This is a simplified presentation of one of the most important works in recent Christian philosophy and epistemology (Warranted Christian Belief). Plantinga sets out to defend Christian belief agains the claim that it is unwarranted. A belief is unwarranted if a person cannot be said to *know* his belief that 'p' even if his belief is true. He distinguishes between two types of objections to the Christian beliefs: (a) Christian beliefs are false (de facto objections) and (b) Christian beliefs are irrational, arrogant, unwarranted or in some way inappropriate (de jure objections). This book focuses on the de jure objections. Plantinga doesn't spend much time dismissing claims like the claim that Christian belief is arrogant (because not much time is needed to dismiss such claims). He focuses on what he takes to be the strongest de jure objections to Christian belief from Marx and Freud: that Christian belief is a product of our cognitive faculties malfunctioning (Marx) or that Christian belief is a product of cognitive faculties that are not aimed at truth (Freud). In response to these objections Plantinga develops a model of warrant that makes it possible for Christian belief to have warrant. In short, Christian belief can be properly basic: not held to on the basis of evidence, but arising natural from God-designed cognitive faculties that are functioning properly in the right environment. He takes his cue from Aquinas and Calvin. He also argues that any successful de jure objection must presuppose a successful de facto objection. The upshot of this is that it cannot be shown that Christian belief is unwarranted until it is shown that Christian claims are false. If that sounds complicated to you or unconvincing then please look at the sample pages available on this product page. Plantinga is very clear and precise. He defines his terms so that while you are reading the book you will know exactly what he means. Now, please, Faithlife: get Plantinga's warrant trilogy into Logos!!

After using this resource more I decided to give it a higher rating, but i think my comments would largely be the same. I've found this to be very useful and worth the price. My old comments: This resource looks like it has the potential to be very useful... if it happens to touch on the information you are looking for. This resource doesn't provide very detailed information or comparisons of the commentary on the text. So, for instance, if you are looking for what several different commentators have said about 1 Corinthians 8:11, this resource will give you zero information on that. But if you are looking for what different commentators have said about the bigger theme of eating meat sacrificed to idols, this resource will give you information on that. Lexham Bible Guides: 1 Corinthians touches on what are the biggest issues or themes in the text. It likely won't answer your questions about specific verses that do not directly address these broad themes. Given that this resource is very expensive ($80), you should probably ask people in the forums if they have this resource and, if they do, if it contains information relevant to what you're looking for. If you are looking for a resource that is similar to this one that contains a more "micro" level of analysis I would suggest An Exegetical Summary of 1 Corinthians 1-9 and An Exegetical Summary of 1 Corinthians 10-16. You can get both of these for a cheaper price than the Lexham Bible Guide.

This is a fantastic textbook on ethics and it is a very useful resource for starting research on an ethical issue. To give an example of how the book approaches a subject, here is the outline of the book's discussion on abortion: I. The Legal Background of Abortion 1. Roe v. Wade 2. Doe v. Bolton 3. The "Jane Roe" in Roe v. Wade 4. Planned Parenthood v. Danforth 5. Webster v. Reproductive Health Services 6. Planned Parenthood v. Casey II. The Biblical Background of Abortion 1. Partial Birth Abortion III. The Arguments for the Pro-Choice Position 1. A woman has the right to do with her own body whatever she chooses 2. If abortion becomes illegal, we will return to the dangerous days of the 'back alley' abortion providers 3. Forcing women, especially poor ones, to continue their pregnancies will create overwhelming financial hardship 4. Society should not force women to bring unwanted children into the world 5. Society should not force women to bring severely handicapped children into the world 6. Soceity should not force women who are pregnant from rape or incest to continue their pregnancies 7. Peter Singer and Infanticide 7. Restrictive abortion laws discriminate against poor women IV. The Personhood of the Fetus The chapter that addresses abortion is combined with the discussion of embryo and stem cell research. Naturally, not every topic receives the same level of detail in discussion. What I've outlined above covers about 22 pages. The embryonic and stem cell topic only receives about 5 pages of discussion. For some issues the author takes a clear position and develops arguments for it. In other cases the author is more reserved. Here is a sample of some issues discussed (with various degrees of detail): various ethical systems (deontology, utilitarianism, etc), reproductive technologies, physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia, capital punishment. Within each of these broad headings sub-issues are addressed: business ethics, masturbation, homosexuality, surrogacy, etc. At the end of each chapter is a list for further reading and review questions.

This is a great resource on the homosexuality debate. It provides a scholarly, conservative response to many different areas of the debate: biblical exegesis, political issues, social-science issues, counseling issues, and personal testimonies from Christians who struggle with same-sex attraction. This book is a product of a Seventh Day Adventist directed conference, but not all the contributors are SDA and the book does *not* contain any arguments that are specific to SDA teaching. So this book will still be valuable to you even if you are not SDA. The only reason I've given this book four stars instead of five is because the absolute best book on this issue is Robert Gagnon's The Bible and Homosexual Practice. Unfortunately, Gagnon's book is not available on Logos. For those looking for another great resource on this issue see Jamed B. De Young's Homosexuality: Contemporary Claims Examined in Light of the Bible and Other Ancient Literature and Law. De Young's book is more dated than this book but is also more exegetically focused than this book.