Outline for a book

  • Thread starter Thread starter Borealis
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
B

Borealis

Guest
I’ve toyed with this idea over the past few years, but a recent online discussion with an atheist and then a fundamentalist (both slagged the Catholic Church mercilessly, of course) has got me thinking about doing a more serious bit of writing. It’s a general apologetics book, with a three-part focus: God, Christ, Church (the working title). Basically it takes the reader through the logical arguments in favor of God (aimed at outright atheists), then a discussion of the divinity of Christ (for the non-Christian believers), and finally a defense of the Catholic Church itself (for the non-Catholics, of course).

I’m still in the early planning stages, so here’s what I have so far as an outline.

PART I: GOD
  1. The universe is logical; chaos is only at the surface
  2. Who wrote the law of gravity?
  3. Evolution: how did it all begin?
  4. Dinosaurs: no evidence of evolution
PART II: CHRIST
  1. Old Testament prophecies
  2. Historical evidence outside of the Bible
  3. Jewish history from Exodus to Maccabees
  4. New Testament parallels
PART III: CHURCH
  1. Pentecost, Acts, Paul
  2. Early Christian Writers
  3. The Bible is compiled…by whom?
  4. The unbroken lineage of the Church
  5. Protestants change everything…Luther to Rapture
  6. Historical heresies and how they have returned
  7. Science and innovation within the Church; no conflict
  8. Social change; what’s coming back? (The fallacy of ‘progressive’ thought)
Comments and suggestions are more than welcome. I’m not a professional apologist, but I have been published as a writer before (newspaper, magazine article). My goal is to write something that is accessible to everyone (especially teenagers and young adults) without being childish or simple.
 
Borealis said:
I’ve toyed with this idea over the past few years, but a recent online discussion with an atheist and then a fundamentalist (both slagged the Catholic Church mercilessly, of course) has got me thinking about doing a more serious bit of writing. It’s a general apologetics book, with a three-part focus: God, Christ, Church (the working title). Basically it takes the reader through the logical arguments in favor of God (aimed at outright atheists), then a discussion of the divinity of Christ (for the non-Christian believers), and finally a defense of the Catholic Church itself (for the non-Catholics, of course).

I’m still in the early planning stages, so here’s what I have so far as an outline.

PART I: GOD
  1. The universe is logical; chaos is only at the surface
  2. Who wrote the law of gravity?
  3. Evolution: how did it all begin?
  4. Dinosaurs: no evidence of evolution
PART II: CHRIST
  1. Old Testament prophecies
  2. Historical evidence outside of the Bible
  3. Jewish history from Exodus to Maccabees
  4. New Testament parallels
PART III: CHURCH
  1. Pentecost, Acts, Paul
  2. Early Christian Writers
  3. The Bible is compiled…by whom?
  4. The unbroken lineage of the Church
  5. Protestants change everything…Luther to Rapture
  6. Historical heresies and how they have returned
  7. Science and innovation within the Church; no conflict
  8. Social change; what’s coming back? (The fallacy of ‘progressive’ thought)
Comments and suggestions are more than welcome. I’m not a professional apologist, but I have been published as a writer before (newspaper, magazine article). My goal is to write something that is accessible to everyone (especially teenagers and young adults) without being childish or simple.
Click to expand...
I’m just passing by, not intending to post regularly, but I’d say for Christ, add in a section regarding His divinity and how He isn’t just a prophet.
 
You’ll need a more apt title to grab the attention of your audience of atheists, non-Christian believers and non-Catholics.
Like, ‘History, God’s Word, and Peter’s Commision’
 
Upgrade25 said:
I’m just passing by, not intending to post regularly, but I’d say for Christ, add in a section regarding His divinity and how He isn’t just a prophet.
Click to expand...
Glad to see you’re still around. Even in a brief way.

Take care buddy. 🙂

-Trident
 
1Lord1Faith said:
You’ll need a more apt title to grab the attention of your audience of atheists, non-Christian believers and non-Catholics.
Like, ‘History, God’s Word, and Peter’s Commision’
Click to expand...
How about: ‘How To Stop Being a G*d Damned Atheist!’ 😉

Sorry if that pointed too sharp a stick at it. But I find atheists like pointy sticks. :rolleyes:
 
The Church is open to the idea of evolution, so if you’re just making a general apologetics book, I might strike that chapter and save it for a more focused work. I think you risk alienating people over a point that the Church has no issue with. Unless I misunderstood the chapter title.
 
As someone who has read more than one book of this type, I would like to ask what you see in this project that will set it apart from the other offerings already out there.
 
My original intent for the book was to answer the questions of young people who have abandoned religion because ‘it doesn’t make sense to me.’ I was one of those; my twenty-year old son is like that now, and my thirteen-year old is getting ready for Confirmation next month but still has questions. So I’m going to aim it at a younger audience, teenagers to early twenties. I don’t know if that’s the most original idea, but as a teacher, it’s one that strikes a chord for me.
 
Borealis said:
My original intent for the book was to answer the questions of young people who have abandoned religion because ‘it doesn’t make sense to me.’ I was one of those; my twenty-year old son is like that now, and my thirteen-year old is getting ready for Confirmation next month but still has questions. So I’m going to aim it at a younger audience, teenagers to early twenties. I don’t know if that’s the most original idea, but as a teacher, it’s one that strikes a chord for me.
Click to expand...
Oh. Ah. In that case? My title idea’s probably not a good one.
 
Actually, I like your title. 🙂 I’ll use that for the adult version of the book. 😃
 
Borealis said:
PART I: GOD
  1. The universe is logical; chaos is only at the surface
  2. Who wrote the law of gravity?
  3. Evolution: how did it all begin?
  4. Dinosaurs: no evidence of evolution
PART II: CHRIST
  1. Old Testament prophecies
  2. Historical evidence outside of the Bible
  3. Jewish history from Exodus to Maccabees
  4. New Testament parallels
PART III: CHURCH
  1. Pentecost, Acts, Paul
  2. Early Christian Writers
  3. The Bible is compiled…by whom?
  4. The unbroken lineage of the Church
  5. Protestants change everything…Luther to Rapture
  6. Historical heresies and how they have returned
  7. Science and innovation within the Church; no conflict
  8. Social change; what’s coming back? (The fallacy of ‘progressive’ thought)
Click to expand...
Do you mean for this to progress from a belief in God to a belief in Christ to a belief in the Church? If so, you have a few “missing links” in your chain.

For one thing, accepting that God exists doesn’t necessarily lead to accepting scripture as His word. You would have to fill in that gap. Also, I’m surprised the section about God is so short–I would think you would want to use a lot more arguments. I suggest getting a copy of Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Peter Kreeft and Ronald K. Tacelli.

Good luck with your project! 🙂
 
Kay_Cee said:
Do you mean for this to progress from a belief in God to a belief in Christ to a belief in the Church? If so, you have a few “missing links” in your chain.

For one thing, accepting that God exists doesn’t necessarily lead to accepting scripture as His word. You would have to fill in that gap. Also, I’m surprised the section about God is so short–I would think you would want to use a lot more arguments. I suggest getting a copy of Handbook of Christian Apologetics by Peter Kreeft and Ronald K. Tacelli.

Good luck with your project! 🙂
Click to expand...
I’m not sure how big of a section I want to make it; I could write ten volumes on proofs of God if I wanted to. I want to keep it readable for the target audience, so overwhelming them with a couple of hundred pages of proof might not be the best approach. But I will look at how to incorporate scripture as God’s word in the book.
 
Borealis said:
I’ve toyed with this idea over the past few years, but a recent online discussion with an atheist and then a fundamentalist (both slagged the Catholic Church mercilessly, of course) has got me thinking about doing a more serious bit of writing. It’s a general apologetics book, with a three-part focus: God, Christ, Church (the working title). Basically it takes the reader through the logical arguments in favor of God (aimed at outright atheists), then a discussion of the divinity of Christ (for the non-Christian believers), and finally a defense of the Catholic Church itself (for the non-Catholics, of course).

I’m still in the early planning stages, so here’s what I have so far as an outline.

PART I: GOD
  1. The universe is logical; chaos is only at the surface
  2. Who wrote the law of gravity?
  3. Evolution: how did it all begin?
  4. Dinosaurs: no evidence of evolution
Click to expand...
What do you mean by #4? I would be careful and not to move backwards on the evolution issue. Maybe I’m just misunderstanding your view, but it seems like you are suggesting there is no evidence for evolution, or that somehow dinosaurs aren’t evidence of evolution. The trend of those in the church is that evolution in itself is completely compatible. Maybe stick to something more controversial like Adam and Eve and how their existence can be reconciled with what we know of how evolution works.
 
Wesrock said:
The Church is open to the idea of evolution, so if you’re just making a general apologetics book, I might strike that chapter and save it for a more focused work. I think you risk alienating people over a point that the Church has no issue with. Unless I misunderstood the chapter title.
Click to expand...
If that is indeed his view, then I agree 100%
 
catholic1seeks said:
What do you mean by #4? I would be careful and not to move backwards on the evolution issue. Maybe I’m just misunderstanding your view, but it seems like you are suggesting there is no evidence for evolution, or that somehow dinosaurs aren’t evidence of evolution. The trend of those in the church is that evolution in itself is completely compatible. Maybe stick to something more controversial like Adam and Eve and how their existence can be reconciled with what we know of how evolution works.
Click to expand...
What I mean is that there is no actual evidence that evolution is how we got from dinosaurs to here; Darwin’s first and most vocal opposition were not religious leaders, but paleontologists. They have never found any evidence to support the idea that there are gradual changes in life that evolve into higher beings. What they found was definite strata of life cycles; this age of dinosaurs, then a sudden break; another age of dinosaurs, another break. It’s actually solid proof of a Creationist view (old Earth, not new Earth).
 
I have been trying to write books for some time but what I’m probably going to do is use all the Apologetics works I’ve already done and just put them all together so I’m going to talk about heaven hell atheism last things the Eucharist the Blessed Virgin Mary but I want it to be a progression I don’t want it to start off with like right away the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ well I know that but someone has to accept other things before they will accept that. With regards to Evolution it is not a dogma of the church that you have to believe it, but I disagree that there is no evidence for it. What I will agree on is that the evidence is inconclusive. My mother’s background is in biology so this is something that we talk about time to time I am not very good at biology but I’ve always had an interest in evolution.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top