Rate this book

Life, God, And Other Small Topics: Conversations From Socrates In The City (2012)

by Eric Metaxas(Favorite Author)

4.09 of 5 Votes: 5

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Plume

review 1: From seeing some of the reviews, I am glad I listen to the audiobook, for instead printed speeches, the audiobook included the actual presentations. Most of the talks were pretty good, a couple were exceptional, but Peter Kreeft speech on "making sense of suffering" was just horrible, I imagine one of the only people who could have been a worse choice for this topic would be John Piper. But yeah, sadly Kreeft's theology does absolutely nothing but exacerbate the problem of evil and after blowing the problem to cosmic proportions, Keeft pulls the mystery card, saying God can do whatever he wants and we should just shut up and not question. Instead of actually addressing the problem, it's like he tries to cover a canon ball wound with a band-aid. Fortunately there are some l... moreike C.S Lewis, Gregory Boyd and Alvin Plantinga who have done a reasonable job addressing this problem. Keeft's understanding of sovereignty completely rules of libertarian freewill, Keeft even thinks God wrote all history beforehand, so all evil is part of God's plan. So hearing him trying to justify the God who ordains all genocide, murder, rape, child molesting, etc... sounds to me like a communist trying to justify and explain-away how their believed leaders murdered 100,000,000 of their own people. All their words are trite, empty, absurd and intolerable. Keeft might as well have been trying to argue the devil is good, holy, loving, just and righteous, after all I am sure for Keeft the devil is merely God's puppet that does his dirty work. But no worries, God's wonderful End justifies his sadistic, cruel and diabolically evil means, all the evil God causes through secondary means, he intends for good. So yes, when your child is kidnapped, tortured and dismembered by a psychopath, do rest assured God predestined this event before He created the world and meant it for good, oh and if you dare question God doing this, SHUT UP, Zip it! God can do what he wants!!!
review 2: How many places can you find readable and stimulating essays by eleven significant writers on their favorite subjects, generally a summary of a recent book (that is, if you include Eric Metaxas's own essay on his book on Bonhoeffer)? :-)Each essay includes a transcription of Eric Metaxas' lighthearted introduction, the talk at the Socrates in the City forum, and a transcription of the Q&A session after each talk, all of which took place at Socrates in the City forums between 2003 and 2010. My only regret was that the actual Q&As weren't longer. Among the delights in the book were the speakers' reactions to Eric Metaxas' unorthodox introductions.It would be unreasonable to expect that questions like belief in God in an age of science, making sense out of suffering, seeking purpose, meaning and truth in your life, why Christianity makes sense, the twilight of atheism, the case for civility, the language of God, etc. can be solved in 25 to 40 pages each, but John Polkinghorne, Peter Kreeft, Charles Colson, N. T. Wright, Alister McGrath, Os Guiness, Francis Collins, etc. take good shots at them, and the Q&A sessions are mostly helpful.I highly recommend this very readable and enjoyable book to anyone interested in the topics covered. less

Download links for: Life, God, and Other Small Topics: Conversations from Socrates in the City

Advertising