Saturday, January 7, 2012

AB4T- Answer Book For Teens by Bodie Hodge, Tommy Mitchell with Ken Ham

AB4T- Answer Book For Teens: Your Questions God's Answers by Bodie Hodge, Tommy Mitchell with Ken Ham is unique, graphic apologetics book written for teenaged readers.  The appealing modern color graphics, and computer- photoshop styled art is enough to compete with popular teen magazines and draw the attention of teenaged readers.  Yet beneath the modern illustrated appearance is an indepth look at biblical principals and theology written in simplified language for a young reader.

Fifteen common, yet crucial questions about faith and the bible are addressed, ranging in various topics such as evolution, natural disasters, philosophy and morals.  More specifically, satisfying and complete answers are provided for timely scientific questions such as the validity of evolution, the time fram of dinosours, the myths of dragons, as well as the theories of the age of the earth.  Such issues in particular are important to teenagers who take science classes in highschool.  I believe even college aged science students would even benefit from the scientific chapters contained.  The introduction includes a words list defining the concepts discussed in the book.

One issue that I was concerned with was the interpretation of a popular passage in Romans that explains that there are those who have the truth written on their hearts even apart from direct tradition of the judeo- Christian revelation.  This refers to the fact that some who have not been formally taught the truths of good inherently know the truths based on the glory of God's ever present creation.  Yet, this book reinterprets this passage loosely to refer to all unbelievers and athiests as a whole when they accept certain judeo- christian traditions  such as marriage and the concept of wearing clothing. While this is an interesting application of this passage, I don't believe this was Paul's intent when he actually wrote the letter.   Other than this issue of interpretation,. as a whole, the explanations in the book are true to bibloical teaching as intended.

In a culture dominated by sub standard mass media, and magazines which serve to shape the impresssionable minds and morals of teenagers, finanally a publication is made to appeal to this target audience.  In contrast to a bare bones text based book on CS Lewis, Aquinas or Augustine apologetics, this book captures the main themes in a repackaged, modern  format that is easily digested  by young readers.  As a blogger for New Leaf Publishers I recieved this book published by Master Books for the purpose of review. 

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