My Apologetics Dinner Party by Louis Markos

Book Synopsis:

Have you ever wanted to look over the shoulder of an expert apologist as he has conversations about faith? Louis Markos, acclaimed author of From Plato to Christ and Passing the Torch, gives you a seat at his table for an international potluck dinner held in his home, where guests from many faith traditions and walks of life engage in spirited discussion about faith, miracles, and the meaning of life. My Apologetics Dinner Party presents a method of talking about Christian faith that is not based primarily on propositional logic or the defense of truth claims (though these features do show up). Instead, he aims to clarify what Christians actually believe through a winsome and engrossing narrative in the tradition of Socratic dialogue. The conversations in this book are rooted in real-life interactions Professor Markos has had with skeptics, seekers, and adherents of other faiths throughout a lifetime as a professional apologist for Christianity. In My Apologetics Dinner Party, you will get a unique opportunity to look over the shoulder of an expert apologist in action. observe a laid-back, conversational approach to evangelism built upon hospitality and designed for life in a modern, pluralistic society. see an example of how to engage in conversational apologetics among people of diverse cultural, educational, and religious backgrounds. hear dialogues, rather than debates, as creative narrative in the Socratic tradition. You'll be entertained as well as enlightened as you're taken up in the banter, humor, and atmosphere of lively dinner conversation—only to find at the end that some of your deepest questions have been addressed. If you are looking for a book that will show you how to discuss your faith in a real-life setting with friends who have deep questions to ask but don’t want to hear a sermon, or a book you could give to curious seekers to read on their own, you'll find it in My Apologetics Dinner Party.

My Review:

Note: I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley

3.75/5 stars. I loved the concept of this book. That was its strongest aspect. Seeing a simulated dinner party with people of all different backgrounds asking questions about faith was unique. It helped to see apologetics "in action" in a conversation, rather than just all the arguments laid out abstractly, as with most apologetics books. The author also brought up interesting arguments I'd never really heard before, which was cool. Where this book and author fails is with some questionable theology. I will get into detail about it below, but there were some borderline heretical statements.

The book got off to a strong start. The premise was what initially caught my eye, and it lived up to that. The first few chapters also had newer-to-me but great arguments. One example was how miracles don't break the laws of nature but suspend them. I had never heard that specific phrasing used to explain miracles before. Mixed in were, of course, the classic apologetics debates I know and love.

A few times throughout the book, it felt like the author/host of the dinner party was arguing in circles and not getting to the point. It wasn't necessarily fallacious circular reasoning, but just kind of saying the same thing in different ways and taking a while to actually explain certain concepts. I can forgive this, though, because he was trying to make it clear to people not at all familiar with what he was saying.

What I can't forgive, however, were a couple moments of questionable theology. The biggest one was the author's belief that Jesus appears to everyone at the moment of their death and allows them to accept or reject him. He made this claim in response to the question of "what about people who lived before Jesus" or, similarly, people who have never heard about Jesus. But that idea is never hinted at anywhere in Scripture, and also defeats the purpose of evangelism if it's true. He also had a few comments about certain "white magic" being good.

Despite these bad statements, the author somewhat saved it in the end. I loved the last section, which was all about how to engage with people thoughtfully and respectfully—things like listening carefully, taking time to understand their beliefs, and not trying to win. I think that's the heart of this book. You can turn a dinner party into a faith conversation without losing any of the camaraderie.

Content:

Language: None

Sexual Content: A whole chapter about sex from a Biblical worldview, mentions of sexual sins

Violence/Gore: None

Drugs/Alcohol: None