Book Review: Between Allah and Jesus by Peter Kreeft
Pages: 188
Publisher: Intervarsity Press
Year: 2010
Author: Peter Kreeft
Between Allah and Jesus: What Christians Can Learn from Muslims (hereafter BAJ) is a novelized dialogue between a Muslim and Christians, featuring some characters that will be familiar to those who have read Kreeft’s previous work. ‘Isa Ben Adams makes his return as the protagonist, along with Libby Rawls, “a sarcastic, sassy Black feminist ‘liberal’” (p. 13; both originally seen in A Refutation of Moral Relativism). Fr. (Father) Fesser is another familiar character from Socrates Meets Jesus, while the rest of the characters appear to be original to this book - Evan Jellema, “a very straight dutch Calvinist”, Father Heerema, “‘Isa’s kindly, wise, old-fashioned Jesuit philosophy professor at Boston College” and ‘Mother’, “a large, hospitable, bread-baking lady who wears bright dresses, has a parrot on her shoulder and holds continents of common sense in her brain”.
BAJ noticeably … (Read more)
Value in apologetics?
Probably everyone (or mostly everyone) who’s been interested in apologetics for any amount of time has heard the following: people won’t believe in Jesus because of arguments, they are useless! Well, I’ve certainly heard the comment, anyway. What is interesting about it, is that it’s limited in scope. It ignores the fact that there are many ways to do evangelism, and there are many “steps” in evangelism. I’ve been reading William Lane Craig’s On Guard, and he makes a few observations that I think it would be profitable to share (or at least share the main one).
Craig points out (correctly) that there is a “culture war” going on in the West, and that this is relevant to the gospel because the gospel is “never heard in isolation” (p. 17). Apologetics has the ability to make people more receptive to the gospel. Consider the following extract:
A person who has … (Read more)
Book Review: Making Sense of Suffering by Peter Kreeft
Pages: 184
Publisher: Servant Books
Year: 1986
Author: Peter Kreeft
First of all, this is a book everyone should read, especially Christians (and especially if you’re interesting in “suffering”). Along with C.S. Lewis’ The Problem of Pain, this book is one of the most insightful books on suffering written in recent memory (and if you haven’t read The Problem of Pain, you should read that too). Peter Kreeft would say that he’s only repeating what’s been said before, in books and by authors who have been long ignored, and if that’s the case, all the better. This is a book which confronts and contradicts the modern understanding of suffering, it’s source and it’s purpose (i.e. it has no purpose)–and some people won’t like this (I’ve met them).
Kreeft begins by surveying the major answers given to the “problem” of suffering, opening his book with a focus on the ten … (Read more)
Book Review: Between Heaven and Hell by Peter Kreeft
Pages: 142
Publisher: Intervarsity Press
Year: 1982 (2008)
Author: Peter Kreeft
I believe this is the first major Socratic dialogue Kreeft published (1982) and, unlike the others published by Intervarsity Press, does not feature Socrates as the central character. But, instead, feature Lewis as the main character. Between Heaven and Hell is a dialogue between Christian author and apologist C.S. Lewis, American President John F. Kennedy and English author Aldous Huxley.
While the original was published in 1982, a revised edition was published in 2008 — the edition I own — and includes an Appendix (A World Without an Easter) and outline of the book. However as far as I know, the main text has not been altered between the two editions.
The basic premise of the book is described on the back cover:
On November 22nd, 1963, three great men died within a few hours of … (Read more)
Kreeft on Interfaith Cooperation
Well, it seems a mid-term and essay have taken control of my life, so I won’t be able to put any substantial thought towards posting (for today). I do think it’s worth mentioning, however, a talk given by Peter Kreeft on something he calls “ecumenical jihad”–that through (religious) separation comes unity (mighty paradoxical, isn’t it?). It’s about an hour and a half long, but it’s well worth the listen if you’re interested in hearing a little about interfaith cooperation. Though, to be clear, Kreeft is not a pluralist.
You can listen to the lecture here.… (Read more)
Book Review: Three Approaches to Abortion by Peter Kreeft
Pages: 133
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Year: 2002
Author: Peter Kreeft
Admittedly I was some what unprepared for this book after having read (almost all of) Kreeft’s Socratic dialogues. As the front cover suggests, Kreeft does take a “thoughtful and compassionate” approach to the “issue” of abortion. At the same time, however, his approach is very directed and may come off as presumptuous, even condescending, especially in the first chapter (“The Apple Argument Against Abortion”). The reason for this, it seems to me, is that Kreeft is assuming a particular kind of reader has either purchased or been given this book (by a friend perhaps) and that this sort of reader is quite insistent in their pro-choice views, though ultimately self-refuting (contradictory, and perhaps ignorant).
Kreeft’s first argument, as the chapter title suggests, is that we are all metaphysicians who really know what an apple really is and from this foundation … (Read more)
Book Review: Socrates Meets Jesus by Peter Kreeft
Pages: 182
Publisher: Intervarsity Press
Year: 2002
Author: Peter Kreeft
Peter Kreeft has written a simple, yet critical examination of the claims of Jesus as experienced through a pagan Greek philosopher — Socrates. It is through Socrates that Kreeft cuts through a lot of the theological jargon, asking what should be the foremost and basic questions when approaching the question “Who is Jesus?”
The book is written in the same fashion as his other Socrates meets… books. Names are often satire, some times biting and always relevant. The context is always modern day (at least at the time of writing) and the issues as relevant now as they were back then. Kreeft’s use of satire does not come off as inappropriate or spiteful, but humorous (i.e., Professor Fesser, Bertha Broadmind) and light-hearted.
Kreeft’s story picks up immediately after Socrates drinks hemlock juice, dying. He finds himself thrown 2,000 years in … (Read more)
The Myth of Moral Relativism
Peter Kreeft warns that relativism is the single most important issue of our age; for the society that adopts relativism, collapse is not too far behind. The question is then why has the West adopted, by and large, this philosophy of relativism? The reason, says Allan Bloom, is that “the relativity of truth is not a theoretical insight but a moral postulate, the condition of a free society, or so they see it.… Relativism is necessary to openness; and this is the virtue, the only virtue, which all primary education for more than fifty years has dedicated itself to inculcating. Openness — and the relativism that makes it the only plausible stance in the face various ways of life and kinds of human beings — is the great insight of our times“1. Tolerance necessarily requires moral relativism.
As my title would suggest, I believe there is a significant … (Read more)
Book Review: The Unaborted Socrates by Peter Kreeft
Author: Peter Kreeft
Publisher: IVP Books
Published: 1983
This is a short review of the short book, The Unaborted Socrates, by Peter Kreeft (professor of philosophy, Boston College).
As the title suggests, this is a book dealing with the issue of abortion in contemporary culture. The book takes the form of Socratic dialogue between four figures: Socrates, Dr. Rex Herrod (abortionist), Professor Attila Tarian (ethicist) and “Pop” Syke (psychologist). The dialogue takes place in a variety of locations in modern day Athens: an abortion clinic, a philosophy convention and finally, a psychiatric ward.
The dialogue is interesting and funny, Peter Kreeft is a gifted communicator and writer, able to keep the interest of his readers throughout his book. The book is also short, 155 pages. However with that said, the book finishes exactly where it should finish. The dialogue feels neither rushed nor lengethened and the topics in this dialogue … (Read more)
What if I’m wrong…
Some thoughts, writing while sick and distracted isn’t the easiest…
‘Isa: […] You equivocated between value–opinions and values, between opinions about what’s right or wrong and what’s really right or wrong. You see, different cultures may have different opinions about what’s morally right and wrong, just as they have different opinions about what happens after death […] What’s believed to be right and what really is right aren’t necessarily the same, just as what’s believed to exist after death and what really exists aren’t necessarily the same. We can be wrong about it. Just because I may believe there is no hell doesn’t mean there is none of that I won’t go there … [1]
I’m sure we could extend the above to include religious or philosophical inclinations, in fact, I think we will.
There are a lot of bad philosophical systems out there. I don’t mean bad as in … (Read more)
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