Jesus Among Secular Gods: The Countercultural Claims of Christ Hardcover – January 3, 2017

With reason and heart driving the book, Ravi Zacharias and Vince Vitale lay out the major and influential "partial" truths our culture has been enculturated with, yet ultimately found lacking: Atheism, Scientism, Pluralism, Humanism, Relativism and Hedonism.Clearly written and imbued with poignant illustrations, heartfelt stories and rational support from the world’s leading Christian (and non-Christian) thinkers, this is a much-needed anchor and stake in this post-truth, post-Christian era.God’s truth stands: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matthew 24:35). This is a beautiful, inspiring and thought-provoking book armed with truth and love— it seeks to show that ultimate meaning and purpose point to a God who loves us and seeks for us to know the Truth, which is God Himself.

The book was thought provoking and well written. The authors did a great job comparing Christianity with other world views. This is a book that makes you think and it is an interesting read with good stories which are weaved into the arguments the authors are making. The authors did a great job showing the weakness of the secular worldview which is manifested in atheist, relativism, humanism, hedonism, scientism and others. This is being contrasted with Christianity in a way that makes one appreciate the coherence of the Christian worldview and how Jesus Christ fills the vacuum that secularism leaves.The authors are not only great scholars with immense knowledge within philosophy, worldview's and other topics, but are also frequently meeting real people who hold different positions which the book describes. This makes this book personal, real, and scholarly. I enjoyed reading this book a lot and would recommend anyone to get it.

This is one apologetics book I could not put down, and will re-read. The culture of my neighborhood is probably the most hedonistic, and seems to be getting more selfish than ever. Everything from drug and alcohol abuse is on the rise. Yet we are very well off in regard to material possessions. It is a moral disaster. It seems is if for the most part the general culture of the U.S. is degrading it self in to a maze of self deception, and a form of insanity. More and more, desire after desire most men and women in this culture no longer know who they are. Gender identity is now a major issue according to the media and government. If you don't know what your meant to be you, y0ur living in a pool of self deception. Christ brings the real man or woman back to sanity. I really don't know how to reach a people who seem to want to be lost in this self made maze of despair. I pray that people will read this book, and recover the identity they have lost.

Ravi is definitely an intellectual apologist of serious magnitude. I had to read several paragraphs a couple of times to digest them - even had to pull out a dictionary a fee times. :) But it was well worth the effort! Ravi strips away the rainbow hued varnish that disguises today's secular movements to reveal the dangerous and inherently flawed logic of those beating the drums for the masses. He helps educate his readers with much needed critical thinking skills for these crazy times. Then there were Vince's chapters that were much easier reading and provided wonderful examples of the science and math based communities looking into their own lacking logic; I esp. appreciated the massively extended digit set of probabilities around our perfect little world functioning as amazingly predictable as it does. I've already leant it to family and bought copies for friends. Meaningful discussion material!

This is a scholarly book, but it is based on a non-provable assumption that God is supernatural. I believe in God, I am a sinner, I have accepted Jesus as my savior, and I understand biblical inspiration. Christianity is in decline today because authors like these guys present God as a child would understand a mythical Santa Claus. Quantum mechanics provides a space for God that is not possible with Newtonian mechanics. The authors confuse the materialism of Newtonian mechanics as science. Instead of the supernatural that metaphorically lies outside the universe, process theology of Alfred North Whitehead and Charles Hartshorne explain that the universe is in God. I understand God as a process that animates the universe. People have God experiences called mystical experiences that can be observed as brain activity with fMRI scans. The events in the Bible of God experiences can be explained scientifically this way. A better book to read is by David Ray Griffin entitled God Exists but Gawd Does Not. My intent is to not trash this book, but the arguments presented are based on a wrong assumption about what is God. Reading a book like this seventeen years ago when I was experiencing a faith crisis would not have been helpful.

In somewhat of a sequel to Ravi Zacharias' previous book "Jesus Among Other Gods", this new volume deals with belief systems that generally go unrecognised as such because they are based on the denial of the supernatural. Yet, as the authors show, this does not mean they are any less 'beliefs' than the religious traditions they reject, but in fact they make claims about ultimate reality and values that need an underpinning if they are to have any meaning. The book therefore compares these world views, their claims, coherence and supporting evidence against the Christian worldview. The authors' claim is simple: the Christian worldview offers the most intellectually coherent and existentially satisfying explanation of life available. Each chapter takes a particular current secular philosophy of life and compares its explanatory power, satisfaction of the observable evidence, and liveability against the claims of Biblical Christianity. The book is aimed both at skeptics wishing to see what intellectual credibility there is to faith in Christ and also to Christians seeking to deepen their understanding of how their beliefs relate to the currents of modern thinking. The authors, Dr. Zacharias being a world-renowned lecturer and writer and Dr. Vitale being a member of the Oxford University philosophy faculty, are experts in their field and manage to deal with heavy subject matter with clarity and readability. Having studied and read substantially in this area I am confident in recommending this to all those interested in gaining a better understanding of the answers to the most important questions of life.

Ravi and Vince succinctly argue how six of the major “isms” of our time – Atheism, scientism, pluralism, humanism, relativism and hedonism – have fundamental pitfalls. That each of these “isms” takes a partial truth and tries to turn it into universal truth. This book helps the reader to understand how these belief systems often fail to deliver what they promise. Dealing with the idea of truth and the questions of origin, meaning, morality and destiny, Ravi and Vince propose that Jesus’ teachings on these subjects provide the most solid foundation for hope and meaning in life. The book is structured such that, each chapter can be read independently apart from the first and last that respectively sets the scene and pulls them together.I have enjoyed reading this book. It has informed and challenged me. I have been informed by the clear presentation of these belief systems and have been challenged by the idea that disagreeing with someone can be a way of actually valuing them. I had never thought of this before. It made me reflect on how and why I express disagreement with people; if I honestly do it out of love and as an act of valuing them or out of my own desire to be right, driven by my sinful ego.In our modern “Post-truth” society, the timing of this book could not be better.

Ravi and Vince complement each other creating a well balanced review of contemporary Western culture and it's need for Christ.The authors provide solid information for the believer arming them for the battle that rages.It's very encouraging to see such a solid defence of the Christian worldviewHighly recommended for anyone who wants a clearer picture of how the Christian worldview answers contemporary society

This was my first read of the tag-team of Ravi Zacharias and Vince Vitale (See also their  Why Suffering?: Finding Meaning and Comfort When Life Doesn't Make Sense , and I found that they make an excellent partnership. Ravi brings extensive experience engaging difficult questions directed at the Christian faith, and has done so on a global scale - spanning East and West. You can taste the tang that his experience brings to the table, and can only respect the attendant credibility that his experience brings. Vince brings a wonderful down-to-earth philosophical rigor, and compelling personal experience in his own right, which complement Ravi's broader approach. In this volume the authors address a number of the 'isms' which together feed into a secular impetus within the Western public square which, either implicitly or explicitly, seeks to undermine Christian faith and push it to the periphery of collective discussion on the big questions of human existence and meaning. Together Ravi and Vince tackle these 'isms' head on, with engaging chapters on Atheism, Scientism, Pluralism, Humanism, Relativism, and Hedonism. Also, Ravi opens with an introductory chapter which sets up the book and outlines its aims in relation to contemporary issues and discourse, and Vince closes the book with a provocative chapter on Truth, which along the way tackles the issue of tolerance. Personally, I found Ravi's chapter on Humanism and Vince's chapters on Scientism, Pluralism, and Love of the Truth to be exceptionally helpful. Highly recommended. Why Suffering?: Finding Meaning and Comfort When Life Doesn't Make Sense

Secular thinking is so flawed. This book is one of many that continues to challenge the reasoning of atheistic thinking. Unfortunately, it is the secularist who control most of the media and it is very difficult to get these ideas into the mainstream BUT it is still important to keep challenging. Excellent book- highly recommended for those with an open mind.