Tactics, 10th Anniversary Edition: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions

This is one of the best apologetics books I've ever read!! Greg Koukl, President of Stand To Reason at str.org has written a great and informative book that is very thought provoking and often points out atheist contradictions and logical fallacies not to mention how lackluster and ignorant atheist thinking is. Here is a good review of it: [..] "Discerning Reader Editorial Review Reviewed 02/17/2009 by Tim Challies. Recommended. A valuable tool to assist Christians in sharing and defending the faith. I have a bit of an aversion to books on apologetics. I don't know exactly why this is, but it may be that many of them seem to teach methods of defending the faith that either manipulate or bludgeon. Somehow grace and apologetics do not seem to go together as they ought. So it was with perhaps just a bit of reluctance that I began reading Gregory Koukl's Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions. This is a book that promises to teach a new method, a respectful method, of defending the faith and of attempting to convince others of the truth of Christianity. This is not an apologetics 101 text, as in a book that will compare and contrast various apologetic methods; instead, it is a guide, a book that seeks to lead the reader into a new method of sharing his faith with others. "If you're like a lot of people who pick up a book like this, you would like to make a difference for the kingdom, but you are not sure how to begin. I want to give you a game plan, a strategy to get involved in a way you never thought you could, yet with a tremendous margin of safety." Here is what Koukl promises--he sets no small goal. "I am going to teach you how to navigate in conversations so that you stay in control--in a good way--even though your knowledge is limited. You may know nothing about answering challenges people raise against what you believe. You may even be a brand new Christian. It doesn't matter. I am going to introduce you to a handful of effective maneuvers--I call them tactics--that will help you stay in control." This tactical approach is a useful one, for it allows you to stay "in the driver's seat in conversations, so you can productively direct the discussion, exposing faulty thinking and suggesting more fruitful alternatives along the way." It is important to note that "tactics are not manipulative tricks or slice ruses. They are not clever ploys to embarrass other people and force them to submit to your point of view. They are not meant to belittle or humiliate those who disagree so you can gain notches in your spiritual belt." Instead, they are ways of guiding a conversation to expose poor reasoning and then use that as a bridge to the truth. Koukl begins by looking at three basics skills the Christian will need if he wishes to be an effective apologist. First, he must have knowledge, having a familiarity with the central message of the Bible; second, he must have knowledge that is tempered by wisdom that makes his message clear and persuasive; third, he must have the character of a Christian, embodying the virtues of the kingdom he serves. Then, over the course of four chapters, Koukl unveils his tactic. He calls it "The Columbo." The key to this tactic is to "go on the offensive in an inoffensive way by using carefully selected questions to productively advance the conversation." Never make a statement when a question will do the job. When you ask questions and listen carefully, you gather information that can be used to show a person where his thinking is faulty. Questions can be used to gather information, to reverse the burden of proof or to lead the conversation. Either way, the person asking the question is the person who leads the discussion. He sets a modest and realistic goal for his interactions with unbelievers. "My goal," he says, "is to find clever ways to exploit someone's bad thinking for the purpose of guiding her to truth, yet remaining gracious and charitable at the same time. My aim is to manage, not manipulate; to control, not coerce; to finesse, not fight. I want the same for you." The goal of this kind of apologetics, then, is not necessarily to win someone to Christ. That may be an ultimate goal or an ultimate hope, but the goal of an individual encounter is nothing more than, in Koukl's words, "putting a stone in someone's shoe." "I want to give him something worth thinking about, something he can't ignore because it continues to poke at him in a good way." In Part 2 of the book, Koukl offers guidance in finding flaws in the way people reason. He offers specific tactics to unveil poor reasoning and to turn it back against a person. He calls these things like Suicide, Sibling Rivalry, Taking the Roof Off. He offers advice on countering the human steamroller (you've tried to discuss issues with people like this) and the Rhodes scholar, the supposed expert. When I think of Christian apologetics, I tend to think of Evidence that Demands a Verdict or some of the classics of days gone by. But in this book Koukl offers a new approach and one that is well-suited to the times. He teaches the Christian to think well, to exemplify grace and to humbly lead a conversation to the truth. "We may spend hours helping someone carefully work through an issue without ever mentioning God, Jesus or the Bible. This does not mean we aren't advancing the kingdom. It is always a step in the right direction when he help others think more carefully. If nothing else, it gives them tools to assess the bigger questions that eventually come up." Apologetics is not always a discipline that is done with grace. But in this book Koukl shares tactics that will prove beneficial to any Christian. They may just revolutionize the way you interact with unbelievers. I highly recommend it." I give this book 5/5 stars and recommend it to both Christians and atheists alike as well as everyone in between.

I just finished reading tactics; it’s a book every Christian should consider adding to their reading list. So often we either avoid hard conversations about faith or we jump into them unprepared and emotional. This book does such a good job of equipping believers to slow down, ask thoughtful questions, and engage in meaningful dialogue with people who disagree with us. It’s not about “winning arguments,” it’s about learning how to think clearly, respond graciously, and represent Christ well. What I really appreciated is how grounded it is in biblical context. It reinforces the tools we already have as disciples (wisdom, discernment, gentleness, and truth) and shows us how to actually apply them in real conversations. It encourages confidence without arrogance and boldness without hostility. If you’ve ever felt unsure about how to defend your faith or navigate tough discussions, this book is incredibly practical and encouraging.

Greg Koukl’s "Tactics: A game plan for discussing your Christian convictions" is an excellent tool for anyone engaged in everyday conversations with unbelievers. With a mountain of attacks coming at Christians today, it can easily become overwhelming or even defeating for someone who wants to communicate his or her faith. What Koukl sets out to do in this book is to empower his readers to not only not be afraid, but be confident in what they believe, without feeling like the worlds questions are on their shoulders. The first half of this work deals with the game plan. In every day conversations, there are often a lot of claims about the Christian faith that are unfounded, so Koukl’s tactic is primarily a shifting in the burden of proof. He uses the show Columbo as his primary example, as the main character acts like a bumbling fool, but is really a brilliant detective. He will act like a fool to put off his suspect, but then asks incriminating questions to get his suspect to confess. In the same way, when a Christian is given a claim against his or her faith, they do not need to bear the weight of the claim, but can ask for more information and then allow them to defend their conclusions. It is not confrontational and helps the conversation gain some clarity. More often than not, in those moments, the baseless claims are exposed for what they really are, and the Christian is able to deal with the weightier matters of God and the individual. The second half of his book deals with the practicalities of how this tactic can play out. It is no longer an issue of steering the conversation, but of having the practical thinking skills to be a knowledgeable ambassador. A lot of these principles take practice and immersion for it to become a habitual thing, but that’s the first thing that Koukl encourages his readers to do: Try. You will never be able to become proficient at this if you are not entering into conversation with others. The first thing that he encourages us to look out for in this section is the self-refuting questions or objections, which he calls “suicide.” These are views that are inherently contradictory. He said, “When statements fail to meet their own criteria of validity, they are self-refuting.” The concept of truth as universally relative is a good example of this, since it is making the objective truth claim that all truth is subjectively relative. So, it commits suicide by its own assertions. The following chapter shows not only the logical inconsistencies with self-refuting claims, but also the fact that it cannot play out in reality. No one can live (at least consistently) with a worldview that is inherently contradictory. When someone tells you that you cannot judge or that you should not try and change the beliefs of other people, they are in fact doing the very thing that they claim is wrong. One aspect that I particularly enjoyed was his chapter on taking the roof off. This was a deliberate exposition on Francis Schaeffer’s use of reductio ad absurdum. “Whenever someone tries to deny the truth, reality ultimately betrays them.” When a person holds to a false worldview, oftentimes the reductio can help take them to the logical ends of their view. For instance, if someone holds to monism, where all is one and differences are an illusion, then the internal human drive for justice is equally an illusion, and thus a man loving his wife and family has no moral difference in the universe than a man walking into a kindergarten classroom and shooting everyone in sight. Most do not want to deal with the reality of what their worldview allows. But sometimes people, regardless of whether they are proven wrong, will not let you get a word in. His chapter on the steamroller is particularly helpful here. The Christian wants to be the most loving that he or she can possibly be in a conversation, and the steamroller personality will use that to their advantage, as they control the conversation and avoid dealing with their own claims. So, Koukl has the Christian simply stop the conversation, shame the person for being so overbearing, and if that does not work, simply leave. It does not good to try and have a conversation with someone who is not willing to have a conversation. The three things that he ultimately wants his readers to develop are Character, knowledge, and wisdom. With these three combined, the ambassador has enough in his or her arsenal to fight for the hearts and minds of the people he or she engages. Without knowledge, the Christian is ignorant, without wisdom, he or she is without direction in the conversation, and without character, the Christian runs the risk of being a jerk. Koukl said, “My goal… is to find clever ways to exploit someone’s bad thinking for the purpose of guiding her to truth, yet remaining as gracious and charitable at the same time. My aim is to manage not manipulate; to control, not coerce; to finesse, not fight.” He wants the reader to be the best Christian that the non-Christian has ever met. When the focus is on truth and compassion for the other person, it becomes more a matter of putting a stone in their shoe, to make them think, than a series of manipulating maneuvers to get them to convert. This makes room for friendships to develop, rather than confrontations that create an us/them mentality, and, God willing, these encounters will eventually be the means that God uses to save them. While this book is not a how to guide, it does offer some quality introductions to apologetic arguments and a great framework for discussing Christian convictions with those who do not hold to their worldview. Many who are new to apologetics will find a goldmine in this book, and those who are well versed will find an equal amount of value, since he gives a framework for discussion that is winsome and gets to the root of the issues to let the gospel shine. I reference this book often, since this model is the way I try to do apologetics with both Christians and non-Christians.

Tactics, 10th Anniversary Edition: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions is an excellent book and extremely helpful. It’s packed with thoughtful insights and practical “gems” that equip believers to engage in meaningful conversations about their faith with clarity and confidence. What makes this book stand out is how approachable and usable it is. The tactics are easy to understand, respectful in tone, and genuinely effective in real conversations—not just theoretical arguments. I would highly recommend this to anyone who wants to better articulate and defend their Christian convictions while remaining gracious and thoughtful in discussion.

INTRODUCTION: KOUKL AND TACTICS Tactics is a resource for Christians who are looking to hone their apologetic skills and seeking to grow in their opportunities to evangelize more effectively. Gregory Koukl, who teaches at Biola University, is validated in the area of apologetics by many years of experience in defending the faith but also in the theological whit involved in evangelizing. Koukl is the founder of a website called Stand To Reason, which is one of the most viewed websites on apologetics. For years, Koukl has sought to help individual Christians defend their faith and share their convictions. Using tactics, Koukl attempts to challenge Christians to embody his Ambassador Model – thinking logically, loving graciously, and persuading passionately. SUMMARY The book is very easy to read. It is dividend into two parts, the first revealing a game plan for defending the faith. In the first part, Koukl is concerned with helping his readers grasp the concept of maneuvering effortlessly through conversations about religion. Many Christians feel awkward and uncertain when navigating through conversations about their convictions, and Koukl does an exceptional job of providing an infrastructure for the believer to be relieved of these tensions. PART 1: COLUMBO TACTIC EXPLAINED The main thrust of Koukl’s tactic is what he calls “Columbo”. The key to the Columbo tactic is to “go on the offensive in an inoffensive way by using carefully selected questions to productively advance the conversation” (47). The advantages of this tactic are numerous, including: the ability to start conversations, invite others in, remain neutral by asking questions, buy more time to think, and remain in control of the conversation. Koukl’s purpose in employing this tactic is to gather information. By asking “what do you mean by that?” you force somebody to think critically of their answers and their underlying convictions. Another revealing feature of the Columbo tactic is the ability to cause others to defend their beliefs. By asking “How did you come to that conclusion?” we are forcing the other person to explain their process of reasoning and how such derived conclusions were attained. The final purpose of the Columbo tactic is to lead an individual to what we want to accomplish. Do we want to inform, persuade or challenge them? Asking leading questions will help to steer the conversation, however, the one asking the questions must have some prior knowledge. Koukl encourages his readers by reminding them that this tactic must be honed over time. Pointing out the errors of our opponent in a gracious way will eventually help us determine the basis of their conclusions, and furthermore, we can lead them to think anew upon their beliefs by asking “Have you considered…?” PERFECTING COLUMBO Perfecting the Columbo tactic takes time. Those who use it should be aware of efforts from opponents’ attempts to derail them. Christians who use the tactic should always refine by rethinking their questions, reworking their own conclusions, and considering more leading questions. Christians should also be aware of assertions made by opponents. For the sake of control and clarity, Christians may refuse to answer their opponents’ leading questions. Koukl reminds his readers that it will take time to develop strong questions and convictions, but over time, the power of Columbo is unimaginable. It is like saying to somebody, “You’re naked” (102). PART 2: COLUMBO TACTIC IN ACTION In the second part of the book, Koukl unpacks Columbo and exposes the different opposing arguments. This part of the book is philosophical but simple enough for lay Christians to be able to grasp the concepts. The examples that he gives in subsequent chapters include Formal Suicide (statements that violate the law of non-contradiction), Practical Suicide (statements that are not contradictory but are self-defeating), Sibling Rivalry and Infanticide (when there are pairs of logically inconsistent objections), Taking the Roof Off (reduction ad absurdum, or a claim that leads to counterintuitive or absurd results), Steamroller (how to handle situations in which people are emotional, overpowering, or hardened), The Rhodes Scholar (defending against academic claims that object to our views), Just the Facts Ma’am (discovering when people just simply have their facts wrong). Koukl ends the book with a chapter on more helpful tips and principles for evangelistic conversations. STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESS There are several particular strengths in the book. Besides being a very simple writer, Koukl is also personable. At least from reading the book, one can tell how much time he spends with others. Koukl gives several anecdotes about his encounters. One interesting encounter took place when Koukl met a witch at a checkout line. On this occasion, Koukl tried to help the woman see that her beliefs were inconsistent with her convictions. In another encounter, Koukl describes a waitress who was “Sheepish in Seattle". Despite the funny subheading, the encounter instructed and helped readers learn how to ask pointed questions. EVANGELISM Another element of Tactics that proves helpful is Koukl’s method of evangelism. Many evangelistic programs can be either too programmatic or too simplistic. Tactics runs between these two extremes by offering an alternative. Koukl teaches his readers how to converse with nonbelievers and believers about their convictions and beliefs in an intelligible way. “Columbo” is a method that Koukl prescribes to help people gain a handle on conversations and increase their ability to reason well. This method helps people formulate good questions, gather information, and challenge the beliefs of others in a gracious and loving way. Koukl is mainly concerned with truth and helping others see the truth. His method is geared towards Christians who are serious about their faith. They'll confidently share there faith in a checkout out line or at the park. SIMPLIFYING PHILOSOPHICAL CONCEPTS Another strength is Koukls ability to successfully reduce philosophical concepts to intelligible ideas. For example, Koukl simplifies the reductio ad absurdrum argument for the reader by describing it thusly, “Taking the Roof Off,” or “to reduce a point to its absurd conclusion or consequence” (143). Then he lists several examples. An example that is very practical is the issue of same-sex marriage. Someone might say, “Same sex marriage should be instituted by the government because once upon a time, the government was wrong about interracial marriages, so it must be wrong about same-sex marriages.” Koukl might respond, “Well, the government also wanted to institute slavery, once upon a time, but slavery doesn’t exist today, so you must be wrong.” And with that, he shows the opponent the absurdity of their claim. Koukl offers helpful summarizing sections at the end of each chapter to help the reader grasp the concepts and ideas presented in each chapter. Koukl’s character is apparent throughout the book, with his desire to see people come to the truth. That in and of itself is a great strength to the book, because he essentially practices what he preaches. CONCLUSION Koukl’s desire to see people come to the truth of the gospel is very powerful throughout the book. Christians who read this and put these concepts into practice will “be able to comfortably engage in thoughtful conversations with others about your Christian convictions” (30).

This week I received my copy of Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions by Greg Koukl. I was anxious to have a look at the book, as I have been following Greg Koukl's ministry of Stand to Reason for a number of years. On one hand, I was excited to see in book form what I have heard Koukl demonstrate so many times on his live radio program: an effective and gracious way to communicate one's faith in an articulate and winsome way. On the other hand, my familiarity with Koukl's Tactics audio program made me wonder if this was just a repackaging of the same material. I was thoroughly surprised. I'm a reader - but it's been a while since I have devoured a book. Tactics is an immediately practical book. The author's heart is that Christians be equipped to be good ambassadors. An ambassador has three skills: "knowledge, an accurately informed mind; wisdom, an artful method; and character, an attractive manner." Koukl describes the goal of a tactical approach - one that seeks to converse more persuasively by being thoughtful and reasonable, rather than emotional, about one's convictions. In a very balanced way, Koukl carefully introduces this approach and neutralizes some of the negative connotations that come with sharing and defending the faith. Some people immediately object at the idea of argumentation or "methods." However, Koukl summarizes a more biblical approach: "Here's the key principle: Without God's work, nothing else works; but with God's work, many things work. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit, love persuades. By the power of God, the gospel transforms. And with Jesus at work, arguments convince. God is happy to use each of these methods." Now Koukl dives into the meat of the book. He presents about a half dozen "tactics," as he calls them - each with a memorable name, such as, "Columbo," "Suicide," and, "Taking the Roof Off," among others. As he teaches you these tactics, Koukl's experience and mastery in this area immediately become evident. He is not a theorist presenting untested ideas. Instead, he is a veteran, discussing situation after situation gleaned from countless personal encounters, public debates, radio interviews, and friendly conversations. The phenomenal part is that these approaches are simple and the applications are immediately accessible to the reader. One particular insight Koukl shares should bring relief to those who feel fear come over them at even the thought of discussing their faith: you don't have to hit home runs. In fact, Koukl stresses that you don't even have to get on base. The goal is to leave them with something to think about. His advice: simply leave them with "a stone in their shoe." Navigating through the book, you will find gem after gem of wisdom. So many of the common objections that the Christian encounters are found here - but with answers that are actually useful in conversation. Although much of the substance is philosophical in nature, Koukl drops the jargon and replaces it with practical expressions. This is a handbook suitable for the layman and professional apologist alike. After passing the halfway point in the book, you will realize that you are not just learning how to steer safely through a conversation - you are learning how to think. Koukl will sharpen your thinking skills and your ability to spot fuzzy logic and faulty arguments. You will realize that this is a book about truth. By the time you reach the end (it's about 200 pages), you will be amazed at the amount of wisdom, insight, and courage you have gleaned. A second reading is definitely in order. Koukl's Tactics is endorsed by a long list of notable apologists and Christian thinkers: Norman Geisler, William Lane Craig, Gary Habermas, J. P. Moreland, Hank Hanegraaff, Jay Wesley Richards, David Noebel, Justin Taylor, Paul Copan, Sean McDowell, Frank Turek, and Craig Hazen. For those familiar with Koukl's Tactics audio program, many of the same personal encounters are cited. However, this is not a repackaging of old material. I found the book to be immensely helpful even after recently re-listening to Greg Koukl's Tactics in Defending the Faith audio program. In addition to the expanded and fresh material, I found the summaries at the end of each chapter to be particularly helpful. Greg Koukl's Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing Your Christian Convictions is not designed to give you pat answers or lists of facts to bring to your conversations. Far from being "another evangelism book," Tactics is a book that will challenge you to be a critical thinker, a logical communicator, and a gracious ambassador for Jesus Christ.

Apologetics requires two sides of a person - the knowledgeable reasoning side and the compassionate, calm-but-tactical side. Both are key, whether you are a presuppositional apologist or an evidentiary apologist. Regardless of the facts you put on the forefront of your apologetic, this book helps make your conversations more fruitful, last longer, and reach more people for Christ. This book is a supreme source to help develop this second side. Greg Koukl is an apologetics professor at Biola University and has his own radio talk show where he defends the Christian worldview. He also conducts an online ministry at str dot org. (STR = stand to reason) The focus of this book is to provide easy-to-remember and usable tactics for discussing your faith and conversing with people of different viewpoints in ways to open their minds to the Christian worldview. Koukl begins with a discussion on the need to keep discussions from being trench warfare. Too many discussions about Christian apologetics are cut short by harsh arguments that do little. Christians must be all things to all people and find a way to share the faith while not scaring off those we want to have hear it. In short, Koukl writes "If anyone in the conversation gets angry, you lose." Greg's underlying principle is not to take everyone to the cross with every discussion. Some people are way too far away from belief to make such a trek in such a small amount of time. The need to help open the other person's mind to Christ and plow the field to make the ground of the heart fertile is most necessary in many people. That is why he focuses on putting a rock in everyone's shoe. What he means by this is he wants to put an idea in their head that they will likely spend a lot of time thinking about. He wants to be the rock in the shoe that noone forgets about. Through this, he plants a seed of thought in the person and leaves the rest up to God. While the intent of this book is not to give ready-made answers to specific arguments critics have, there are specific examples he discusses while he is giving examples of how a tactic might work. For example, the belief in moral relativism is discussed when he discusses the tactic of "Practical Suicide" (an argument that cannot stand because it is self-refuting.) The reviews of this book included inside the cover are a who's-who of Christian apologists. And, after reading the book, I see what they were all raving about. This book is one of the top apologetic resources I have read, and it serves as a practical guide for all discussions. I give this book my highest recommendation for anyone interested in Christian apologetics regardless of your experience or knowledge level. This book will be suc a huge blessing to all Christians and to their ability to discuss Christ more effectively.

Two months ago, the very thought of bringing up spiritual topics with those of "opposing views" would have terrified me. Even after reading several books on evangelism and going through the Way of the Master program through my church, I had very little confidence in my methods for bringing up spiritual concerns, let alone in how to make the best use of the opportunities that came up on their own. I have finally read a book that has completely changed my mindset. After reading Tim Challies' review, I knew had I had to give the book a try, and I was not disappointed. The book is called Tactics, and is written by Gregory Koukl, who, according to the back of the book, "holds MA degrees in both apologetics and philosophy", and has "spoken on many college campuses and hosted his own radio talk show for 18 years defending 'Christianity Worth Thinking About'". So now let's talk about the book... The first two chapters of Tactics lay some foundation on why Christians should "argue", addressing many of his readers' reservations along the way. Koukl describes how one needs three basic skills in order to effectively represent Christ, or in other words, to be his ambassadors in the twenty-first-century: knowledge, wisdom, and character. He says: These three skills-- knowledge, an accurately informed mind; wisdom, an artful method; and character, an attractive manner-- play a part in every effective involvement with a non-believer. The second skill, tactical wisdom, is the main focus of this book. Koukl later defines what he means by "Tactics", saying that they involve focusing on the situation at hand, designing your "particular responses to particular people so you can begin to have an impact in specific situations". He says tactics can help because they offer techniques of maneuvering through difficult situations. The first and most valuable in terms of flexibility and adaptability of all of the tactics is what he calls "Columbo". In fact, half of the book is dedicated to this tactic. Here's how Koukl describes it: The key to the Columbo tactic is to go on the offensive in an inoffensive way by using carefully selected questions to productively advance the conversation. Simply put, never make a statement, at least at first, when a question will do the job. For me, the Columbo tactic was by far one of the most helpful concepts that I gleaned from the book. The three basic steps to the tactic, each step having a chapter devoted to it, are: 1. Gather the facts ("What did you mean by that?") 2. Reverse the burden of proof ("How did you come to that conclusion?") 3. Lead the way Koukl points out many of the advantages to asking questions (instead of responding with statements. For instance: * Questions are friendly and flattering * You'll get an education * Questions allow you to make progress on a point without being pushy * Carefully placed questions put you in the driver's seat He goes into great detail using hypothetical (but common) situations to illustrate the tactics behind the Columbo method. This is the "Game Plan" section of the book. The second half in the book goes into the nitty-gritty tactics for finding flaws in peoples' arguments. Some of these "deconstructions" were really helpful for me, such as the section on the "prohibition of proselytizing", or sharing the Christian faith in an attempt to influence someone to become a Christian. When someone objects, saying "You should stop trying to change other people's religions views," their statement has a fundamental flaw, because by making that statement, they are trying to change the Christian's religious views, which command sharing the gospel to all people. However, I could see many people objecting to how "simply" Koukl points out flaws to some of the more complicated theological issues. For instance, his section on Theistic Evolution is so simple that there's no way it would persuade a theistic evolutionist (see some of the discussion on Challies' blog). Overall, I found Tactics to be an excellent book on discussing spiritually issues with in a non-offensive manner. The message is offensive enough, without the messenger getting in the way. I certainly will be coming back to this book again and again in years to come.

It's a good book, written especially for those who feel intimidated or insecure to share their faith in Christ to others. Gokul covers lots of very powerful communication tactics which would help to engage in conversation, asking questions, putting the burden on the other side to prove their viewpoints. He teaches us how we can be in a driver seat and maneuver the conversation to the direction we want. I enjoyed reading it. I'm reading it again. Thanks to the author for writing this book.

Es ist ein sehr gutes Buch. Ich denke jede Christ soll es Lesen. Dieses Buch gibt uns rede Wendungen und Taktik wie wir mit die Leute um uns herum umgehen sollen.

Um dos melhores livros existentes sobre apologética cristã. Espero que seja traduzido brevemente, para que outros no país possam desfrutar dessa leitura extremamente necessária, para quem quer entrar em debates sobre religião e cultura de maneira elegante e eficaz para o reino de Deus.

There are so many excellent reviews of this book that I really cannot add anything other than to mention that this book is worth more than its price. It's easy to get frustrated at the empty, yet forceful, rhetoric employed to muddy the waters of clarity and truth. However, this author offers tried and proven techniques, with examples, to help anyone at any level to respond respectfully and succinctly to any empty challenges that are raised. So leave your frustration behind and learn to help yourself and others to carefully think and come to a knowledge of true principles.

this book is excellent,....every christian should own it......but its more about your APPROACH when evangelizing...and how to engage others by using questtions....and keeping the burden of proof on them ...rather than you....and allowing the other person to do most of the work...as u simply listen and ask more questionss.....the only gripe i have about the book..is...it will not work unless u know your stuff regarding apologetics...and have studied other books on this...and have collecteed a few books that answer typical questions /arguements that come up.....and thee book is promoted as though its the answer alone as to how to evangelize...but the book is top notch at giving info regarding what it does teach.....definitely recommend it wholeheartedly