A Friendly Dialogue Between an Atheist and a Christian is an exchange between Luis Palau and Zhao Qizheng presenting a composite of recorded dialogues held in China. Luis Palau is a well known Christian evangelist and Zhao Qizheng is the Vice Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and former Minister of Information for China. A Friendly Dialogue represents a dialogue on philosophy, history, religion, the Bible, creation, atheism, Confucianism, politics, ethics, Chinese and Western cultures, and the relevance of Jesus Christ to society.
UNDERSTAND CHINA through the eyes of a renowned Chinese diplomat's conversations with Luis Palau, American Evangelist. In A Friendly Dialogue between an Atheist and a Christian, Luis Palau, representing the Christian faith, and Zhao Qizheng, representing atheism, present a composite of recorded dialogues held in China in 2005 between them. Through these dialogues, readers are provided insight into the current struggles atheists have regarding the truth claims of the Christian faith. Topics discussed include philosophy, history, religion, the Bible, creation, atheism, Confucianism, politics, ethics, Chinese and Western cultures, and the relevance of Jesus Christ to society. Through the engaging dialogue between Luis Palau and Zhao Qizheng, many of the stereotypes and misinformation concerning the Chinese culture are exposed, revealing a nation in which the Bible is published and new churches are being built. By avoiding the use of complicated theological language, these discussions express the concerns of both Christians and atheists in a clear, meaningful, and respectful way. A Friendly Dialogue between an Atheist and a Christian is a must read for anyone interested in gaining a greater appreciation of the oriental world of China and how the Christian faith is being received within that context.
For thousands of years, the faithful have honed proselytizing strategies and talked people into believing the truth of one holy book or another. Indeed, the faithful often view converting others as an obligation of their faith—and are trained from an early age to spread their unique brand of religion. The result is a world broken in large part by unquestioned faith. As an urgently needed counter to this tried-and-true tradition of religious evangelism, A Manual for Creating Atheists offers the first-ever guide not for talking people into faith—but for talking them out of it. Peter Boghossian draws on the tools he has developed and used for more than 20 years as a philosopher and educator to teach how to engage the faithful in conversations that will help them value reason and rationality, cast doubt on their religious beliefs, mistrust their faith, abandon superstition and irrationality, and ultimately embrace reason.
The question of God is simply too important--and too interesting--to leave to angry polemicists. That is the premise of this friendly, straightforward, and rigorous dialogue between Christian theologian Randal Rauser and atheist Justin Schieber. Setting aside the formality of the traditional debate, the authors invite the reader to join them in an extended, informal conversation. This has the advantage of easing readers into thorny topics that in a debate setting can easily become confusing or difficult to follow. Like any good conversation, this one involves provocative arguments, amusing anecdotes, and some lively banter. Rauser and Schieber begin with the question of why debates about God still matter. They then delve into a number of important topics: the place of reason and faith, the radically different concepts of God in various cultures, morality and its traditional connection with religious beliefs, the problem of a universe that is overwhelmingly hostile to life as we know it, mathematical truths and what they may or may not say about the existence of God, the challenge of suffering and evil to belief in God, and more. Refreshingly upbeat and amicable throughout, this stimulating conversation between two friends from opposing points of view is an ideal introduction to a perennial topic of debate.
"This book is a dialogue between a Christian proselytizer and a skeptic--a skeptic who does not argue with the proselytizer, but seeks to clarify why the Christian believes he know what 'God's Word' is. The proselytizer identifies hes knowledge of the Divine as coming from three sources: faith, the Scriptures, and the evidence of God in our physical surroundings."--Back cover
Conversations matter. Yet, recently, good conversations about faith have been increasingly squeezed out of the public sphere. Seeking to reopen the debate, Justin Brierley began to invite atheists and sceptics on to Premier Christian Radio to air arguments for and against the Christian faith. But how has ten years of discussion with atheists affected the presenter’s faith? Reflecting on conversations with Richard Dawkins, Derren Brown and many more, Justin explains why he still finds Christianity the most compelling explanation for life, the universe and everything. And why, regardless of belief or background, we should all welcome the conversation. ‘Beautifully written, brilliantly argued, Justin’s book will thrill Christians and challenge atheists.’ R. T. Kendall, author and pastor ‘Justin has that happy knack of being able to get people of diametrically opposed opinions debating the big issues.’ John Lennox, Professor of Mathematics, University of Oxford
Both believers and non-believers who are looking for answers to life's hard questions will find this an engaging and thought-provoking book, which defines each term, historical person, event, or doctrine as it arises, rather that relying on a presupposition to prior acquaintance with Christian history, vocabulary, or beliefs.
We're invited to sit at the table with Randal Rauser as he and his atheist counterpoint, Sheridan, engage in a real world apologetic dialogue. As we follow them down rabbit trails and through personal revelations, we experience a paradigm shift in apologetics—where a familiar quibble over terms becomes a mutual apprenticeship with the truth.
Theological reactions to the rise of the new atheist movement have largely been critically hostile or defensively deployed apologetics to shore up the faith against attack. Gary Keogh contends that focusing on scholarly material that is inherently agreeable to theology will not suffice in the context of modern academia. Theology needs to test its boundaries and venture into dialogue with those with antithetical positions. Engaging Richard Dawkins, as the embodiment of such a position, illustrates how such dialogue may offer new perspectives on classical theological problems, such as the relationship of science and religion, the existence of God, creation, natural suffering and theodicy. Keogh demonstrates how a dialogical paradigm may take shape, rather than merely discussing it as a theoretical framework. A dialogue between such opposing hermeneutics may provide a new paradigm of theological scholarship - one which is up to the task of facing its critics in the public and pluralistic context of modern academia.
One in the series New Dialogues in Philosophy, edited by Dale Jacquette, Michael Ruse, a leading expert on Charles Darwin, presents a fictional dialogue among characters with sharply contrasting positions regarding the tensions between science and religious belief. Ruse's main characters—an atheist scientist, a skeptical historian and philosopher of science, a relatively liberal female Episcopalian priest, and a Southern Baptist pastor who denies evolution—passionately argue about pressing issues, in a context framed within a television show: 'Science versus God— Who is Winning?' These characters represent the different positions concerning science and religion often held today: evolution versus creation, the implications of Christian beliefs upon technological advances in medicine, and the everlasting debate over free will.
