Apologia has been a trusted name among Christian homeschoolers for a long time and I have personally appreciated their approach to faith and science for several years. With their launch of the I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist set, they do not disappoint. The book and workbook were both co-written by Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek. The book can definitely stand alone, but the companion workbook is definitely worth owning and going through as well. It’s helpful to read through the material for sure, but you own it in a completely different way when you engage with it in the various ways the curriculum outlines.
I’m finding the book itself to be very readable, which is super important to me, not just for my sake, but for the sake of the kids I’m wanting to cover something with. While true that this book covers content that is probably best understood at a rhetorical level of understanding and engagement, I feel like my upper logic stage daughter can grasp the content in this book as well.
I really appreciate the approach at the beginning that bothers to ask the question, “Is Christianity even reliable?” They are quick to let the reader know that they are writing from a worldview that believes that to be the case, but they present their beliefs in a rational and logical manner. Here’s one important segment from the introduction that I found to be helpful, “Outside of the knowledge of our own existence, we deal in the realm of probability. Whatever we’ve concluded about the existence of God, it’s always possible that the opposite conclusion is true. In fact, it is possible that our conclusions in this book are wrong. We don’t think they are because we have good evidence to support them. Indeed, we think our conclusions are true beyond a reasonable doubt. Nevertheless, some faith is required to overcome the possibility that we are wrong.//While some faith is required for our conclusions, it’s often forgotten that faith is also required to believe any worldview, including atheism and pantheism.” And they go on to explain how all of the world religions and (non-religions) require an element of belief and faith in order to hold to them.
Throughout the book they don’t shy away from what the world is like, they do a good job of not assuming a knowledge base is already in place with regard to basic definitions, but at the same time are able to quickly define key concepts without making the reader feel ignorant for not already knowing. In some cases I already knew what they were talking about and was happy to have a quick review and hear how someone else described those things. In other cases, I really didn’t have a good understanding before of what the concept was about and appreciated the knowledge.
The workbook takes a “Book, Look, Took” approach to helping a student with understanding. Each chapter assigns a portion of the book to be read followed by some key terms to define and some deeper level questions to consider. Periodically they take the time to give a brief biography of various scientific leaders of the past and what their view was on religion and/or science. Here’s one well-known example of the page on Charles Darwin:
You can see the entire table of contents as well as download a sample chapter of the book right here. A sample chapter of the workbook is available for your perusal right here. The book retails for $16.00 and the companion workbook is $33.00. I think anyone who wants to be better informed on why they believe what they believe would benefit from this material. It also seems best suited for a high-school level or above student, though my upper junior-high age daughter *can* engage well with this, I think it will be even more meaningful to her in another year or two.
Well done, Apologia! I’m happy to have this in our personal library of resources and am happy to recommend it to others.
Be sure to check out what the rest of the TOS Homeschool Crew had to say about the I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist Curriculum Set right here!
Disclaimer: The product was provided for the purpose of review. No other compensation was received. All thoughts are my own. I keep a proper disclosure statement available here.
{ 0 comments… add one now }