Gregory Koukl

Tactics is one of the most important books you could choose to read, though I would encourage the 10th anniversary edition of the same if you have to pick. Greg Koukl doesn't present tactics for proving Christianity true, though he certainly argues that effectively.

Rather, he presents methods for holding difficult conversations, regardless of the subject. While these are presented in the context of Christian beliefs, they can be applied to political discussions, family arguments, business meetings. These tactics are useful in all areas of life.

I easily consider this one of the top ten books everyone should read, and the younger the better.… (altro)

Using questions to engage in conversation

This is a book about engaging in conversations about faith, especially applied to apologetics. Koukl provides a number of tactical techniques to take control of a conversation (in the sense of guiding it, not dominating it) in order to help reveal the deeper beliefs and assumptions held by others, in hopes that this will open people to the truth of the gospel. In many ways, the techniques taught here could be applied to many types of conversations, and not just apologetic ventures. But applied to apologetics and evangelism, with sensitivity, these conversation tools hold promise of opening, rather than closing ears.

While very helpful, I did find Koukl's approach to be terse at times. But this is likely in part due to his offering digested accounts of the conversations he records for illustration purposes. Another minor weakness in the book is Koukl's reference to Darwinian evolution almost as a view without merit, when contrasted to his apparently preferred ID view. Holding this position is fine, but I suspect what he means by Darwinism is primarily a rejection of naturalistic Darwinism as a worldview. It would help for him to nuance this point a bit more, since the topic is raised a number of times.

That said, Koukl does much to help elevate the Christian's confidence to be able to gently but firmly ask questions of others leading to opportunities to speak about Jesus.… (altro)