More Than a Carpenter
by Josh McDowell
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Book Reviews of More Than a Carpenter
Book Review: not bad, however simplistic and outdated
Summary: 2 Stars
McDowell's book is obviously a personal account of his conversion to Christianity and must be read specifically in that manner - it is not a scholarly work, although he tries to present it as such (this is the injustice). Chapter four, "Are the Biblical Records Reliable" is especially disturbing because he oversimplifies such complex matters as the dating of scriptural texts. However, what I find most bothersome is the fact that this book is being used as a modern day evangelism tool when some of the information is inaccurate and outdated. It seems that those who have read the book and reviewed it, take Mcdowell's information as fact soley because he is writing about Jesus. I wonder at what point during their conversion they lost their ability to be critical of information. I, too, am a Christian and fully support efforts to help others gain an understanding of Jesus as the Christ, but I find the spreading of misinformation deplorable and unexcusable. Although I would not recommend this book (I think that it undermines one's intelligence), I do commend Mcdowell's initiative.Book Review: Nothing more than an extended tract
Summary: 4 Stars
I don't understand why other folks who have reviewed this piece of literature give it 1 / 2 stars. While as an apologetic it is a piece of junk, if you look at it as it should be -an extended tract- it does it's job. You can't expect a hundred page book to 'prove' Christianity.Further proof that this is a tract is that it is sold by the 10 packs in one wrapping. Do you ever think you'll find Normon Giesler's 800 page "Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics" in a ten pack?
So as a track it gets its job done. But looking from an apologetic perspective it is simply goofy. Questions are raised such as "Why is it you can't refute the resurrection" where McDowell responds to accordingly. So in that pov it shouldn't be bought or even read.
Overall while it is a very quick, slightly interesting read(from a 'tract' sense) I wouldn't go as far to say that it is worth purchasing simply because it can be obtained for free at McDowell's site (his name dot org).
As a tract (which it is) -- 4 stars
As an apologetic (which it ISN'T) -- 1.5 stars
Book Review: A book that everyone should read at least once...
Summary: 5 Stars
I first read Josh McDowell's "More Than A Carpenter" when I was a freshman in college. Someone had given me the book, and although I was already a committed Christian, it literally blew me away with the simultaneous simplicity and depth of its arguments on behalf of Jesus Christ. Like a prosecutor laying out his case, McDowell presents a series of facts about Jesus of Nazareth and attempts to uncover the truth about his life. Jesus claimed to be God himself. So either Jesus was a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord.McDowell performs brilliantly in putting forward his case that Jesus was and is Lord. Few books better illustrate that believing in Christ is NOT a matter of "blind faith", but rather part of an intellectual exercise. Faith is a matter of believing in and trusting in the facts that are presented. (i.e., Are the words of Jesus trustworthy?) For most objective readers of McDowell's book, the answer will be a resounding yes...
Britt Gillette
Author of "Conquest of Paradise: An End-Times Nano-Thriller"
Book Review: An exercise in logical fallacies.
Summary: 2 Stars
The book is an easy read and not unpleasant providing you don't really think about what it's saying.
But as soon as you DO start thinking about it you discover that the entire book is built around repetitions and combinations of two serious logical fallacies.
1. The false dichotomy.
Jesus was either a good person and therefore everything he said must be true, or he lied about some things and was therefore some sort of insane devil incapable of doing good works.
2. Circular logic. Uses quotes from the bible to prove the truth of what's said in the bible. Essentially saying the bible must be historical truth because the bible says it is and we know the bible doesn't tell lies.
The logical fallacies are obvious when stated so bluntly and the prose wraps it up neatly to disguise them.
But truthfully those two logical fallacies cover the entire content of this book. Once the reader has realized that then there is no new content which can be gleaned from further reading.
Book Review: From a skeptic: unconvincing
Summary: 2 Stars
Good old Josh. He tries so hard. But he's desperately scraping the bottom of the barrel for a defense of his faith. As a nonbeliever, I can tell you that this book only strengthens my disbelief because his arguments are the arguments of a child: "Golly, Jesus couldn't possibly have been a liar because he was obviously such a good person. And there's no way he could have been a lunatic because he obviously wasn't crazy in any way. Therefore, the only other option is that he was God." Sure.If, let's say, seventy years from now someone writes a "gospel" on David Koresh (remember him? Waco?) and claims that he performed wonderful miracles and that he was perfect and that he was the son of God, etc. and then begins to preach and spread this new religion, 2000 years from now you would be able to make EXACTLY the same arguments about David Koresh because you would be talking about his over-blown, fictitious "gospel" instead of about the man himself, who we all know was a lunatic!