Essays, Notes, and Sermons

Essays

• The Necessity of Faith - an essay on the centrality of faith to all people, whether atheist, agnostic, or Christian
 
• A Brief Response to The God Delusion - a critique of the central argument of Richard Dawkins' bestselling book The God Deulsion
 
• Quantum mechanics and materialism - how does quantum mechanics relate to a materialistic worldview?
 
• A Somewhat Lengthy Response to The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man - a review and critique of Robert Price's Incredible Shrinking Son of Man.
 
• Resurrection and Worldview - a discussion of the historical evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the influence that our presuppositions will play in assessing it. Word version.
 
• Resurrection and Worldview - FRO (Frequently Raised Objections) - responses to a few common objections to Christian apologetic arguments for the Resurrection. Word version.
 

Notes

• Apologetics Course Notes - course notes for a Sunday School class I co-taught with Jim Hebda, a graduate student in Yale's molecular biology department.
 
• Bible Study Notes on Proverbs - notes for a Bible study that I led on Proverbs.
 

Sermons

• Our problem with God and His solution - 1 John 1:5-2:2 - Who is God? Why is that a problem for us? What is His solution to our problem?
 
• Assurance before God - 1 John 3:19-24 - How can we have assurance before God? What is the source of our assurance?
 
• Lost and Found - Luke 15 - A sermon on Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son. What does it meanto be lost? What does it mean to be found? Note: this sermon owes much (if not all!) of its structure and content to Tim Keller, whose exposition of this parable is treated in the short but excellent work The Prodigal God, which I highly recommend.
 
• Just, Unjust, and Justified - Luke 18:9-14 - The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector. How can a man be accepted by God?
 
• God's Sovereign Salvation - Exodus 4:18-6:1 - Moses' initial encounter with Pharaoh and the odd "bridegroom of blood" incident in Ex. 4:24-26. Does God have a purpose for suffering?
 

If anyone reading these essays has questions about them or about Christianity in general, feel free to e-mail me at Neil.Shenvi -AT- yale.edu. I will do my best to answer them.

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