“I have a challenge for Christians. It’s a challenge few will take up, but let me offer it anyway, even though many expert Christian apologists have done it without a loss of faith. Other Christian thinkers struggle with their faith because they have done what I'm about to ask Christians to do. Still others....end up rejecting our former faith. Do this. I’ll call this the Debunking Christianity challenge....read up on all of the top Christian apologetics books and then [decide] in fairness to read all of the top skeptical books....Come on…what are you afraid of? If your faith can withstand our arguments then you will be a better informed Christian with a much stronger faith. If your faith cannot withstand our arguments then your faith wasn’t worth having in the first place. YOU HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE!” (John Loftus, Debunking Christianity blog, 1/2/2010)

CHALLENGE BEGAN 1/1/2010

These are all books that I currently own, but haven't read thoroughly yet. This list is in preparation for: Evaluation of the "New Atheism": Atheist Arguments and Christian Responses -- which I should be able to finish by 3/15/2010 since this list covers the "new atheism" books and best responses at that point. This is a rather "loose" schedule (2 weeks between each set of atheism vs. Christian theism books) which should give me plenty of time to read (and evaluate) these books. I do this as an amateur Catholic apologist who has studied his faith very seriously the past 20+ years (I am 44). I am not trained in philosophy so I may have trouble understanding the more complex books in the later sections. We'll see what happens....Pray for me...or not...

Faith-O-Meter at start: +20 (out of 20)

Began 1/1/2010.

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (Houghton Mifflin, 2006) and the audiobook read by Dawkins and Lalla Ward (his present wife).

Finished 1/15/2010.

Faith-O-Meter: +19 (-1)

Comments on the book / audiobook:

text

Began 1/15/2010.

Dawkin's God: Genes, Memes, and the Meaning of Life by Alister McGrath (Wiley-Blackwell, 2004)
The Dawkins Delusion? Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine by McGrath and McGrath (IVP Books, 2007)

Finished 1/30/2010.

Faith-O-Meter: +20 (+1)

Comments on the books:

text

Began 2/1/2010.

Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris (Vintage Books, 2006, 2008) and audiobook
Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel C. Dennett (Viking, 2006)
God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens (Twelve Books, 2007) and audiobook

Finished 2/15/2010.

Faith-O-Meter: +18 (-2)

Comments on the books / audiobooks:

text

Began 2/15/2010.

The Dawkins Letters: Challenging Atheist Myths by David Robertson (Christian Focus, 2007) 
God is No Delusion: A Refutation of Richard Dawkins by Thomas Crean, O.P. (Ignatius Press, 2007) 
Answering the New Atheism: Dismantling Dawkins' Case Against God by Scott Hahn and Benjamin Wiker (Emmaus Road, 2008) 
God and the New Atheism: A Critical Response to Dawkins, Harris, and Hitchens by John Haught (Westminster John Knox Press, 2008) 
Why There Almost Certainly Is a God: Doubting Dawkins by Keith Ward (Lion Hudson, 2008)

Finished 3/1/2010.

Faith-O-Meter: +20 (+2)

Comments on the books:

text

Began 3/1/2010....

God: The Failed Hypothesis by Victor J. Stenger (Prometheus Books, 2008, 2007)
The New Atheism: Taking a Stand for Science and Reason by Victor Stenger (Prometheus Books, 2009)

Next.... Begin by 3/15/2010

Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics by William Lane Craig (Crossway Books, 2008, 3rd edition)
Contending with Christianity's Critics: Answering New Atheists and Other Objectors by William Lane Craig and Paul Copan (B&H Academic, 2009)

This is the end of the "new atheism" books and a selection of the popular "Christian response" books.

The list below these start to get harder, more philosophical, more difficult to assess and comprehend, but I will give them a try....

Next.... Begin by 4/1/2010

The Existence of God by Wallace I. Matson (Cornell Univ Press, 1965)
The Miracle of Theism by J. L. Mackie (Oxford Univ Press, 1982) 
Atheism: The Case Against God by George H. Smith (Prometheus Books, 1989, orig 1979)

Next.... Begin by 4/15/2010

Scaling the Secular City by J. P. Moreland (Baker Books, 1987)
The Existence of God by Richard Swinburne (Oxford Univ Press, 1987, 1979)
God, Chance, and Necessity by Keith Ward (Oneworld Publications, 1996)
The Twilight of Atheism by Alister McGrath (Galilee Doubleday, 2004, 2006)

Next.... Begin by 5/1/2010

The Atheist Debater's Handbook by B. C. Johnson (Prometheus Books, 1983)
Atheist Universe by David Mills (Ulysses Press, 2006)
Atheism Explained: From Folly to Philosophy by David Ramsay Steele (Open Court, 2008)

Next.... Begin by 5/15/2010

The Gods of Atheism by Vincent Miceli, S.J. (Crown Pub, 1971)
I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist by Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek (Crossway Books, 2004) 
There Is A God: How the World's Most Notorious Atheist Changed His Mind by Antony Flew with Roy Abraham Varghese (HarperOne, 2007)

Next.... Begin by 6/1/2010

Atheism: A Philosophical Justification by Michael Martin (Temple Univ Press, 1990) 
Arguing About Gods by Graham Oppy (Cambridge Univ Press, 2006)

This is the end of the atheism vs. theism books. Now we move to specific defense / rejection of Christian theism and apologetics.

Next.... Begin by 6/15/2010

Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis 
The Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis 
Miracles by C. S. Lewis

Next.... Begin by 7/1/2010

C. S. Lewis and the Search for Rational Religion by John Beversluis (Eerdmans Publishing, 1985)
C. S. Lewis' Case for the Christian Faith by Richard Purtill (Ignatius Press, 2004, 1981)

Next.... Begin by 7/15/2010

Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli (Intervarsity, 1994) 
The Case For Christ by Lee Strobel (Zondervan, 1998) 
The Case For Faith by Lee Strobel (Zondervan, 2000) 
Why I Am a Christian edited by Norman L. Geisler and Paul K. Hoffman (Baker Books, 2001, 2006)

Next.... Begin by 8/1/2010

Why I am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell (Touchstone, 1957) 
Why I Rejected Christianity: A Former Apologist Explains (Trafford Publishing, 2006)
Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity (Prometheus, 2008) both by John W. Loftus

Next.... Begin by 8/15/2010

Reasons to Believe: How to Understand, Explain, and Defend the Catholic Faith by Scott Hahn (Doubleday, 2007) 
Reasons for Faith: Making a Case for the Christian Faith edited by Norman L. Geisler and Chad V. Meister (Crossway Books, 2007)

Next.... Begin by 9/1/2010

The Case Against Christianity by Michael Martin (Temple Univ Press, 1991) 
Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to Atheist (FFRF, 1992, 2006)
Godless: How an Evangelical Preacher Became One of America's Leading Atheists (Ulysses Press, 2008) both by Dan Barker

Next.... Begin by 9/15/2010

The Son Rises by William Lane Craig (Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2001, orig Moody, 1981)
The Resurrection of the Son of God by N. T. Wright (Fortress, 2003)

Next.... Begin by 10/1/2010

Resurrection of Jesus: History, Experience, Theology by Gerd Ludemann (Fortress, 1995)
The Empty Tomb: Jesus Beyond the Grave edited by Robert M. Price and Jeffery Jay Lowder (Prometheus, 2005)

Next.... Begin by 10/15/2010

What's So Great About Christianity? by Dinesh D'Souza (Regnery Publishing, 2007)
How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization by Thomas E. Woods, Jr. (Regnery Publishing, 2005)
Is Religion Dangerous? (2006) and Pascal's Fire (2006) and The Big Questions in Science and Religion (2008) all by Keith Ward

Finally ending with.... by 11/1/2010

The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails edited by John Loftus (Prometheus, 2010)