Welcome to The Apologist’s Bookshelf, a podcast dedicated to exploring the best books in Christian apologetics. I’m Gary Zacharias, a professor of English, avid reader, and passionate follower of Jesus Christ. This podcast is for anyone curious about the intellectual foundation of the Christian faith—whether you’re a believer seeking to deepen your understanding, or a skeptic exploring the truth claims of Christianity. Each episode, I feature a key book on topics like the existence of God, the historical evidence for Jesus, the reliability of the Bible, creation and design in the universe, and how to engage unbelievers with wisdom and grace. These are the books that have earned a permanent place on my apologetics bookshelf—and I want to share them with you. If you’re interested in faith and reason, defending the Christian worldview, or simply love diving into thought-provoking Christian books, this podcast is for you. Contact me at: theapolgistsbookshelf@gmail.com.
Episodes
Saturday Oct 07, 2023
Saturday Oct 07, 2023
Greg Koukl, author of this new book, is a terrific apologist with his clear-thinking defense of Christianity. I go over his first two chapters, which explains the purpose of the book and focuses on a key principle he develops: before there can be any harvest, there has to be a season of gardening.
Wednesday Oct 04, 2023
Wednesday Oct 04, 2023
Noted scholar Craig Blomberg deals with current questions about the Bible. In this podcast I review his section on the canon of the Old Testament--are these the books that were accepted by all Jews?
Saturday Sep 30, 2023
Saturday Sep 30, 2023
The authors discuss an important question: What if the New Testament books were copied so poorly that we can't possibly recover the original text? In other words, is what we have now what they wrote then?
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
Wednesday Sep 27, 2023
Randy Alcorn in chapter 5 of his book covers some interesting topics about heaven--the temporary nature of it, the present and future heavens, judgments of faith and works, the location of the present heaven. This is a book I highly recommend.
Saturday Sep 23, 2023
Saturday Sep 23, 2023
Randy Alcorn, author of this million-selling book, explores the Christian understanding of heaven. In this podcast, I look at his opening chapters, which conclude we have an unbiblical view of heaven and claim we can know much more about the topic than we think.
Wednesday Sep 20, 2023
Wednesday Sep 20, 2023
Rebecca McLaughlin's book tackles twelve hard questions directed to Christianity. In this podcast I cover her first chapter, which deals with a crucial question: Aren't we better off without religion?
Saturday Sep 16, 2023
Saturday Sep 16, 2023
Mark Mittelberg tells how to build a firm foundation for our beliefs. I cover Lee Strobel's foreword to the book and Mittelberg's first chapter, which defines faith and explains that we all live by some form of it.
Wednesday Sep 13, 2023
Wednesday Sep 13, 2023
Nancy Pearcey, author of so many thought-provoking books, uses this book to answer hard questions about life and sexuality. I look at her introduction and first chapter, in which she discusses the two-story split of facts and values as well as the rise and decline of the human body.
Saturday Sep 09, 2023
Saturday Sep 09, 2023
This book investigates the world's leading religions and cults. It looks at how the beliefs got started, what they teach, and how they differ from biblical Christianity. In this podcast I deal with a chapter on the mind sciences--Christian Science, Unity School of Christianity, and United Church of Religious Science. My focus is on the best-known one, Christian Science.
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
Wednesday Sep 06, 2023
Wallace Henley takes on an important question: Will we let artificial intelligence eclipse the true God? I cover chapter 3 that discusses the effects on people who believe God is the true transcendent source of all things.