Rating: 
Summary: Thank You!!!
Review: This book is WONDERFUL!!! Greg Boyd, through this book and his teachings have not only brought me to GOD, but also back to my mother. If you disagree with the way that he communicated his beliefs to his father. Thank GOD for giving you freedom of choice. This collection of letters, and the discussion after it, only shows how wonderful our GOD really is!
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Summary: We are amazed at how God has used our book!
Review: If ever there was a person who seemed closed to the Gospel, it was my father, Edward K. Boyd. He was as stubborn as he was intelligent. But several years ago, at the tender age of 73, he surrendered his life over to Jesus Christ. The Lord used a three year "debate"/ correspondence we had with one another through the mail to bring him into a saving relationship with himself. Letter by letter my father would raise objections to the Christian faith. Letter by letter I would attempt to provide a rational answer to his objections. And letter by letter my love for him, together with the working of the Holy Spirit, was chipping away at his heart and mind. Three years into it, his eternal destiny changed. My father and I agreed to share our "debate" with the world in this little work entitled Letters From A Skeptic. We have been completely overwhelmed and humbled by the effect it has had. Hundreds of people (that we know of!) have come to the Lord through this work. It is now being used as an evangelism tool on a number of college campuses in the US and in many outreach efforts in Russia, Sweden, Norway, Germany and France. Almost every week we learn of someone new who has become a believer by means of this work. My father and I cannot express how honored and moved we are that the Lord has used our correspondence in this fashion. (This man, whom I never remember crying growing up, now sheds tears every time we get another report of someone's conversion). For all who have unsaved loved ones our prayer is that the Lord might use this work in their life as well.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Evangelism Tool!
Review: This book has made many (otherwise disinterested) people I know believe, or at least become interested in Jesus Christ. Boyd and his father engage in a provoking discussion about the questions of Christianity, which results in his father's conversion. I see some reviewers taking issue with Boyd's statements on the omnicience of God. Make no mistake. Boyd affirms absolute omnicience along with traditional Christian theology. The question is not whether God knows everything there is to know. The question is whether the future exists, in some part, as possibilities. He does believe that some things are determined. His position is really logically concluded Arminianism. I do not fully agree with Boyd's theology, but the Holy Spirit is no doubt using this book to save souls, so I pray this issue will not compromise that. It is unfortunate that while many are turning to Christ through this book, some Christian allies have turned into enemies through their own pride of doctrine. "Heretic" is not a word to be tossed around lightly!
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Summary: Apologetics 101 for the everyday person!!
Review: Greg Boyd and his father Edward have given us a rich gift in this unique book! _Letters from a Skeptic_ allows a hearing of the most common objections to Christianity, and gives a coherent, thoughtful and sincere defense for the faith. This defense is at its most compelling when Boyd returns again and again to his main point: the basis for Christianity is a RELATIONSHIP with the living God, through his Son, Jesus Christ. Either you believe Jesus is who the Bible says He is, or you don't. Everything else is peripheral. Dogmatic argumentation and rigidity may do well in seminary classes and on paper, but in the real world, the best defense of the faith can only come from a person who is authentically and sincerely committed to Jesus as Lord: one who does not feel the need to "protect" God from threatening questions! Regarding the 'points of contention' for which some condemn Boyd and this book (most notably the "omniscience of God" issue), in the book Boyd himself acknowledges that his thoughts and positions on that question may not be representative of the Church as a whole. I regard this as the merit of a true scholar and devotee: one who is wrestling with questions and issues, and admitting "I've not yet arrived at full understanding!" This work is valuable for Christians, as a basic course in "why I believe what I believe", and as a resource for Christians who wish to share a rationale for the Christian faith with the people around them. Bravo, Boyd!
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Summary: Not Fundamentalist Compliant
Review: This book reflects the gospel in action. If only we all would follow the Spirit's leading in persistently engaging our friends and relatives in this way! It is unfortunate that so many of the reviewers here have chosen to focus in on a controversial but certainly not heretical aspect of Greg's contribution to the Doctrine of God. His position has been thoroughly reviewed and found to be well within the bounds of evangelical orthodoxy by Bethel College and Seminary where Greg is a professor (at the college). This school is well recognized as being strongly evangelical and theire affirmation of Greg should be noted. Hopefully this will ease the minds of those who are concerned about the appropriateness of the content of this very useful tool for furthering the Kingdom. There will always be crazies at both far ends of the spectrum, unfortunately they have surfaced strongly here.
Rating: 
Summary: Title should be: Letters from a Heretic
Review: As others have already noted, this book teaches heresy. I am amazed that so many reviewers of it seem unconcerned about this. Boyd denies the historic doctrine of omniscience in this book. Do these other reviewers not care? They are approving the work of a man who is undeniably a heretic. Does this not matter? I find it remarkable that people who approve this don't realize the conclusions that Boyd's views require. Most notably, a so-called 'god' who is not omniscient (omniscience is absolutely and positively biblical, by the way -- which is how we KNOW that it is true and which is why it is important) is unable to deliver to us absolute, eternal, unchangeable ethical standards. Why? Because there can be no guarantees whatsoever that the moral pronouncements of a finite 'god' (so-called) will remain categorically true. Some new information, or some new set of circumstances, can readily be imagined that invalidate anything this so-called 'god' tells us about right and wrong. This is nothing more than a baptism of modern amorality, no matter how Boyd attempts to dress it up. It is heresy. It is explicitly contrary to the clear and irrefutable teaching of the Bible. It is a sad day when those who fancy themselves Christians will defend these outrages. But God will not be mocked, and the TRUTH will out. As for Mr. Boyd: "To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no light in them."
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Summary: I loved the book and it has very positively affected my life
Review: It is interesting for me, a layperson on these matters, to see how other theologians can so villify Mr. Boyd for his stance on God's real knowledge of each individual's personal choices in their lives. Like any of us really knows for sure! Isn't the important issue really that he imparts an understanding of what it takes to be a Christian and have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? To acknowledge our sins, realize how lost we are, ask for forgiveness and accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour? That central theme and much more is what I got out of Mr. Boyd's book--it was what I had been looking for and I would certainly encourage its reading.
Rating:
Summary: Incredibly Convincing
Review: I have read this book four times and I continue to refer to it often. I also have had the pleasure of having Dr. Boyd as a professor of apologetics, theology, and a Christianity and Western Civ. course. On Sundays, I am blessed with messages from the Holy Spirit exceptionally well delivered by Dr. Boyd. I have attended debates where he has argued the evidence for the historical resurrection of Jesus Christ with the president of the national atheists organization. (Even the atheists present were stunned to silence by his delivery of the Truth.) After hearing his defenses for his positions on many of these issues in a classroom of Christians, agnostics and athiests, I am amazed at the audacity of some of the reviewers to rip Dr. Boyd apart without gaining more insight from the source. After taking his courses, I feel that I understand his position much better. I will attempt to clarify the "foreknowledge" issue to the best of my ability, but I am not the author. (refer to pp.30,31) If God were to know everything that everyone is to do in the future, what free will do we have? Would we not be walking robots if God foreknows every decision we make? I argue that if this is true, why would God even bother to create people who would eventually make bad decisions? Don't you think that the God that sacrificed His Son for us is a loving God? He wouldn't create people that are going to do evil things if He knows beforehand that they will do evil, right? I'll try to clarify. Look at it as though God were a master chessplayer. The best chessplayers can predict the opponents moves 10, 15 sometimes 20 moves in advance of the actual moves, and the Master can predict each of the "sub-moves" after the initial move, etc. This continues on and on like a "choose your own adventure" book. Yet, the master player does not know with certainty which move the opponent will make. He has a good idea, but the opponent always has "free will" to choose the route. I hope this is somewhat helpful. What I know for sure is that this book is a great read and has steered many in the direction of the one, true, and yes omniscient God. For that alone FIVE STARS.
Rating:
Summary: A heretical book that utters many blasphemies.
Review: Boyd hits a new low! After calling the Omnipotent God of historic Christianity a "dead corpse," he now tries to win his father to finite godism.
Rating:
Summary: Easy to read defense of the faith.
Review: Great book to read together with your skeptical associates. The father writes to his son (Greg) severe questions about the love of God, trustworthiness of the Bible, etc. This dad asks all the tough questions! His Christian son answers them and the dad becomes a Christian in the process. Please note that most of the negative reviews herein are the result of a controversy in Minneapolis stirred up by the inflamatory rhetoric of some pastors.
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