April 3 2000

ARTICLE TOOLS

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A Refutation of Moral Relativism: Interviews with an Absolutist
Peter Kreeft
Ignatius, 177 pages, $12.95, paper

This is Kreeft's latest foray into philosophical apologetics (e.g., Heaven: The Heart's Deepest Longing, Back to Virtue), and like some of his others, it is cast as an imaginary dialogue. Journalist Libby Rawls, "a classy, Black feminist" (= relativist), interviews 'Isa Ben Adam, a 41-year-old Palestinian and professor of philosophy (= absolutist). Kreeft, a Catholic and professor of philosophy at Boston College, wastes some pages trying to be cute or funny, but enough substance (and entertainment value) remains to comprehend afresh the Christian case for moral absolutes.

Faith on Trial: An Attorney Analyzes the Evidence for the Death and Resurrection of Jesus
Pamela Binnings Ewen
Broadman & Holman, 210 pages, $12.99, paper

Ewen is a partner in the Baker and Botts law firm, where she specializes in corporate finance. Here Ewen tries her hand at the distinctive genre of rationally disinterested examinations of Jesus' resurrection. Perhaps the genre's most influential example is Frank Morrison's 1930 classic, Who Moved the Stone? Devoting chapters to topics like "Admissibility and Authentication of the Evidence" and "The Legal Nature of Testimony," she assesses the case for the resurrection.

Such an exercise can be salutary, and convincing for some. But when the stakes of a trial are high (e.g., when the fate of a celebrity—or one's spiritual commitment—hangs in the balance), juries have been known to ignore what seems to be overwhelming evidence.

On Giants' Shoulders: Studies in Christian Apologetics
Edgar Powell
Day One, 262 pages, £8.99, paper

Powell, curriculum director of computing in a Further Education college (part ...