I’ve often felt that being able to effectively explain one’s beliefs is something like a superpower. We all aspire to “always be prepared to give an answer,” but if you’re like me, it’s easy to come away from a conversation feeling unprepared, ineffective, or even in doubt of what is true. This is where apologetics can be so helpful—to prepare us for when questions come, and also to answer our own questions. This issue, we take a look at Ready Reasons, a collection of apologetics essays written by Daniel Yoder.
Yoder teaches at Elnora Bible Institute and recently completed his D.Min. in Christian Apologetics. Ready Reasons doesn’t break any particularly new ground, but Yoder does a good job synthesizing the best apologetics thinking into this short collection of essays. He acknowledges that the book is “not comprehensive in scope,” but instead “provide partial answers” to some key questions (ii).
While not intended to be connected, the essays seem loosely arranged from the “why” to the “how” to the “what” of apologetics. I particularly appreciated the first one, “How Philosophy Applies to Apologetics,” because it really gets at the root of why any of this matters. In sum, God gives us minds with the capacity to reason; and philosophy is (here Yoder quotes William James) “an unusually obstinate effort to think clearly and deeply about fundamental questions” (3).
In the next two essays, “A Dialogical Approach to Apologetics” and “The Use of Questions,” Yoder summarizes the many types of apologetics and the strengths and weaknesses of each. Instead of stressing one particular formula, he encourages respectful conversations with unbelievers that seek to genuinely understand their beliefs. Yes, we can make use of all these techniques, but we don’t try to force conversations to follow some particular method. Often, asking a question that makes the other person think is better than just trying to win the argument.
The final pair of essays exemplifies how to apply Christian thinking to specific issues. While the topics of abortion and Muslim views of Christ may seem unrelated, together they demonstrate the useful scope of apologetics. The abortion essay shows how the Christian worldview ought to inform far more than just our views on religion. Meanwhile, the essay on responding to Muslims helpfully reminds us that there is much more to defending our faith than just debating evolution with atheists.
This book is a good option for an introduction to apologetics or as a group study. (For those looking to read further, Yoder references many excellent resources throughout the book).The best kind of apologetics books don’t leave us feeling overwhelmed by our inability, but instead inspire us as ordinary people to use our very ordinary minds and conversations for God’s glory. Ready Reasons does that admirably.