity is not only more reasonable than all other belief systems, but is indeed more rational than unbelief itself. |
| American Crisis: Cultural Marxism and The Culture War: A Christian Response | Jefrey D. Breshears | “This book is an analysis of the origins, the manifestations and the consequences of America’s culture war – and what Christians can and should do in response” |