Title: The Shortest Leap: The Rational Underpinnings of Faith in Jesus
Author: A.L. Van Den Herik
Publisher: Wordhouse Book Publishing
ISBN: 978-1973689805
Pages:744
Genre: Christian Books & Bibles / Theology
Synopsis
All worldviews require a leap of faith, but not all leaps of faith are the same. A “one-stop shop” for the rational evidence for Christianity, The Shortest Leap presents the scientific, historical, biblical, and explanatory underpinnings of the Christian faith, demonstrating that faith in Jesus requires the shortest leap.
In addition to providing proactive evidence for Christianity, The Shortest Leap responds to the numerous shots fired at biblical Christianity by atheists, critics of Christianity, and other skeptics.
The Shortest Leap answers a wide range of difficult questions, including:
• Is the Bible consistent with the findings of cutting edge, secular science?
• Was there really a man named Jesus, or is he just a myth?
• And even if he did exist, aren’t the events of Jesus’ life and his teachings as described in the New Testament merely fabrications of the earliest Christians?
• Does the historical evidence support the claim that Jesus rose from the dead?
• To understand who Jesus really was, why shouldn’t we consider other documents outside the Bible, such as the Gnostic gospels?
• Why were some documents excluded from the New Testament?
• Did Jesus really claim to be God, or did the earliest Christians just want to believe that?
• Is the Old Testament still relevant? Does it really point to Jesus hundreds to thousands of years before he lived?
• How does the salvation by grace of Christianity differ from the salvation by works of all other religions?
• Why can’t I just believe in the Jesus that I like the best?
• How can I be sure I have eternal life?
About the Author
A. L. van den Herik graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University with a degree in Biological Sciences in 1990 and also earned an MBA from UC Berkeley in 1995 and was elected to membership in the Gamma Beta Sigma honor society. A former atheist, van den Herik came to faith in Christ in 1998.
The culmination of more than 20 years of research, The Shortest Leap is the book that van den Herik prays today’s atheistic students at Stanford (and elsewhere!) would be willing to read.
Van den Herik resides in San Diego, California.
