I am honored to be a part of the Christian Apologetics Alliance, and one of the biggest honors is the ability to rub shoulders with some pretty well known and influential people. Another blessing is getting to connect with other apologists who are working hard on the ground to make a difference for the Kingdom where they are at. One such apologist whom I have come to greatly respect is Arthur Khachatryan, who serves as the webmaster of this wonderful blog. A few months ago he gave me a copy of his book, Cold and Lonely Truth, and I finally finished it. Needless to say, it was a great read.
The thing about this book that I enjoyed the most was the essay-like format of the chapters. The main sections of the book are divided into brief essays (some you can read in a minute, others in 10 minutes) that follow a logical progression while tackling one specific issue at a time. For seasoned apologists, this is a great reference tool – with the vast number of these essays and the wide range of topics, you will be able to locate specific information very quickly. For beginner apologists, this is a great introduction to apologetics because it won’t overwhelm you – you don’t have to worry about long chapters covering a large amount of information to lose. The format of this book is definitely it’s biggest strength; the content itself is well written, but it’s the way that it is presented that makes the book succeed.
Arthur is a great writer, and throughout the book you will find difficult concepts and ideas broken down in ways that beginner apologists can easily understand and digest. Arthur opens the book with a powerful personal testimony about his path to embracing Christianity. My only disappointment is that the personal angle of the writing disappears once Arthur begins diving into the material – it moves from personal to informational, which isn’t a bad thing, but it would have been nice to see a personal angle intertwined with the informational angle. It’s a minor complaint; as I have said before, Arthur is a great writer, and from an information standpoint, the content of Cold and Lonely Truth is solid. He properly cites his material and uses full quotes from the people he is referencing. The portions of the book that deal with evolution, in my opinion, is one of the strongest segments of the book – it deals with surface level objections to objections at the worldview level, creating a good argument against evolutionary naturalism.
I would highly recommend Cold and Lonely Truth for beginner apologists; this will be a book that I will immediately recommend for Christians who want a thorough but accessible introduction to apologetics, and I would definitely recommend it to any atheist who wants a broad survey of arguments for Christianity, written from the perspective of someone who had to wrestle with the truth claims of Christianity before he came to believe them. For seasoned apologists, this is a great read as well, even if the material and arguments will be familiar – the format of the book makes it a great reference tool for apologists who need a quick refresher on specific issues. Go buy it today!