Books of Faith

So yes, it is Christmas, that time of the year and for some reason this year, instead of thinking about Bing Crosby and White Christmas, and Elvis and Blue Christmas, and Burl Ives and a “Holly, Jolly, Christmas”, my thoughts have return repeatedly to several books that have had a profound effect on my faith and my belief in Jesus Christ.

I realize that many people feel the Bible is more then adequate to provide the foundations for faith in this weird world in which we live. I enjoy the Bible in its many translations and sometimes still, in the dead of night when my fears and wavering faith (and conviction) peak, find comfort in many of its passages.

That said the following are four books that have provided me with enormous comfort during some of my very confused moments and when my faith in “something beyond all of this” has wavered.

So Merry Christmas, I hope these books (should you choose to read them) bring you the comfort and peace and joy they have brought and continue to bring to me.

 The first is “God, The Evidence”, by Patrick Glynn.

Here is what Amazon and others say about this book:

“In the modern age science has been winning its centuries—old battle with religion for the mind of man. The evidence has long seemed incontrovertible: Life was merely a product of blind chance—a cosmic roll of an infinite number of dice across an eternity of time. Slowly, methodically, scientists supplied answers to mysteries insufficiently explained by theologians. Reason pushed faith off into the shadows of mythology and superstition, while atheism became a badge of wisdom. Our culture, freed from moral obligation, explored the frontiers of secularism. God was dead.

"Glynn's arguments for the existence of God put the burden of disproof on those intellectuals who think that the question has long since been settled." — Andrew M. Greeley

But now, in the twilight of the twentieth century, a startling transformation is taking place in Western scientific and intellectual thought. At its heart is the dawning realization that the universe, far from being a sea of chaos, appears instead to be an intricately tuned mechanism whose every molecule, whose every physical law, seems to have been design from the very first nanosecond of the big bang toward a single end—the creation of life. This intellectually and spiritually riveting book asks a provocative question: Is science, the long-time nemesis of the Deity, uncovering the face of God?

Patrick Glynn lays out the astonishing new evidence that caused him to turn away from the atheism he acquired as a student at Harvard and Cambridge. The facts are fascinating: Physicists are discovering an unexplainable order to the cosmos; medical researchers are reporting the extraordinary healing powers of prayer and are documenting credible accounts of near-death experiences; psychologists, who once considered belief in God to be a sign of neurosis, are finding instead that religious faith is a powerful elixir for mental health; and sociologists are now acknowledging the destructive consequences of a value-free society.”

I am totally enthralled by the opening chapter that discuss the “unexplainable order to the cosmos” that physicists are discovering. (The rest of Glynn’s book did not have the same impact for me).

That said, not since reading the first chapter of Peter Singer’s “Animal Liberation” has a single chapter in a book made such a convincing argument to me that it infused my own views and thoughts. Do yourself a favor and just read the opening chapter in Glynn’s book and I am confident it will enrich your conviction “that there is a God” or if you currently believe there is not, it may make you rethink that view.

The second book I am rereading the Christmas is Lee Strobel’s “The Case for Christ”.

Again from Amazon, “A seasoned journalist chases down the biggest story in history--is there credible evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God?

Retracing his own spiritual journey from atheism to faith, Lee Strobel, former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune, cross-examines a dozen experts with doctorates from schools like Cambridge, Princeton, and Brandeis who are recognized authorities in their own fields. Strobel challenges them with questions like: How reliable is the New Testament? Does evidence for Jesus exist outside the Bible? Is there any reason to believe the resurrection was an actual event?

Strobel's tough, point-blank questions make this Gold Medallion-winning book read like a captivating, fast-paced novel. But it's not fiction. It's a riveting quest for the truth about history's most compelling figure. What will your verdict be in The Case for Christ?

"Lee Strobel probes with bulldog-like tenacity the evidence for the truth of biblical Christianity."--Bruce M. Metzger, Ph.D., Professor of New Testament, Emeritus, Princeton Theological Seminary

"Lee Strobel asks the questions a tough-minded skeptic would ask. His book is so good I read it out loud to my wife evenings after dinner. Every inquirer should have it."--Phillip E. Johnson, Law Professor, University of California at Berkeley.”

OK, Strobel’s book is very one sided and surely will not move any skeptics or atheists toward Christianity but it is a very well written, an entertaining read, and it makes a strong case for Jesus being the Son of God from an investigative journalistic perspective. (As an aside Thomas Cahill’s “The Desire of the Everlasting Hills” is another must read for this time of the year).

Then there is a book that really reinforces my belief in God’s existence, (regardless of how unfathomable God was and will always be, and despite the fact that clearly none of the earth’s religions gets it right). When I reread this book I feel with confidence there is in fact a God and the probability that Jesus was his son and God made physical on the earth is about 100%.

I am talking about CS Lewis’ “Mere Christianity”. I have been comforted and enriched by this single book so much in the past, that this year as a Christmas present to myself I bought an audio version.

And finally, there is a personal favorite book of mine that is difficult to read as it was originally written in German so the English translation at times can be stilted. It will never be a best seller but in terms of helping me strengthen my own (often shaky) faith it is right up there.

This is J. Christiaan Beker’s “ The Triumph of God, The Essence of Paul’s Thought”.

So, I am not going to extol these books in prose or detail their positions.

They simply bring me comfort. And that is more than enough to make me reread them often. 

So, do yourself a favor and  if you have the time read them all.

And by the way, Merry Christmas.