Why Should Anyone Believe Anything at All?, By James W. Sire

Why Should Anyone Believe Anything at All?

by James W. Sire

Why Should Anyone Believe Anything at All?
paperback
  • Length: 239 pages
  • Dimensions: 5.5 × 8.25 in
  • Published: June 15, 1994
  • Imprint: IVP Academic
  • Item Code: 1397
  • ISBN: 9780830813971

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  • A Christianity Today 1995 Books of the Year Finalist

Believing. Most of us take it for granted. We just do it--whether it's trusting that the sun will come up tomorrow, that the lunch we are about to eat is not poisoned or that our religious beliefs are not ill-founded. But why should we believe any of these things? Why should anyone believe anything at all?

With insight and humor, James W. Sire examines the reasons people give for believing what they do and suggests what are truly satisfying and compelling reasons for belief. He then turns to the question of a specific belief--namely, belief that the Christian faith is true. Sire tackles both the best reason for belief in Christianity (the identity of Jesus ) and the chief reason against it (the problem of evil). And he responds to these issues personally and philosophically.

Here is a book to challenge the skeptic and reassure the doubter in us all.

CONTENTS

Preface

Part I: Why Should Anyone Believe Anything?
1. It Makes My Head Hurt: The Nature and Necessity of Belief
2. Why People Believe What They Believe
3. The Social Context
4. The Personal Context
5. The Religious Dimension
6. The Philosophic Dimension

Part II: Why Should Anyone Believe Christianity
7. The Gospels as Reliable History
8. Jesus the Reason
9. Jesus: The Dilemma of His Identity
10. The Scholar's Quest for Jesus
11. The Resurrection of Jesus
12. The Rationality of Christian Faith
13. The Problem of Evil
14. The Personal Experience of Christians
15. The Challenge of Belief

Notes

Bibliography

More

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James W. Sire

James W. Sire (1933–2018) was a widely-respected apologist, author, and lecturer who served for more than thirty years as senior editor at InterVarsity Press. He is the author of more than twenty books, including the seminal apologetics title The Universe Next Door, which was first published in 1976 and has sold over 350,000 copies in five editions and has been translated into eighteen foreign languages. Sire's teaching and books often covered the concepts of worldview and Christian apologetics. His many books include The Universe Next Door, Apologetics Beyond Reason, Beginning with God, Scripture Twisting, Discipleship of the Mind, Chris Chrisman Goes to College, Why Should Anyone Believe Anything at All?, Habits of the Mind, Naming the Elephant, Learning to Pray Through the Psalms, Why Good Arguments Often Fail, and A Little Primer on Humble Apologetics.