Does the belief in and willingness to practice the historic Christian faith require a blind leap into the abyss of supercharged legends to engage in sophisticated forms of wish fulfillment? Not even close. Author John M. Armstrong presents the view that Christianity is intellectually rigorous and relevant both socio-culturally and personally due to how robustly it accounts for humanity's existence as thinking, feeling, self-aware beings whose deepest longings are for things such as love, justice, dignity, community, and meaning. He addresses how Christianity offers the most compelling answers to the ultimate questions at the very heart of what it is to be and live as a human being: "Why do the universe and conscious, self-aware beings exist? What is the meaning of life? What is the ground for the moral obligation almost all human beings sense? What happens (if anything) after death?" The volume features a wide array of influential voices representative of the various thought disciplines (the sciences, philosophy, theology, humanities) and worldview perspectives (atheist, agnostic, religious believer). What emerges is a penetrating, balanced, and oftentimes entertaining rendering of various insights into the merits of and warrant for Christian belief in view of the challenges posed by those who doubt the existence of anything (or anyOne) beyond the material/natural realm. Skeptics embarking on this journey might, by book's end, find themselves willing to carefully consider and further examine Christianity as coherent and thus relevant to day-to-day experience on the basis that it is grounded in space/time history and features profound intellectual qualities. Those entering the reading as firm believers will benefit from becoming better equipped to wade into the deeper waters of those hard-to-avoid-and-answer issues that many in their life spheres point to or hold up as the defeaters for or obstacles to Christian faith and practice.
About the Author: John M. Armstrong is a freelance writer and ordained pastor residing in the northern Virginia/Washington, D.C. area. After completing his undergraduate studies at George Mason University (BA in Economics) he married the lovely and gracious Jill and then co-founded a successful small business enterprise, which he managed for more than 25 years before transitioning into the pursuit of his interests in writing, speaking, and helping others on a full-time basis. He went on to earn a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from Liberty University as a graduate with high distinction and has continued to indulge his passion for engaging in open-ended, respectful dialogue with anyone willing to discuss philosophy, theology, spirituality, worldviews, and sociocultural issues in a manner that fosters goodwill and enhanced understanding.