1927
With the subtitle A Modem Defense of the Christian Religion, this is one of many "defense of the faith" books published in the first half of the twentieth century. The Bible was under attack { 50 } and conservative beliefs were being challenged. As a result, evangelical leaders sought to strengthen their followers through strong apologetic writings.
Several such books could be considered for inclusion on this list: James Orr's The Faith of a Modern Christian (1910) and Howard A. Kelly's A Scientific Man and the Bible (1927), as well as Wilbur M. Smith's Therefore Stand (1945). All of these books did much to undergird the faith of evangelicals. But we've chosen Hamilton's book because it's easy to understand, it covers all the pertinent questions, and it stayed in print for a long period of time through several editions and revisions.
Hamilton begins his preface, "During the author's first year in a state university, he passed through the experience of losing his faith in the Bible, in Jesus Christ, and in a personal God. At the end of the year there seemed little in life worth working for, and the author dropped out of college for four years, drifting aimlessly with the current of life." Then he bumped into a man who convinced him of the reasonableness of faith, inspiring Hamilton to dedicate his life to Christian service. That's what he wanted this book to do for others, to present arguments that would have been convincing to him when he was flourr-dering as a college student.
"Christianity works," says Hamilton, and if you want to see it most clearly, "you must go to mission lands where the contrast between lives touched by Christianity and lives sunk in the depths of heathenism is most evident." The author knew firsthand of that contrast because he was serving as a missionary in Korea when he wrote the book. (After twenty years as a
missionary in Korea, he returned to the United States to be general secretary of Christian education for his Orthodox Presbyterian denomination and then went back again for another tour of missionary service in Korea.)
As he looked at other books dealing with proofs of Christianity; Hamilton found that most of them (1) were too technical,
(2) concentrated too much on issues that weren't vital, and (3) didn't cover ״the whole field from the modern point of view."
So in this book he tries to take nothing for granted. He wants to start from scratch and show that Christianity is reasonable.
He begins by establishing the validity of reason in chapter 1 and then carefully builds on it in chapters on the universe and evidences of the existence of God. He hits hard at evolution in his chapter on the origin of the world and then discusses the s
growth of Christianity and the other world religions. i 51 }
Chapter 8 in the eighteen-chapter book is called ״The Most Remarkable Book in the World." It's about the Bible, of course, and from this point on that's what Hamilton is talking about'
It was important to him to establish the unity, historical trustworthiness, integrity, genuineness, and authenticity of the Bible.
The only way to account for these phenomenal characteristics, he says, is supernatural inspiration. He proceeds to answer the critics' charges against Scripture, concluding with chapters on the resurrection of Christ, the fulfillment of prophecy, and Christian experience.
Throughout this century, many have accused Christians of being backward, unintelligent, duped into believing a bunch of fairy tales. Supposedly we don't care about logic or history or sense or science. But this attack should be shouted down by the sheer number of books, like Hamilton's, that have sought to establish an intellectual basis for our faith. We do care, very deeply, about what makes sense, and (as Hamilton reminds us) trusting Christ makes far more sense than not trusting Christ.