Guinness, Os. Fool’s Talk: recovering the art of Christian persuasion. Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2015.
Os Guinness’ Fool’s Talk has many strengths as a modern-day guide for apologists and evangelists. He focuses on the New Testament model of persuasive evangelism and the urgent need of the global church to utilize this model. This in-depth discussion of the art of persuasion is both his biggest strength and his biggest weakness. In regards to the strengths, Guinness does an excellent job of presenting the need for persuasion in Christian advocacy. He reminds the reader that, “almost all our witnessing and Christian communication assumes that people are open to what we have to say, or at least are interested, if not in need …show more content…
Part of this chapter focuses on the non-Christian and their relation to their own presuppositions and the real world. This is described using two poles to describe the unbelieving mind and heart, which are the “dilemma pole” and the “diversion pole”. The former pole “expresses the logic of the fact that the more consistent people are to their own view of reality, the less close they are to God’s reality (p. 96).” The later pole “expresses the fact that the less consistent people are to their own view of reality, the closer they are to God’s reality (p. 96).” These poles are very helpful in explaining how presuppositions relate to the understanding of the unbeliever and their relationship to God. This is very helpful for the believer in being able to determine the specific tension that the unbeliever is struggling through and how they are most likely dealing with this …show more content…
It persuaded me to evaluate the techniques I have been using and the types of people they work for and fall flat with. I personally am still not entirely sure of the implementation of Christian persuasion, but have been intrigued enough by this book to read more on the topic and to become more familiar with what was being described. The biggest issue I had was the lack of information and guidance on how to use Christian persuasion with those that are openly hostile to Christianity. I would have liked to see more examples and explanations on what to expect and how to best handle these
Os Guinness’ Fool’s Talk has many strengths as a modern-day guide for apologists and evangelists. He focuses on the New Testament model of persuasive evangelism and the urgent need of the global church to utilize this model. This in-depth discussion of the art of persuasion is both his biggest strength and his biggest weakness. In regards to the strengths, Guinness does an excellent job of presenting the need for persuasion in Christian advocacy. He reminds the reader that, “almost all our witnessing and Christian communication assumes that people are open to what we have to say, or at least are interested, if not in need …show more content…
Part of this chapter focuses on the non-Christian and their relation to their own presuppositions and the real world. This is described using two poles to describe the unbelieving mind and heart, which are the “dilemma pole” and the “diversion pole”. The former pole “expresses the logic of the fact that the more consistent people are to their own view of reality, the less close they are to God’s reality (p. 96).” The later pole “expresses the fact that the less consistent people are to their own view of reality, the closer they are to God’s reality (p. 96).” These poles are very helpful in explaining how presuppositions relate to the understanding of the unbeliever and their relationship to God. This is very helpful for the believer in being able to determine the specific tension that the unbeliever is struggling through and how they are most likely dealing with this …show more content…
It persuaded me to evaluate the techniques I have been using and the types of people they work for and fall flat with. I personally am still not entirely sure of the implementation of Christian persuasion, but have been intrigued enough by this book to read more on the topic and to become more familiar with what was being described. The biggest issue I had was the lack of information and guidance on how to use Christian persuasion with those that are openly hostile to Christianity. I would have liked to see more examples and explanations on what to expect and how to best handle these