I just finished reading Dinesh D’Souza’s New York Times best-selling book, What’s So Great About Christianity? I highly recommend it and place it with Tim Keller’s The Reason for God as a must-read for Christians who want to be better prepared to defend their faith. D’Souza writes for the lay person but stands as tall as any theologian in defending Christianity against today’s angry atheists, Darwinists, relativists and others who mock followers of Christ largely because they lack reasonable and convincing evidence against the Christian faith.

To whet your appetite, here is a sampling of quotations from the book:

On reason and faith: “Faith is available to everyone. If the only way to find out about God was through reason, then smarter people would have the inside track and the less intelligent would be shut out. Getting into heaven would be like getting into Harvard. Apparently God wants to have people other than PhDs in heaven; He seems to have made room for some fishermen and other humble folk. Reason is aristocratic, but faith is democratic” (p. 201).

On atheists and revelation: “Atheists sometimes express bafflement over why God would not make His presence more obvious…. Perhaps (as Pascal writes) God wants to hide Himself from those who have no desire to encounter Him while revealing Himself to those whose hearts are open to Him. If God were to declare Himself beyond our ability to reject Him, then He would be forcing Himself on us. Pascal remarks that perhaps God wants to be known not by everyone but only by the creatures who seek Him” (p. 203).

On original sin: “Augustine asks us to look at the infant, how thoroughly self-absorbed it is, how petulantly it strikes its little arms out at the nurse. If babies do not do harm, Augustine wryly notes, it is not for lack of will but only for lack of strength. In the Christian understanding, the inner self is corrupt, so we need god’s grace to enter from the outside and transform our fallen human nature” (p. 258).

What’s So Great About Christianity? is a wonderful resource for engaging unbelieving friends — and doubting Christians — in sincere conversation about the strength and goodness of  Christianity.