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The Swedish Atheist, the Scuba Diver and Other Apologetic Rabbit Trails

The "textbook approach" to apologetics (teaching formal arguments in an "ivory tower" setting) can be very valuable. But then you discover that all the formal arguments you studied in an ivory tower can quickly become obscured in the rough and tumble of real life conversations with skeptics, atheists, humanists and the like.

In recognition of the need for a primer for apologetics as it emerges in real conversations, The Swedish Atheist, the Scuba Diver, and Other Apologetics Rabbit Trails offers the reader an invitation to join in one long conversation between apologist Randal Rauser and an atheist named Sheridan. The setting is a coffee shop as apologetics in the real world unfolds with all the rabbit trails, personal baggage, and distractions that inevitably come (as well as the occasional distracting hiss of the espresso machine). The book brings together the best of argument-based apologetics with vivid illustrations and humorous moments. But it also highlights the importance of apologetics as a narrative as the reader gets to know Sheridan better and to understand the personal history that drives his atheism.

The book covers a range of topics in the haphazard winding form that long, informal worldview conversations tend to take. As coffee is consumed and the afternoon wears on the conversation winds through such topics as faith and reason, the nature of morality, the idea of providence and miracles, biblical atrocities and the doctrine of hell, the nature of atheism and agnosticism, and trusting God. Through this extended conversation the reader really gets to know Sheridan and the kind of objections and issues that motivate his skepticism. Ultimately The Swedish Atheist, the Scuba Diver, and Other Apologetics Rabbit Trails is much more than an introduction to apologetic conversation: It is a transformative apprenticeship in the grand conversations where eternity touches down in everyday, caffeinated conversations.

  • Format
  • paperback
  • Pages
  • 226
  • Language
  • english
  • ISBN
  • 9780830837786
  • Genres
  • christian, religion, philosophy
  • Release date
  • 2012