A Skeptic's Guide to Faith

A Skeptic's Guide to Faith
Author: Philip Yancey
Publisher: Zondervan
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2009
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310325021

Examines the apparent contradictions in the world and explains how the invisible, natural, and supernatural worlds might interact and affect people's daily lives.

A Skeptic’s Guide to Belief

A Skeptic’s Guide to Belief
Author: Ken Crispin
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2019-04-04
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1532678533

What would happen if you faced your doubts, set aside your preconceptions, and decided to follow the path of truth wherever it might lead? Most people, whether believers or atheists, doggedly defend what they have always believed. Many see this as an expression of faith. Yet, there is something almost inexpressibly sad about the plight of people living out their lives in reliance upon beliefs they dare not question. Perhaps that is why many of us come to a point at which we feel compelled to pursue the truth, no matter what the implications. But even if we found the courage to embark upon such a journey, could we really find a path through the scientific, philosophical, experiential, and theological thickets that surround the great questions of life? And if we did, would we know the truth and be set free? Would we be forced to face a long-feared despair? Or would we find ourselves still staring impotently at an enigmatic universe? This is a book unlike any other. It addresses these questions with unflinching honesty, drawing evidence from a diversity of scientific fields and subjecting the competing arguments to rigorous skeptical analysis.

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe

The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
Author: Dr. Steven Novella
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Total Pages: 505
Release: 2018-10-02
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1538760517

An all-encompassing guide to skeptical thinking from podcast host and academic neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine Steven Novella and his SGU co-hosts, which Richard Wiseman calls "the perfect primer for anyone who wants to separate fact from fiction." It is intimidating to realize that we live in a world overflowing with misinformation, bias, myths, deception, and flawed knowledge. There really are no ultimate authority figures-no one has the secret, and there is no place to look up the definitive answers to our questions (not even Google). Luckily, The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe is your map through this maze of modern life. Here Dr. Steven Novella-along with Bob Novella, Cara Santa Maria, Jay Novella, and Evan Bernstein-will explain the tenets of skeptical thinking and debunk some of the biggest scientific myths, fallacies, and conspiracy theories-from anti-vaccines to homeopathy, UFO sightings to N- rays. You'll learn the difference between science and pseudoscience, essential critical thinking skills, ways to discuss conspiracy theories with that crazy co- worker of yours, and how to combat sloppy reasoning, bad arguments, and superstitious thinking. So are you ready to join them on an epic scientific quest, one that has taken us from huddling in dark caves to setting foot on the moon? (Yes, we really did that.) DON'T PANIC! With The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe, we can do this together. "Thorough, informative, and enlightening, The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe inoculates you against the frailties and shortcomings of human cognition. If this book does not become required reading for us all, we may well see modern civilization unravel before our eyes." -- Neil deGrasse Tyson "In this age of real and fake information, your ability to reason, to think in scientifically skeptical fashion, is the most important skill you can have. Read The Skeptics' Guide Universe; get better at reasoning. And if this claim about the importance of reason is wrong, The Skeptics' Guide will help you figure that out, too." -- Bill Nye

Christianity Considered

Christianity Considered
Author: John M. Frame
Publisher: Lexham Press
Total Pages: 111
Release: 2018-05-16
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1683590872

Christianity is more than a religion: it is also a complex intellectual tradition. Christians and non-Christians who want to understand the world as it is today have to understand Christianity, too. Christianity makes objective claims, but also presents a new way of thinking about the world. In A Guide to Christianity for Skeptics and Seekers, renowned theologian Dr. John Frame introduces the reader to the Christian religion and its unique intellectual framework, describing the key pillars of Christian thought and how these shape the Christian worldview. Covering a range of topics, from the resurrection to the Christian posture toward politics, A Guide to Christianity for Skeptics and Seekers is a valuable guide to understanding the Christian faith as an intellectual tradition. Useful for both the Christian reader looking for a better understanding of the faith and the skeptical reader who seeks to understand the intellectual tradition that has done much to shape the modern world.

Meet the Skeptic

Meet the Skeptic
Author: Bill Foster
Publisher: New Leaf Publishing Group
Total Pages: 146
Release: 2012-03
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0890516510

Meet the Skeptic is a new approach to apologetics and evangelism that organizes a non-believer's objections into four basic root ideas. Learn how to effectively share your Christian faith without reaching for comebacks and offering "churchisms." This new approach to apologetics and evangelism is written for teens, college students and adults. A leader's guide and workbook are available for church and educational classroom settings. Are you equipped to handle the skeptic's questions?

Making Sense of God

Making Sense of God
Author: Timothy Keller
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2016-09-20
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0525954155

We live in an age of skepticism. Our society places such faith in empirical reason, historical progress, and heartfelt emotion that it’s easy to wonder: Why should anyone believe in Christianity? What role can faith and religion play in our modern lives? In this thoughtful and inspiring new book, pastor and New York Times bestselling author Timothy Keller invites skeptics to consider that Christianity is more relevant now than ever. As human beings, we cannot live without meaning, satisfaction, freedom, identity, justice, and hope. Christianity provides us with unsurpassed resources to meet these needs. Written for both the ardent believer and the skeptic, Making Sense of God shines a light on the profound value and importance of Christianity in our lives.

A Doubter's Guide to Jesus

A Doubter's Guide to Jesus
Author: John Dickson
Publisher: Zondervan Academic
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2018-02-06
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310571987

Who was Jesus? Historical sources portray a person who was complex, multi-layered, and often contradictory to the tidy portrait that much of modern Christianity paints him as. Even the gospel accounts render him as both judge and healer, teacher and temple, servant and savior. A Doubter's Guide to Jesus is a persuasive and often challenging investigation into the historical figure found in the earliest sources. These sources, which include references both direct and indirect—from Roman, Jewish, and Christian accounts—offer us more than simple evidence that Jesus existed; they begin to form a picture that is both deeply credible and profoundly counterintuitive. Each chapter explores the evidence for a different aspect of the most influential figure in human history, exploring: His words and their impact. The scandal of his social life. His preference for the poor and lowly. The meaning of his death and influence of his promises. The goal is not to turn Jesus into something neater, more systematic and digestible; but to see him more clearly as someone who stretches our imaginations, confronts our beliefs, and challenges our lifestyles. After two millennia of spiritual devotion and more than two centuries of modern critical research, we still cannot fit Jesus into a box—and this is as challenging as it is deeply compelling.

A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind

A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind
Author: Robert A. Burton, M.D.
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2013-04-23
Genre: Science
ISBN: 125002840X

What if our soundest, most reasonable judgments are beyond our control? Despite 2500 years of contemplation by the world's greatest minds and the more recent phenomenal advances in basic neuroscience, neither neuroscientists nor philosophers have a decent understanding of what the mind is or how it works. The gap between what the brain does and the mind experiences remains uncharted territory. Nevertheless, with powerful new tools such as the fMRI scan, neuroscience has become the de facto mode of explanation of behavior. Neuroscientists tell us why we prefer Coke to Pepsi, and the media trumpets headlines such as "Possible site of free will found in brain." Or: "Bad behavior down to genes, not poor parenting." Robert Burton believes that while some neuroscience observations are real advances, others are overreaching, unwarranted, wrong-headed, self-serving, or just plain ridiculous, and often with the potential for catastrophic personal and social consequences. In A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind, he brings together clinical observations, practical thought experiments, personal anecdotes, and cutting-edge neuroscience to decipher what neuroscience can tell us – and where it falls woefully short. At the same time, he offers a new vision of how to think about what the mind might be and how it works. A Skeptic's Guide to the Mind is a critical, startling, and expansive journey into the mysteries of the brain and what makes us human.

A Sceptic's Guide to Atheism

A Sceptic's Guide to Atheism
Author: Peter S Williams
Publisher: Authentic Media Inc
Total Pages: 230
Release: 2013-09-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1842278991

This is an accessible response to the contemporary anti-God arguments of the 'new atheists' (Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, Hitchens, Grayling, etc). Atheism has become militant in the past few years, with its own popular mass media evangelists such as Richard Dawkins and Daniel Dennett. In this readable book, Christian philosopher Peter S. Williams considers the arguments of the 'new atheists' and finds them wanting. Williams explains the history of atheism and responds to the claims that: 'belief in God causes more harm than good'; 'religion is about blind faith and science is the only way to know things'; 'science can explain religion away'; 'there is not enough evidence for God'; 'the arguments for God's existence do not work'. Williams argues that belief in God is more intellectually plausible than atheism.

Rumors of Another World

Rumors of Another World
Author: Philip Yancey
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2003
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0310252172

Yancey investigates the natural world and discovers the supernatural hiding in plain view. He grapples with why God made the world and what our role truly is, and seeks to answer the question, "How does one live in the natural world while expressing the values of the supernatural?" (Christian)