Thursday, February 17, 2011

Free eBooks

I'm building a comprehensive list of web sights that have great books available for free online and/or for download, from Alvin Plantinga to Zwingli. Topics of interest include, Christianity, philosophy, history, theology, revival, classics, Christian apologetics, etc. Apologetics simply means to give an answer or reason for one's belief. Take advantage of some fantastic resources, free for the taking! 

Last updated: 10-02-2013

 

Check out my recent article on how to convert texts to audio


Some Very Large Libraries:

Christian Classics Ethernet Library is probably the largest Christian library on the internet.
 
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/ Includes the New Testament, Church Fathers, Apocrypha, Gnostics, etc.

http://fam-faerch.dk/pseudigrapher/ Includes a large assortment of extra-Biblical writings, such as the 1st Apology of Justin Martyr and the Book of Enoch.

http://www.spurgeon.org/~phil/fathers.htm also has numerous ebooks on church history including the early church leaders themselves.

http://www.fullbooks.com/

http://www.audiobooksforfree.com/home

http://www.commentary.net/freebooks/sidefrm1.htm A library of authors which includes: Bahnsen Calvin Chamberlain Chilton DeMar Gentry Grant Hodge Jordan Leithart North Singer Sutton Thoburn Wilson. While the primary material is related to Christian Reconstructionism (which I do not personally subscribe to), it does include some good resources that range in topics from abortion to secular humanism, as well as offering some Bible commentaries.

Google Books offers many books and previews of books. Douglas R. Groothuis' new book Truth Decay: Defending Christianity Against the Challenges of Postmodernism, for example, offers the first three chapters for free.

Scribd has a lot of ebooks and articles.

The Internet Archive is another valueable resource.

Classic Works of Apologetics has an online library of Christian apologetics literature both past and present.

Dr. Tim McGrew has launched a work that is making some of the most important historical contributions to apologetics of yesteryear available online at the Library of Historical Apologetics. Selected works included:

Short Works

William Adams An Essay on Mr. Hume’s Essay on Miracles (1752; 3rd ed., retitled, 1767) [A] [CA]
George Campbell A Dissertation on Miracles (1762; 1839) [G] [A]
Thomas Cooper The Bridge of History over the Gulf of Time (3rd ed, 1871) [G]
Charles Leslie Short and Easy Method with the Deists (1697; 1815) [G] [A] [CA]
Thomas Sherlock Trial of the Witnesses of the Resurrection (1729) [G] [A] [CA]
Richard Watson An Apology for Christianity (1776) [G] [CA]
Richard Watson An Apology for the Bible (New York: American Tract Society, 1880) [G]
Richard Whately Historic Doubts Relative to Napoleon Buonaparte (1819; 11th ed 1874) [G] [A] [CA]

 

Medium Length Works

John James Blunt Undesigned Coincidences (London: John Murray, 1869; 9th ed.) [G]
Alexander Balmain Bruce The Miraculous Element in the Gospels (1886; 4th ed. 1899) [G] [A]
Joseph Butler The Analogy of Religion (1736; 1872) [G] [A] [CA]
Thomas Chalmers The Evidence and Authority of the Christian Revelation (1814; 4th ed. 1817) [G] [A] [CA]
Charles Pettit McIlvaine The Evidences of Christianity in their External Division (1833; revised ed. 1861) [G] [A]
William Paley A View of the Evidences of Christianity (1794; 1865) [G] [A] [CA]

 

Long Works

Adam Storey Farrar A Critical History of Free Thought (1862) [G] [A]
Thomas Hartwell Horne An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures (1818; 8th ed., 1840-41) [G]
John Leland A View of the Principal Deistical Writers (1754-55; 1808) [G] [A]


Christian Apologetics: Popular and Technical. Topics: Worldview Analysis (Comparative Religion: Islam, Hinduism, New Age, Occult, etc.), History, Philosophy, Science, Atheism, Archaeology, etc.


Sigmund Freud’s Christian Unconscious by Paul C. Vitz 
Warranted Christian Belief by Dr. Alvin Plantinga, see here for pdf
The Dawkins Delusion? by Alister McGrath and Joanna Collicutt McGrath
Can the Words of Men be the Word of God? by Vishal Mangalwadi (PDF 94K)
Corruption and the Culture of the Cross by Vishal Mangalwadi (PDF 353K)
India: The Grand Experiment by Vishal Mangalwadi (PDF 1 MB)
When the New Age Gets Old by Vishal Mangalwadi (PDF 747K)
Yoga: Five Ways of Salvation in Hinduism by Vishal Mangalwadi (PDF 176K)
Miracles and the Case for Theism.pdf by Victor Reppert
Foolish Faith by Judah Etinger 
Atheism Analyzed by a former atheist of 40 years
Dealing with Doubt by Dr. Gary Habermas
The Irrational Atheist by Vox Day [PDF]
Why I'm Not a Relativist by Francis J. Beckwith [PDF]
Handbook of Today's Religions by Josh McDowell and Don Stewart
He Walked Among Us: Evidence for the Historical Jesus
by Josh McDowell and Bill Wilson [PDF]

Reasons Skeptics should Consider Christianity by Josh McDowell and Don Steward [PDF]
Skeptics who Demanded a Verdict by Josh McDowell [PDF]
Christianity Hoax or History by Josh McDowell - New 
The Case for the Bible by Josh McDowell - New
Understanding Secular Religions by Josh McDowell and Don Stewart 
The Islam Debate by Josh McDowell and John Gilchrist [PDF]
Jesus: A Biblical Defense of His Deity by Josh McDowell and Bart Larson [PDF]
Demons, Witches, and the Occult by Josh McDowell and Don Stewart [PDF]
The New Testament Documents: Are they Reliable? by F.F. Bruce
St. Paul the Traveler and the Roman Citizen by W.M. Ramsey
Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia by W.M. Ramsey
Was Christ Born in Bethlehem? by W.M. Ramsey
The Works of Flavius Josephus
Confessions by St. Augustine [PDF]
Summa Theologica by Thomas Aquinas
Pens'ees by Blaise Pascal
Evidence of Christianity by William Paley
Jesus Rediscovered by Malcolm Muggeridge
The Mark of the Christian by Francis A. Schaeffer
The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
Runaway World by Michael Green
Essential Truths of the Christian Faith by R.C. Sproul [PDF]
The Case for the Existence of God by Bert Thompson, Ph.D. [PDF]
On the Incarnation by Athanasius
The Mystery of Life's Origin by Charles B. Thaxton, Walter L. Bradley, and Roger L. Olsen [PDF or Adobe Reader]
Christian View of God and the World--Notes Only by James Orr, formerly an atheist
A Selection from his Letters by Samuel Rutherford
Heretics by G.K. Chesterton
Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton [PDF]
Behold, I Stand at the Door and Knock: What to Say to Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses When They Knock on your Door by Mike Licona [PDF]
Ten Reasons Why I Believe the Bible is the Word of God by R.A. Torrey
The Story of the Bible by Sir Frederic Kenyon
Did Napoleon ever exist? By Jean Baptiste Pérès (also available in French)
Historical Doubts Relative to Napoleon Buonaparte, Archbishop Richard Whately's Essay on Napoleon, in response to David Hume's radical empiricism
Questioning Hume's Theory of Meaning by Dr. Douglas Groothuis 
THE TRUTH OF OUR FAITH MADE MANIFEST IN THE TRIUMPH OF THE CROSS by
The Works of Flavius Josephus:
Bible Archaeology Review is offering the following free ebooks:
Islam in the Ancient World
Easter: Exploring the Resurrection of Jesus
I Volunteered for This?! Life on an Archaeological Dig
The First Christmas: The Story of Jesus’ Birth in History and Legend
Israel: An Archaeological Journey
From Babylon to Baghdad: Ancient Iraq and the Modern West
Exploring Jordan: The Other Biblical Land
Island Jewels: Understanding Ancient Cyprus and Crete
The Olympic Games: How They All Began
The Dead Sea Scrolls—What They Really Say
The Burial of Jesus
Real or Fake? Forgery Conference Report

Creation, Evolution and Intelligent Design


GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA New pdf 
The Dawkins Letters by David Robertson
The Scientific Case for Creation by Bert Thompson, Ph.D. [PDF]
On the Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin
The Descent of Man by Charles Darwin
Refuting Evolution 1 by Jonathan Sarfati, Ph.D., F.M.
Refuting Evolution 2
by Jonathan Sarfati, with Michael Matthews
Taking Back Astronomy by Jason Lisle
The Bible and the Age of the Earth
by Bert Thompson, Ph.D. [PDF]
The Creation Answers Book by Dr. Don Batton (Contributing Editor), Dr. David Catchpoole, Dr. Jonathan Sarfati, and Dr. Carl Wieland
Creation: Facts of Life by Dr. Gary Parker
Darwin on Trial by Phillip E. Johnson
In Six Days
Why 50 Scientists Choose to Believe in Creation, Edited by Dr. John Ashton
The New Answers Book by various authors
Fifty Nobel Laureates and Other Great Scientists Who Believe in God [PDF]
The Global Flood of Noah by Bert Thompson, Ph.D. [PDF]

Philosophy (Christian and secular)

Natural Theology by William Paley
Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
Me, the Professor, Fuzzy, and the Meaning of Life by David Pensgard
The Predicament of Modern Man by Elton Trueblood
The Everlasting Man by G.K. Chesterton
What's Wrong with the World? by G.K. Chesterton
The Critique of Pure Reason by Emmanuel Kant
The Sickness Unto Death by Soren Kierkegaard
Philosophical Fragments by Soren Kierkegaard
Fear and Trembling by Soren Kierkegaard
Selections from the Writings of Kierkegaard Translated by L.M. Hollander
Ethics by Aristotle
Varieties of Religious Experience by William James 
Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche
Why I Am Not a Christian by Bertrand Russell
The Natural History of Religion by David Hume
A Treatise on Human Nature by David Hume

Logic

Handbook on Logic and Rational Thought by a former atheist of 40 years
Logic and Fallacies of Logic by Dr. Johnson C. Philip and Dr. Saneesh Cherian [PDF]

Christian Living

With Christ in the School of Prayer by Andrew Murray
Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards
Freedom of the Will by Jonathan Edwards

The Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis



Special thanks to http://truthbomb.blogspot.com/ and the Library of Historical Apologetics for sharing some of the links posted above.