Evangelical Christian books describing
conflicting beliefs on key religious topics

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Background and implications:

InterVarsity Press, Zondervan, and other publishers produce books which describe the full range of conservative Christian beliefs about important religious topics. In these books, a number of leading evangelical Christian writers and theologians explain their personal views on a specific topic, and critique each other's beliefs as being false.

It is worth noting that each of the authors is an intelligent, sincere, serious, devout, thoughtful theologian and is quite confident that their personal belief is the only one that is biblically based. Yet, the authors' conclusions conflict with each other.

A comment by InterVarsity Press on its book "Women in Ministry" is typical of this type of book:

"Even those who agree that Scripture must determine our answers do not agree on what it teaches. And too often differing sides have not been willing to listen to one another. Here in ove [sic] volume are the views of four deeply committed evangelicals that focus the discussion on the issues."

This type of book illustrates very clearly some of the ambiguities that theologians have found in the Bible. Some academics suggest that since the Bible appears to be quite ambiguous, terms such as "inerrancy" or "authoritative" cannot really be applied to the Bible. That is, although there is reasonable agreement about what the Bible says concerning many basic beliefs, there is little consensus on what it means, even within the evangelical wing of Christianity. If one were to widen the scope of the book to include the full range of Christian theologians, including some from the Roman Catholic Church, mainline Christian denominations, liberal/progressive Christian groups, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other Mormon denominations, there would be many more beliefs promoted -- each one explained as "the" only valid biblical belief.

Unfortunately, these books typically restrict the views to those common within fundamentalist and other evangelical denominations. There does not seem to be a similar series of books from InterVarsity Press, Zondervan, or any other publisher in which views representing the full diversity of Christian theologians are presented. That is a great pity, particularly to fundamentalists and other evangelical Christians who need to know all Christian beliefs in order to be effective prostelyzers. Publishing such a series would be a great opportunity for a more inclusive publisher.

InterVarsity Press:

Sorted by lead author/editor's name:

Predestination: David & Randall Basinger, "Predestination and Free Will: Four views on Divine sovereignty and human freedom." (1986). Read reviews and/or safely purchase this book from Amazon.com online bookstore
Atonement: James Beilby, et al.. "Four views on the nature of the Atonement." (2006) Read reviews and/or order.
God's foreknowledge: James K Beilby et al., "Divine foreknowledge: Four views." (2001) Read reviews and/or order.
Jesus: James Beilby, "The historical Jesus: five views." (2009) Read reviews and/or order
Justification: James K. Beilby, "Justification: Five Views." (2011) Read reviews and/or order
Science: Richard F. Carlson "Science & Christianity: Four Views." Read reviews and/or order
Millennium: Robert G. Clouse, "The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views." Read reviews and/or order
War: Robert Clouse. "Theologians and philosophers examine four approaches to war," (1991) Out of print and very expensive. Read reviews and/or order.
Wealth & poverty: Robert Clouse, "Four Christian views of economics," (1984). Read reviews and/or order.
Female clergy: Robert & Bonnidell Clouse, "Women in ministry: Four Views," (1989). Read reviews and/or order.
The unsaved: Gabriel Fackre et al., "What about those who have never heard? Three views on the destiny of the unevangelized," (1995) Read reviews and/or order.
Hell: E.W. Fudge & R.A. Peterson, "Two views of Hell: A biblical and theological dialog," (2000) Read reviews and/or order.
Time: Gregory E. Ganssle, "God & Time: Four Views." (2001) Read reviews and/or order
Divorce: H.W. House, Ed., "Divorce and remarriage: Four Christian views," (1990). Read reviews and/or order.
Psychology: Eric L. Johnson, "Psychology & Christianity: Five Views (2nd Edition)," (2010). Read reviews and/or order
Hermeneutics: Stanley E. Porter, "Biblical Hermeneutics: Five Views." Available 2012-JUN. Read reviews and/or order
Communion: Gordon Smith, "The Lord's Supper: Five Views." (2008). Read reviews and/or order
Baptism: David Wright, "Baptism: Three views." Read reviews and/or order

Zondervan:

Their Counterpoints series of books covers many topics:

Rapture: G.L. Archer, Jr., et al., "Three views on the rapture," Read reviews or order this book safely from the Amazon.com book store
Baptism: John Armstrong, "Understanding four views on baptism," Read reviews or order this book.
Communion: John Armstrong, "Understanding four views on the Lord's supper," Read reviews or order this book.
Law: G.L. Bahnsen et. al., "Five views of law and gospel," Read reviews or order this book.
Female clergy: J.R. Beck et al., "Two views on women in ministry," Read reviews or order this book
Millennium: D.L. Bock, "Three views on the millennium and beyond," Read reviews or order this book.
Apologetics: S.B. Cowan, et al., "Five views on apologetics," Read reviews or order this book.
Hell: W. Crockett, "Four views on Hell," Read reviews or order this book
Sanctification: M. Dieter, et al., "Five views on sanctification," Read reviews or order this book.
Miraculous gifts: W.A. Grudem at al., "Are miraculous gifts for today: Four views," Read reviews or order this book.
God & genocide: S.N. Gundry, et al., "Show them no mercy: 4 views on God and Canaanite genocide," Read reviews or order this book.
Divisions among evangelicals: Collin Hansen, et al., "Four views on the spectrum of evangelicalism," Read reviews or order this book.
God's involvement: Dennis Jowers, "Four views on Divine Providence,"Read reviews or order this book
Bible to theology: Gary Meadors, Four Views on Moving Beyond the Bible to Theology," Read reviews or order this book
Creation & evolution: J.P. Moreland et al., Ed., "Three views on creation and evolution," (None of the three views include naturalistic evolution.) Read reviews or order this book safely.
Salvation: D.L. Okholm, Ed., "Four views on salvation in a pluralistic world," Read reviews or order this book.
Revelation: C.M. Pate, Ed., "Four views on the Book of Revelation," Read reviews or order this book.
Once saved, always saved: J.M. Pinson, et al., "Four views on eternal security," Read reviews or order this book.

Other publishers:

Thomas Nelson:

Revelation: Steve Gregg, "Revelation: Four views. A parallel commentary," Gregg describes the preterist, historicist, futurist and spiritual (or symbolic or idealist) interpretations of the last book in the Bible. Read reviews or order this book.

Kregel Publications:

Dispensationalism: Herbert W. Bateman IV, Ed., "Three central issues in contemporary dispensationalism: A comparison of traditional and progressive views." Read reviews or order this book.

Copyright � 2001 to 2012 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Latest update: 2012-JAN-07
Author: B.A. Robinson