Book Review: Narrative Apologetics by Alister E McGrath

Everyone loves a good story. Kids want to be told a story before bed. Adults want to read fiction books to escape the real world. Many want to see movies to be entertained and enjoy a good story. Some stories are told from the point of view of someone very close to the people in the tale being told. Other stories are told from someone on the outside who collected the information from people close to those involved.

Most stories have one common character in it. Without this character, there would be no story. That character is the narrator. The narrator tells the story whether he/she is in it or not. You could say that most stories are narrative, which is a spoken or written account of events that took place. Alister McGrath believes we can use this approach in defending and explaining the Christian faith, which he discusses in his book, Narrative Apologetics.

Basically, what McGrath is suggesting in the book is that we can affirm, defend, and explain the Christian faith by using stories. Jesus used parables to communicate a divine truth in during His public ministry so we can do the same as we communicate the Christian faith. McGrath wrote he is trying to take away any other method in apologetics, but he wants to stress the importance of telling the story of the Bible. He gives the foundation for narrative apologetics and even what one must do in using it.

I have to be honest, I am not a fan of this book. I know where McGrath is coming from. There were not a whole lot of Biblical references in this book. It could be that is approach in defending the Christian faith is not for me personally.

Thanks Baker Books for letting me review this book.