Having grown up in the north, I have a great appreciation for this time of year "the harvest season." While living in Connecticut, New York, Wisconsin, my family and I greatly enjoyed the crisp evening air, the spectacular fall colors, going on hayrides, drinking fresh apple cider, and picking pumpkins, gourds, and apples. My wife (who’s from the Boston area) and I miss this time of year especially.
Despite the fact that I’m now living in Florida, I’ve experienced a different kind of "harvest ”of published books. So, I thought I’d diverge from my typical blog discussions to fill you on the fruits of my labor. (What I mention below you can see at a glance by checking my website: www.paulcopan.com.)
I recently finished writing another popular-level book "When God Goes to Starbucks: A Guide to Practical Apologetics (Baker, 2008)"the fourth in a series. (This deals with questions such as ?Is killing Canaanites like Islamic jihad?" and "Did Jesus get it wrong about his second coming?" and "Is it okay to lie to Nazis?" and "Are people born gay?" ) By March 2008, I hope to finish writing a book on Old Testament ethics”Is Yahweh a Moral Monster?"
In early August, I was honored to have my coedited book The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Religion appear as part of a prestigious "Routledge Companion" series. It has over sixty chapters written by world’s "best in the philosophy of religion" from John Hick, John Koller, Gordon Graham, and Ian Markham to Linda Zagzebski, Charles Taliaferro, J.P. Moreland, Paul K. Moser and William Lane Craig.
Also, in August, a booklet I had written on relativism was incorporated into an InterVarsity Press study guide series. My particular book (with Mark Linville) is called What Is Truth?
In early September, another coedited book of mine appeared "Philosophy of Religion: Classic and Contemporary Issues (Blackwell)." It’s a much slimmer volume, but it includes superb essays from leading philosophers’ from John Polkinghorne on religion and science and William Mann on religious experience to Quentin Smith on a naturalistic account of the world, Paul Draper on evil, and Gavin Flood on Eastern philosophy of religion. Indeed, both the Routledge and Blackwell books are comprised of chapters written by an all-star cast of philosophers.
Around the same time, I received a copy of Lee Strobel’s latest book, The Case for the Real Jesus (Zondervan). This past January, Lee came to West Palm Beach to interview me for a chapter of this book on the topics of relativism, pluralism and Jesus’ uniqueness, religious syncretism, and the atonement of Christ. The chapter deals with the challenge, "People Should Be Free to Pick and Choose What to Believe about Jesus."
In the next two or three weeks, I have three more books coming out. William Craig and I coedited a book Passionate Conviction (B&H Publishing). The chapters are from sessions of the Evangelical Philosophical Society’s annual apologetics conferences. We have contributions from New Testament historians and New Testament scholars such as N.T. Wright, Craig Evans, and Charles Quarles as well as a fine array of philosophers. The chapters deal with a range of issues the historical Jesus and The Da Vinci Code, emotional doubt, postmodernism, the emerging church, Islam, religious pluralism, and arguments for God’s existence.
The next book I’ve coedited with J.P. Moreland and three others is The Apologetics Study Bible (also with B&H Publishing). The world’s leading Christian apologists – Norm Geisler, Josh McDowell, Phillip Johnson, Chuck Colson, Hank Hanegraaff, and many others – have contributed readable essays throughout. In addition, top evangelical biblical scholars (Craig Blomberg, Paul Barnett, William Klein, Stanley Porter, Ken Mathews, to name a few) have made comments on the biblical text. In their textual notes, they address alleged discrepancies, historical questions, ethical issues, and other challenges to the Bible’s reliability.
Finally, there’s my authored book Loving Wisdom: Christian Philosophy of Religion (Chalice Press). I address philosophy of religion topics using the biblical story—God, creation, fall, redemption, and re-creation. I cover a wide range of topics in the philosophy of religion: the Trinity, the Incarnation, hell, divine hiddenness, truth and relativism, original sin, Jesus’ uniqueness and religious pluralism, the atonement, resurrection, the attributes of God, arguments for God’s existence, the existence of the soul, as well as doubt and hope. I really enjoyed writing this book and interacting with the biblical text throughout.
I’m grateful for this bumper crop of books, and I hope you’ll be able to look at them and profit from them.
