Last Friday I posted a list of resources to help you make the case for Christianity. That list was borrowed from Cold-Case Christianity. Today I’d like to offer a short list of resources from God’s Crime Scene designed to help you make the case for God’s existence. In God’s Crime Scene, I explore the evidence in the universe using a simple investigative technique I borrowed from death scene investigations. Every death investigation presents one of four possibilities; the victim died accidentally, died from natural causes, committed suicide or was murdered. Only one of these circumstances requires someone outside the room to enter the scene. Accidental deaths, natural deaths and suicides can occur without an intruder. Homicide detectives, therefore, are looking for evidence of outside involvement. One important question must be asked and answered: “Can the evidence ‘in the room’ be explained by staying ‘in the room’?” As we examine the universe around us, a similar opportunity is available. Can everything we see in the universe be explained solely from causes found within the natural realm, or is there evidence of an outside “intruder”?
God’s Crime Scene examines 8 different pieces of evidence in the universe. Can this evidence be explained by natural “internal” forces, or is an external “intruder” a better explanation? I read over 130 books to write God’s Crime Scene, and the book contains an “Expert Witness” section listing some of them. This section provides readers with three experts who try to explain the evidence from “inside the room” and three who explain the evidence from “outside the room”. In this post, I’ve listed the theistic authors who make the case for God’s existence from “inside the room,” using each category of evidence. These books (organized by chapters from God’s Crime Scene) are worth your time and should be part of any Christian Case Maker’s collection:
Chapter One:
In the Beginning: Was the Universe an Inside Job?
Resources addressing the case for God’s existence from the origin of the universe
William Lane Craig, with Quentin Smith and Paul Copan
Theism, Atheism and Big Bang Cosmology (Oxford University Press, 1995)
Time and Eternity: Exploring God’s Relationship to Time (Crossway, 2001)
Creation Out of Nothing: A Biblical, Philosophical and Scientific Exploration (Baker Academic, 2004)
John Leslie and Robert Lawrence Kuhn (Editors)
The Mystery of Existence (Wiley-Blackwell, 2013)
Robert John Russell (Editor)
Physics, Philosophy and Theology: A Common Quest for Understanding (University of Notre Dame Press, 1989)
Chapter Two:
Tampering With the Evidence: Who Is Responsible?
Resources addressing the case for God’s existence from the fine-tuning of the universe
Neil A Manson (Editor)
God and Design; The Teleological Argument and Modern Science (Routledge, 2003)
Alister E. McGrath
A Fine Tuned Universe; The Quest for God in Science and Theology (Westminster John Knox Press, 2009)
Hugh Ross
The Creator and the Cosmos (NavPress, 2001)
Chapter Three:
The Origin of Life: Does the Text Require an Author?
Resources addressing the case for God’s existence from the origin of life
Stephen C. Meyer
Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design (HarperOne, 2009)
Werner Gitt, Bob Compton, and Jorge Fernandez
Without Excuse (Creation Book Publishers, 2011)
Edgar Andrews
Who Made God? (Evangelical Press, 2012)
Chapter Four:
Signs of Design: Is There Evidence of An Artist?
Resources addressing the case for God’s existence from the appearance of design in biology
Michael J. Behe
Darwin’s Black Box: The Biochemical Challenge to Evolution (Free Press, 2006)
William A. Dembski
The Design Inference (Cambridge University Press, 1998)
Fazale Rana
The Cell’s Design: How Chemistry Reveals the Creator’s Artistry (Baker Books, 2008)
Chapter Five:
Our Experience of Consciousness: Are We More Than Matter?
Resources addressing the case for God’s existence from the existence of consciousness
Edward Feser
Philosophy of Mind (A Beginner’s Guide) (Oneworld, 2007)
J.P. Moreland
Consciousness and the Existence of God: A Theistic Argument (Routledge, 2008)
Joel B. Green and Stuart L. Palmer (Editors)
In Search of the Soul: Four Views of the Mind-Body Problem (IVP Academic, 2009)
Chapter Six:
Free Will or Full Wiring: Are Real Choices Even Possible?
Resources addressing the case for God’s existence from our experience of free agency
Richard Swinburne
Mind, Brain, and Free Will (Oneworld, 2007)
Saint Augustine of Hippo
On Free Choice of the Will (Hackett Publishing Company, 1993)
Roderick Chisholm
Human Freedom and the Self (Lindley lecture) (University of Kansas Department of Philosophy, 1964)
Free Will (Robert Kane, Editor) “Human Freedom and the Self” (Wiley-Blackwell, 2001)
Chapter Seven:
Law and Order: Is Morality More Than An Opinion?
Resources addressing the case for God’s existence from the existence of moral truth
David Baggett and Jerry L. Walls
Good God: The Theistic Foundations of Morality (Oneworld, 2007)
John E. Hare
God and Morality: A Philosophical History (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009)
Keith Ward
Morality, Autonomy, and God (Oneworld Publications, 2013)
Chapter Eight:
The Evidence of Evil: Can God and Evil Coexist?
Resources addressing the case for God’s existence from the presence of evil
C. S. Lewis
The Problem of Pain (HarperOne, 2009)
N. T. Wright
Evil and the Justice of God (IVP Books, 2013)
Peter Van Inwagen
The Problem of Evil: The Gifford Lectures Delivered in the University of St Andrews in 2003 (Clarendon Press, 2006)
I hope these resources inspire you to make the case for what you believe as a Theist. This short list has been excerpted from God’s Crime Scene. Please refer to my book to get the expanded list (including the list of books from atheist authors on the same topics. You’ll find it in “The Expert Witness” appendix of the book.
For more information about the scientific and philosophical evidence pointing to a Divine Creator, please read God’s Crime Scene: A Cold-Case Detective Examines the Evidence for a Divinely Created Universe. This book employs a simple crime scene strategy to investigate eight pieces of evidence in the universe to determine the most reasonable explanation. The book is accompanied by an eight-session God’s Crime Scene DVD Set(and Participant’s Guide) to help individuals or small groups examine the evidence and make the case.
J. Warner Wallace is a Dateline featured Cold-Case Detective, Senior Fellow at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, Adj. Professor of Christian Apologetics at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, author of Cold-Case Christianity, God’s Crime Scene, and Forensic Faith, and creator of the Case Makers Academy for kids.
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