Because God Is Real: Sixteen Questions, One Answer
Product Description
Atheistic and agnostic writers are aggressively attacking traditional religious beliefs. Philosopher and prolific writer Peter Kreeft is up to the challenge in this work of popular apologetics aimed at both teens and adults. The masterful Kreeft tackles sixteen crucial issues about the deeper meaning of life. The questions that Kreeft explores range from, “Is faith reasonable?,” Can you prove there is a God?”, and “Why is Jesus different?,” to “Why is sex so confusing?,” “Why is there evil?”, and “Why must we die?”
Kreeft provides thoughtful, lucid, and persuasive answers for believers, unbelievers, and seekers to consider. As always, Kreeft is insightful, inspiring, and entertaining. This book is ideal for those exploring faith for the first time, as well as for confirmation and religious education classes. It’s an intellectual and spiritual feast! This is vintage Kreeft.
“The good news of the Gospel is as exciting as a murder mystery. For at its heart there is a murder: the murder of God two thousand years ago in Jerusalem. And this God is the greatest of mysteries: who He is and why He put us here, and why He came here and what His plans are for us. The story is literally a matter of life or death - eternal life or death.”
– Peter Kreeft
“Be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in you.”
– 1 Peter 3:15
Buy Because God Is Real: Sixteen Questions, One Answer (Paperback) at Amazon
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Peter Kreeft has distilled decades of wisdom about Thomistic theology and Catholic apologetics into a wonderful explanation of the Faith for young readers. Targeting students of Confirmation age — adolescents to teens — Kreeft poses a series of skeptical questions about God and gives thorough, charitable, and orthodox answers. While every chapter is praiseworthy, his answers to “Why is Jesus different?” are exceptional. Here is a sample:
“The center of Christianity is Jesus because Jesus is not just a great human being; Jesus is God. The center of Islam is not Muhammad, because Muhammad, like Moses, claimed only to be a prophet, not God. The center of Budddhism is not Buddha, because Buddha, like the Hindu gurus, claimed only to be an enlightened man, not God. … But Jesus is the center of Christianity because Jesus claimed to be God, and Christians believe that claim. … The divinity of Christ is the distinctive Christian belief: it is the one thing all Christians believe and no one else does. If a Christian ceases to believe this, he ceases to be a Christian. If a non-Christian comes to believe this, he becomes a Christian.”
If any of what is excerpted above appeals to you, this is your book, as it is chock full of similar aphoristic expressions of Catholicism. There is a tremendous gap in catechetical materials for middle school-aged students; Peter Kreeft has helped fill it. Make “Because God Is Real” your standard Confirmation gift. (Yet readers of all ages will benefit from reading it.)
This book is written for younger Catholics, but I found it to be helpful for the adult reader as well. Its question/answer format answers the questions that many young adults ask. The answers are written in a clear/concise and understandable way. Peter Kreeft has an excellent command of the material and he delivers it in non-pandering way. I bought this book for my confirmation candidate and all of my godchildren. It is also great for non-Catholics.
When I expressed some doubts regarding the Catholic faith and theism in general, my mom bought me this book. I eagerly began reading it, hoping to find some hearty brain food to digest along with all the other philosophic stuff I’d been ingesting.
Unfortunately, this book doesn’t consider the arguments against the Catholic faith/life very deeply. Ironically, Kreeft doesn’t talk a lot about the “Does God Exist” question. He devotes a few pages to describing basic arguments like “the universe must have come from SOMETHING” and such. He goes on to, in less than twenty or so pages, prove that Jesus is God incarnate, and that Catholicism is the true Christian faith. The next few chapters attack the most common issues that the typical teenager would have with the Catholic Church, like (I can’t remember them verbatim, but off the top of my head) “Why can’t I have sex before marriage?”, “Why doesn’t the Catholic Church allow women to become priests?”, etc.
While his arguments are decent, they feel more like quick bullet points from one of those pamphlets from the back of a church than a truly indepth discussion about faith, existence, and lifestyle choices.
I guess Kreeft does a fairly good job of addressing sixteen huge issues in this small book. It would be fine as a confirmation gift, or perhaps for someone who wants to brush up on their basic apologetics.
However, this book does not in any way stand up to the doubts and issues a young adult would have after reading a pop-philosophy book like “The God Delusion”, or perhaps after taking a philosophy or ethics class at almost any university in the U.S.
Like I said, this book does a decent job of outlining some of the basic arguments for Catholicism and morality. But if someone is looking for a meaty analysis of these and other key issues, I would highly advise that they look elsewhere.