Can I Believe?, John G. Stackhouse Jr.
Can I Believe?, John G. Stackhouse Jr.
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Can I Believe?
Christianity for the Hesitant

Author: John G. Stackhouse Jr.

Narrator: Tom Parks

Unabridged: 7 hr 12 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 02/23/2021

Synopsis

Maybe Christianity is actually true. Maybe it is what believers say it is. But at least two problems make the thoughtful person hesitate.

First, there are so many other options. How could one possibly make one's way through them to anything like a rational and confident conclusion? Second, why do so many people choose to be Christian in the face of so many reasons not to be Christian? Yes, many people grow up in Christian homes and in societies, but many more do not. Yet Christianity has become the most popular religion in the world. Why?

This book begins by taking on the initial challenge as it outlines a process: how to think about religion in a responsible way, rather than settling for such soft vagaries as "faith" and "feeling." It then clears away a number of misunderstandings from the basic story of the Christian religion, misunderstandings that combine to domesticate this startling narrative and thus to repel reasonable people who might otherwise be intrigued.

Grounded in scholarship but never ponderous, Can I Believe? refuses to dodge the hard questions as it welcomes the intelligent inquirer to give Christianity at least one good look.

About John G. Stackhouse Jr.

John G. Stackhouse, Jr., is an award-winning scholar, teacher, and public communicator. He was born in Canada and raised in southwestern England and northern Ontario. He earned his BA from Queen's University, MA from Wheaton Graduate School, and PhD from the University of Chicago. He has taught at universities in Canada and the United States, and currently holds the Samuel J. Mikolaski Chair of Religious Studies at Crandall University in eastern Canada. Professor Stackhouse has lectured at Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Edinburgh, Hong Kong, Fudan, Otago, and many other universities. His voice has been featured in a wide range of media, from the New York Times to the Washington Post to the Times Literary Supplement, and from ABC News in the USA to ABC News in Australia, as well as in most major Canadian media.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Amy on January 18, 2022

Like all heavy books, I had to read that a chapter at a time and in some cases a section of the time and just sort of think about what I had read. There are some places that I literally just couldn’t process what the author was saying just because of my lack of background and understanding as well a......more

Goodreads review by Scott on August 07, 2020

Despite the academic publisher, this book is essentially a defense of (a conservative version of the) Christian faith to skeptics. Stackhouse deals with defending religion in general, but he obviously addresses Christianity in the most detail. Despite his expertise in teaching world religions, these......more

Goodreads review by Stephen on October 13, 2020

I found this book to be an apologetic breath of fresh air. Many apologetics books follow the model of "evidence that demands a verdict." That is they seek a level of certainty in every area that suggests that someone who doesn't become a Christian is either stupid or rebellious. John Stackhouse has......more

Goodreads review by Matthew on March 11, 2023

Stackhouse is an acutely lucid writer, and Can I Believe succeeds at what it attempts to accomplish. Namely, it is an introductory text for those curious about the Christian faith, meek in demeanor and concise in argument. Stackhouse’ adroitly summarizes the panoramic biblical story and speaks to th......more

Goodreads review by Debbie on May 06, 2022

I read it in one go! As a committed Christian, the beginning alarmed me. Here Stackhouse tells how to choose a religion and he leaves it wide open to any religion. Not what I hoped to read! But this beginning is indicative of his approach: he is fair and objective on the subject. His reasonings make......more

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