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. Podcast: https://theapologistsbookshelf.podbean.com Contact me: theapologistsbookshelf@gmail.com
Episodes
Saturday Jan 21, 2023
Saturday Jan 21, 2023
Scientists have been puzzled by the "Cambrian explosion," when many animals suddenly appeared on the earth. Stephen Meyer in this book explains how intelligent design is necessary as an explanation for this sudden appearance of life.
Wednesday Jan 18, 2023
Wednesday Jan 18, 2023
Dr. Alvin Schmidt, professor of sociology, has written a book illustrating the chasm-wide differences between the Western world and the world of Islam. In the section I cover here, he explains how modern science came out of the West, not Islam.
Saturday Jan 14, 2023
Saturday Jan 14, 2023
Craig Blomberg, noted New Testament scholar, explores evidence for the life of Jesus outside the gospels. There actually is a lot of testimony confirming the gospel portraits of Jesus.
Wednesday Jan 11, 2023
Wednesday Jan 11, 2023
There was a gap of time between the life of Jesus and the appearance of the four gospels. Can we trust oral tradition to keep the message accurate?
Saturday Jan 07, 2023
Saturday Jan 07, 2023
Neil Lightfoot, a professor at Abilene Christian University, explains how we got the 66 books we have today in the Bible. There were many more books written during the period of the Old and New Testaments, so how were certain ones included while others were excluded?
Wednesday Jan 04, 2023
Wednesday Jan 04, 2023
Dr. Jeff Myers, president of Summit Ministries, tells stories of how Jesus followers changed the world by living for Truth. This podcast covers his challenge to us today--ways we can tell the truth and be nice at the same time.
Saturday Dec 31, 2022
Saturday Dec 31, 2022
Darrell Bock, Dallas Theological Seminary professor, wrote a critique of the popular book The Da Vinci Code. Although Dan Brown's book is no longer a top seller, Bock has a chapter that is still relevant today--it deals with Gnosticism and "hidden" gospels like The Gospel of Thomas, which are still being talked about among scholars. Should these other gospels be considered on a par with the traditional four that we have in our Bibles today?
Wednesday Dec 28, 2022
Wednesday Dec 28, 2022
Tim Keller uses chapter 4 to discuss theodicies, the various attempts people have made to explain why, if there's a good God, there is so much pain and suffering in the world. Keller examines several of these Christian responses.
Saturday Dec 24, 2022
Saturday Dec 24, 2022
Hugh Ross and associates of his at Reasons to Believe tackle four reasons that life couldn't have arisen without God's involvement. Their arguments deflate the optimistic belief that life can develop easily by purely natural means. This leads to the conclusion that UFOs are not from alien worlds teeming with life.
Wednesday Dec 21, 2022
Wednesday Dec 21, 2022
Lots of good questions answered here: Are religions the root of all evil? Is apologetics necessary? Can you argue a person into the kingdom? What are the most significant apologetics issues? How do we know the Bible is divine rather than human in its origin?