Where do we go when the questions surge?

That’s easy. The question-answering books! Sproul’s That’s a Good Question! Budziszewski’s Ask Me Anything. McDowell’s Evidence that Demands a Verdict…Kreeft, Strobel…

Actually, I’m kidding.

Quick answers are rarely the most satisfying, especially when dealing with the toughest questions of life, like “Why did my son have to die?” or “What’s the inherent value of “ethics” in any given society, since it all changes anyway?” A person needs to go deeper…and deeper. That kind of apologetics study usually involves reading books that have nothing to do with apologetics at all. John Hobbins, a graduate of Waldensian Theological Seminary-Rome seems to have nailed this principle in his recent post “The Limits of Traditional Apologetics”:

Christians in a hurry reach for authors like Josh McDowell, Peter Kreeft, and Lee Strobel to relieve their doubts. Jews in a hurry read Shmuley Boteach for the same reason. But these authors are a poor substitute for the great authors. Don’t read Kreeft. Read Peter Abelard’s Sic et Non and the Summa of Thomas Aquinas. Read Tim Keller, but then go read Jonathan Edwards, Flannery O’Connor, Peter Berger, and Francis Collins on which he depends. Don’t read Boteach. Read Rambam and Ramban. These authors will teach you to think. That’s different from having someone else think for you.