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Why Good Arguments Often Fail: Making a More Persuasive Case for Christ
You gave it your best shot. You made the best case you knew how, and your friend still wasn't persuaded to follow Christ. Why is it that solid, rational arguments for the Christian faith often fail? For over fifty years James Sire, noted author and public defender of the Christian faith, has asked himself that question. Sometimes, of course, the arguments themselves just aren't that good. How can we make them better? Sometimes the problem has to do with us and not the arguments. Our arrogance, aggressiveness or cleverness gets in the way, or we misread our audience. Sometimes the problem lies with the hearers. Their worldview or moral blindness keeps them from hearing and understanding the truth. With wisdom borne of both formal and informal experience, Sire grapples with these issues and offers practical insight into making a more persuasive case for Christ. Includes an annotated bibliography of resources for framing effective arguments.
206 pages, Paperback
First published February 22, 2006
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177 people want to read
About the author
James W. Sire
37 books72 followersJames W. Sire was a Christian author, speaker, and former editor for InterVarsity Press.
Sire was an officer in the Army, a college professor of English literature, philosophy and theology, the chief editor of InterVarsity Press, a lecturer at over two hundred universities around the world and the author of twenty books on literature, philosophy and the Christian faith. His book The Universe Next Door, published in 1976 has sold over 350,000 copies. He held a B.A. in chemistry and English from the University of Nebraska, an M.A. in English from Washington State and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Missouri.
Sire was an officer in the Army, a college professor of English literature, philosophy and theology, the chief editor of InterVarsity Press, a lecturer at over two hundred universities around the world and the author of twenty books on literature, philosophy and the Christian faith. His book The Universe Next Door, published in 1976 has sold over 350,000 copies. He held a B.A. in chemistry and English from the University of Nebraska, an M.A. in English from Washington State and a Ph.D. in English from the University of Missouri.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
June 3, 2024
PROPOSALS FOR “MORE EFFECTIVE WAYS” OF PRESENTING ARGUMENTS FOR CHRISTIANITY
Author James W. Sire wrote in the Preface to this 2006 book, “For years I have been arguing about the Christian faith privately with myself and publicly with others. And for the same number of years, I have experienced very slow going… [My arguments] have rarely sparked the response I have really wanted---vast masses of friends and enemies flocking to Jesus to repent and say, ‘My Lord and My God!’ Why is this?... I now think I have enough to say on this subject to constitute a small book for people who wish to defend their Christian faith. The goal of the book is not only to help Christians deal with the seeming failure of their arguments but to help them construct more effective ways of presenting those arguments.”
He opens the first chapter with the statement, “This is a book about the way Christians can most effectively present a case for Christ. In short, it deals with the art of persuasion, the art of making the most credible witness to the truth of the Christian faith. It is not so much a book filled with good arguments as one that examines the pitfalls facing Christians who wish not merely to assert the truth of the Christian faith but to do so with the greatest likelihood of success. I say ‘likelihood’ because there are no surefire, knock-down arguments for anything anyone believes, even one who claims to believe nothing at all.” (Pg. 15)
He acknowledges, “I must admit that I rarely bring up the topic of hell with I present a case for Christian faith… Nor do I recommend that others stress the subject. This always seems to me too much like trying to scare people into heaven rather than drawing them there by emphasizing the love of God expressed in the agonizing sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross. Better to woo people to Christ through love, encouraging them to live for Christ as a citizen of the kingdom of God, than to frighten them into considering the Christian faith as a fire escape.” (Pg. 58)
He explains, “In presentations of the case for Christ, good rational arguments often do not persuade. I mean by ‘a good argument’ one that starts from true premises and/or facts, makes no logical mistakes (fallacies), marshals a great body of evidence, answers objections, clarifies the issues and draws valid (therefore true) conclusions… When such rational arguments are made in the field of Christianity, they are often not just ignored but rejected. Why is this? Aristotle [warned]… ‘Every failure of Truth to persuade reflects the weakness of its advocates.’ This is a humbling reminder … Of course, we are limited in our ability… In short, we should not only learn the best arguments for the faith; we should also learn how to present these in the most persuasive way. Reason alone is not enough. It must combine with rhetoric.” (Pg. 73-74)
He outlines, “some Christians are ‘biblical creationists,’ who read the Bible as if it contained scientific information and concluded that God created the earth in seven days of twenty-four hours each only a few thousand years ago. Some Christians are ‘theistic evolutionists,’ who believe that God created the universe billions of years ago largely in the way accounted for by astrophysics and modern biology but by God’s design and intention, not by mere chance and necessity. A newer breed of Christians are advocates of ‘design science.’ They are content to point out the fatal flaws in evolutionary theory and propose, rather modestly, that the existence of design in the universe… is a better explanation of the same set of physical facts that evolutionary theory uses to justify its claim to truth… Finally, there are those like myself, just plain Christian theists who believe the universe was created by God but are not committed to a specific version of how it came to be in its current form.” (Pg. 100-101)
He continues, “As contenders for the Christian faith, we need to be clear about why we are addressing evolution at all. The universe has undergone modification since its beginning. That’s a fact. Most Christians can agree to that. The issue is how this modification came about: was it with or without the engagement of God? Naturalism, not evolution, is the enemy… Christians like myself can appeal to the [Michael] Behes, the [William] Dembskis and the [Philip] Johnsons rather than trying to deal in depth with the issues. We should want people to believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior far more than we want them to doubt Darwinian evolution. In fact, some form of theistic evolution is still the dominant position of Christians who are scientists.” (Pg. 104-105)
He admits, “When we turn from science in general to evolution in particular there is one issue on which I do have a specific view---the nature of the Genesis account of origins. Henri Blocher’s ‘In the Beginning’ has convinced me that the first chapters of Genesis do no address the issue of creation from the standpoint of science but rather embody in a literary form the theological notion of creatio ex nihilo by a personal God… On the one hand, this frees the Genesis account from any charge of bad science. On the other hand, it means that no modern scientific cosmogony will find much in Genesis of any direct ‘scientific’ use. Genesis is simply not addressing scientific matters. Of course, it does address metaphysical issues, and these interface with science on a fundamental level.” (Pg. 175)
This book will be of keen interest to those seriously studying Christian Apologetics.
Author James W. Sire wrote in the Preface to this 2006 book, “For years I have been arguing about the Christian faith privately with myself and publicly with others. And for the same number of years, I have experienced very slow going… [My arguments] have rarely sparked the response I have really wanted---vast masses of friends and enemies flocking to Jesus to repent and say, ‘My Lord and My God!’ Why is this?... I now think I have enough to say on this subject to constitute a small book for people who wish to defend their Christian faith. The goal of the book is not only to help Christians deal with the seeming failure of their arguments but to help them construct more effective ways of presenting those arguments.”
He opens the first chapter with the statement, “This is a book about the way Christians can most effectively present a case for Christ. In short, it deals with the art of persuasion, the art of making the most credible witness to the truth of the Christian faith. It is not so much a book filled with good arguments as one that examines the pitfalls facing Christians who wish not merely to assert the truth of the Christian faith but to do so with the greatest likelihood of success. I say ‘likelihood’ because there are no surefire, knock-down arguments for anything anyone believes, even one who claims to believe nothing at all.” (Pg. 15)
He acknowledges, “I must admit that I rarely bring up the topic of hell with I present a case for Christian faith… Nor do I recommend that others stress the subject. This always seems to me too much like trying to scare people into heaven rather than drawing them there by emphasizing the love of God expressed in the agonizing sacrifice that Jesus made for us on the cross. Better to woo people to Christ through love, encouraging them to live for Christ as a citizen of the kingdom of God, than to frighten them into considering the Christian faith as a fire escape.” (Pg. 58)
He explains, “In presentations of the case for Christ, good rational arguments often do not persuade. I mean by ‘a good argument’ one that starts from true premises and/or facts, makes no logical mistakes (fallacies), marshals a great body of evidence, answers objections, clarifies the issues and draws valid (therefore true) conclusions… When such rational arguments are made in the field of Christianity, they are often not just ignored but rejected. Why is this? Aristotle [warned]… ‘Every failure of Truth to persuade reflects the weakness of its advocates.’ This is a humbling reminder … Of course, we are limited in our ability… In short, we should not only learn the best arguments for the faith; we should also learn how to present these in the most persuasive way. Reason alone is not enough. It must combine with rhetoric.” (Pg. 73-74)
He outlines, “some Christians are ‘biblical creationists,’ who read the Bible as if it contained scientific information and concluded that God created the earth in seven days of twenty-four hours each only a few thousand years ago. Some Christians are ‘theistic evolutionists,’ who believe that God created the universe billions of years ago largely in the way accounted for by astrophysics and modern biology but by God’s design and intention, not by mere chance and necessity. A newer breed of Christians are advocates of ‘design science.’ They are content to point out the fatal flaws in evolutionary theory and propose, rather modestly, that the existence of design in the universe… is a better explanation of the same set of physical facts that evolutionary theory uses to justify its claim to truth… Finally, there are those like myself, just plain Christian theists who believe the universe was created by God but are not committed to a specific version of how it came to be in its current form.” (Pg. 100-101)
He continues, “As contenders for the Christian faith, we need to be clear about why we are addressing evolution at all. The universe has undergone modification since its beginning. That’s a fact. Most Christians can agree to that. The issue is how this modification came about: was it with or without the engagement of God? Naturalism, not evolution, is the enemy… Christians like myself can appeal to the [Michael] Behes, the [William] Dembskis and the [Philip] Johnsons rather than trying to deal in depth with the issues. We should want people to believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior far more than we want them to doubt Darwinian evolution. In fact, some form of theistic evolution is still the dominant position of Christians who are scientists.” (Pg. 104-105)
He admits, “When we turn from science in general to evolution in particular there is one issue on which I do have a specific view---the nature of the Genesis account of origins. Henri Blocher’s ‘In the Beginning’ has convinced me that the first chapters of Genesis do no address the issue of creation from the standpoint of science but rather embody in a literary form the theological notion of creatio ex nihilo by a personal God… On the one hand, this frees the Genesis account from any charge of bad science. On the other hand, it means that no modern scientific cosmogony will find much in Genesis of any direct ‘scientific’ use. Genesis is simply not addressing scientific matters. Of course, it does address metaphysical issues, and these interface with science on a fundamental level.” (Pg. 175)
This book will be of keen interest to those seriously studying Christian Apologetics.
August 29, 2017
Enjoyed Shulman's story, Sire's chapter on arrogance & his summary of logical fallacies - but it seems his main purpose is to call for better rational arguments, which I think is less than half the answer. His approach to postmoderns is to show them that rationalism is useful & then revert to traditional modernist arguments. But our apologetics must be much more! (Cf. Fools' Talk, Os Guinness).
March 20, 2019
Excelente livro! Sairá ainda este ano pela Cultura Cristã.
January 4, 2022
Highlight of the book was his breakdown of Paul’s speech in Acts 17. Otherwise, fairly interesting but very specific to intellectual arguments in university settings.
March 2, 2016
An honest and compelling look at why Christians, who believe that Jesus is the Truth, so often fail to convince their neighbors. After all, if the message of Christ were unmistakably true, why do so many remain unpersuaded?
Sire patiently walks the reader through various approaches of presenting the Christian message and shows that some fail because they're bad arguments, while others fail because they're mismatched to the audience. Ultimately, Sire demonstrates that even the best argument for truth will fail if the hearer is opposed to receiving it, and consistent with the Christian faith, he agrees that God must change hearts if arguments are to succeed. Ironically, when that happens, good arguments are scarcely needed.
I found the first section satisfying because Sire explodes many of the arguments used against Christianity by showing how utterly irrational they are. BUT he then turns the tables on his fellow Christians and shows how we often commit the same logical fallacies. Unfortunately, in an irrational age, the very notion of "logical fallacy" seems to be foreign. Nevertheless, in a purportedly "rational" discussion, we should honor our neighbor by giving our best, not our most rhetorically pungent. Humility and graciousness too are virtues commended.
I'd recommend this book to anyone struggling to present the Gospel to his or her neighbors simply because we need to be prepared with good arguments and the grace to understand why they may not "seal the deal" like the celebrity pastor's tweet suggests they will.
Sire patiently walks the reader through various approaches of presenting the Christian message and shows that some fail because they're bad arguments, while others fail because they're mismatched to the audience. Ultimately, Sire demonstrates that even the best argument for truth will fail if the hearer is opposed to receiving it, and consistent with the Christian faith, he agrees that God must change hearts if arguments are to succeed. Ironically, when that happens, good arguments are scarcely needed.
I found the first section satisfying because Sire explodes many of the arguments used against Christianity by showing how utterly irrational they are. BUT he then turns the tables on his fellow Christians and shows how we often commit the same logical fallacies. Unfortunately, in an irrational age, the very notion of "logical fallacy" seems to be foreign. Nevertheless, in a purportedly "rational" discussion, we should honor our neighbor by giving our best, not our most rhetorically pungent. Humility and graciousness too are virtues commended.
I'd recommend this book to anyone struggling to present the Gospel to his or her neighbors simply because we need to be prepared with good arguments and the grace to understand why they may not "seal the deal" like the celebrity pastor's tweet suggests they will.
January 12, 2013
The introduction (or is it the first chapter) is worthwhile. It presents the essay "Love is a Fallacy" which covers numerous fallacy types in the character of Dobie Gillis. The rest of the book assumes that the only task of the Christian is to figure out ways of presenting persuasive arguments that Christianity is true. I don't buy into this presentation type for Christianity, it assumes that religious truth can be rationally proved. To me, Christianity is a way of life lived as a new creation in the Spirit of God and from this life I invite others to this new life in Jesus Christ. There may be rational topics to discuss but it is the reality of the new life compared to the death of a selfish life that brings others into a trusting faith in Jesus.
If you want to learn about horrid argument fallacies, then read the Dobie Gillis romance essay:
http://www1.asknlearn.com/ri_Ilearnin...
I recommend it!
If you want to learn about horrid argument fallacies, then read the Dobie Gillis romance essay:
http://www1.asknlearn.com/ri_Ilearnin...
I recommend it!
November 12, 2007
Easy, accessible, succinct in carrying out its function of enabling every Christian to keep honing their skill of rhetoric when faced with the sword of opposing philosophical thoughts.
Very useful anecdotes on FAILED evangelisms over his own experiences, James Sire spends a whole lot of his time focusing on the HUMILITY of trying to persuade people to believe in Christ, and leaving much of the work to the Spirit. A lot of technical terminology, a lot of logic work, and what i LOVE the most about this book is the appendix of READING LIST for each particular subject (post-modern relativism, theistic/atheistic evolution, sovereignty of God vs. suffering in the world, etc...).
Very useful anecdotes on FAILED evangelisms over his own experiences, James Sire spends a whole lot of his time focusing on the HUMILITY of trying to persuade people to believe in Christ, and leaving much of the work to the Spirit. A lot of technical terminology, a lot of logic work, and what i LOVE the most about this book is the appendix of READING LIST for each particular subject (post-modern relativism, theistic/atheistic evolution, sovereignty of God vs. suffering in the world, etc...).
February 20, 2013
Book composes of two parts, both quite valuable: in first author represents host of logical fallacies, accompanied by thoughts about how do these fallacies influence our communication about Christianity.
In the second part author lists numerous areas a christian apologet should know and lists extensive amount of literature in each with short recommendations.
Books is quite light-weight, easy to read and generally very useful. I borrowed the copy I read but will try to buy the book, as it is just a very useful thing to have in one's shelf.
In the second part author lists numerous areas a christian apologet should know and lists extensive amount of literature in each with short recommendations.
Books is quite light-weight, easy to read and generally very useful. I borrowed the copy I read but will try to buy the book, as it is just a very useful thing to have in one's shelf.
May 31, 2011
For someone wanting to step into the world of apologetic (giving speeches I thought this book had it all. It not only shows you what to do, what to watch out for and what not to do, it also has a great list of books for further reading in 10 different areas, I hope to buy this book so that i can read it over again and take notes.
October 8, 2012
I really liked this book. It's fairly short and easy to read. It's a good introduction to apologetics, showing the need but also the limitations of this discipline. Sire also includes, of all things, a Dobie Gillis story to show that human beings are ultimately lead more by their desires than their intellects. Has some good book recommendations about various apologetics topics.
December 22, 2016
This book is a great read for Christians to understand the reasons behind a few common failures of preaching gospel. A book of techniques and tactics that helps seeing the blind spots of arguing. It does what title says, but reads have to be aware that the fixes suggested are not all strong or sounded.
November 1, 2014
Provides sufficient definitions of fallacies. I was disappointed with the author's passive stance when it came to science and faith. The most beneficial aspect of the book was the final chapter, which lists recommended books on varied topics pertaining to Christian apologetics.
November 24, 2014
Sire is a wonderful author. He writes deep things in such a way that you can understand and still be left with much to think about. Great structure in this book and great work of why and how to do apologetics.
September 20, 2012
Thoughtful, helpful and biblical.
October 15, 2015
Important message for ppl attempting apologetics, there are no sure fire knock down arguments that will "win" people over. Not Sire's best book, but worth reading.
April 30, 2016
Good introduction to apologetics and various argumentative strategies and topics. Wanders a bit at time in its focus but overall a solid introduction.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews