Also by this author: Seven Reasons to Reconsider Christianity
Published by Good Book Company on May 1, 2021
Genres: Non-Fiction, Christian Life, Theology
Goodreads
Examine the evidence for Christianity and why it is worth considering.
Lots of people assume that Christianity is simply a nice story for kids or a niche hobby for weirdos—or worse, unattractively restrictive.
In this book, Ben Shaw invites skeptical readers to think again. He outlines seven reasons why Christianity is worth considering—or reconsidering—not least because it offers some thought-provoking and rational answers to our deepest questions.
This warm, honest book shows that the Christian message is both more credible and more wonderful than we might have otherwise thought, and calls readers to investigate the person of Jesus for themselves.
In this book, Ben Shaw shares reasons why people should reconsider Christianity, or else consider it for the first time. He says that in his conversations, he has found that people often dismiss Christianity because “there isn’t enough evidence,” but can’t support this when he presses them. He encourages readers to consider the ways that Christianity is surprisingly credible, and does so with both intellectual and emotional elements in mind. At the beginning, he encourages people to think deeply about what life is really about, and he argues for Christianity’s worldview by showing how it provides abundant life and gives us an accurate, comprehensive framework for understand what is wrong with the world.
However, before he explores God’s plan to redeem the world through Christ, he lays the groundwork for why someone should find Jesus credible. For example, he addresses the complete consensus among serious academics that Jesus was a real person, the plurality of ancient manuscript sources, and the ways that the gospel narratives are specific and were verifiable for their original audiences through eyewitness testimony and location details. He also writes about the evidence for the resurrection, providing history-based, intellectual reasons to consider this miraculous claim. Shaw also addresses common hang-ups and misunderstandings that people have about faith, and encourages his readers to continue asking questions and read more in-depth books to address their questions and concerns.
Seven Reasons to (Re)Consider Christianity is a great starting point for teenagers and adults with questions about Christianity, whether they are inside or outside of the church. I can’t personally speak for how a skeptic would respond to this book, but it’s the kind of resource that I found very helpful as a teenager, when I was trying to understand my faith in a deeper way and grasp the historical underpinnings behind it. I especially appreciate how Shaw writes about deep questions from a humble and relaxed posture, bringing up ideas worth considering without claiming to have all the answers or getting into specific theological debates. This is something that I would feel comfortable recommending to someone outside of the church, and it is a fantastic starting point for anyone who is willing to entertain new or doubted ideas and give them a fair hearing.
