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Aside from there being (relatively) few online debates by eminent Jewish scholars with atheists, what would be considered recommended reading for a religious Jew who is interested in learning how to respond to criticism from atheism?

(Aside from Rabbi Jonathan Sacks' "the Great Partnership")


UPDATE: I just found this online resource (soon to book in 5 parts, ~70 pages each part) by Rabbi Michael Avraham in hebrew. Summarised as follows:

מחברת 1 – הראיה האונטולוגית

מחברת 2 – הראיה הקוסמולוגית

מחברת 3 – הראיה הפיסיקו-תיאולוגית

מחברת 4 – על טיעונים ‘פילוסופיים’ ו’תיאולוגיים

מחברת 5 – מדאיזם לתאיזם

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    Not a book but you might like to see "THE GOD DEBATE: AC Grayling vs Rabbi Daniel Rowe | J-TV" at youtube.com/watch?v=MTezZFZH098 Commented Jun 23, 2016 at 9:43
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    @AvrohomYitzchok, I read this a while ago. I think its more suited as a beginners guide. It doesn't go into great depth or scour the literature for the real challenges to his arguments. I would be worried if people were to call this a 'conclusive guide', as i know some people hold it to be.
    – bondonk
    Commented Jun 23, 2016 at 11:28
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    Are you looking for something along the lines of Rabbi Dovid Gottlieb's Living Up to the Truth or Ner LeElef's Proofs?
    – Fred
    Commented Jun 23, 2016 at 17:03
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    Read Rabbi Kook, he speaks about the good that Atheism does. It's important to have that perspective when responding to criticism from an Atheist. Rav Kook thought God needs atheism.”Because atheism cleanses the dross of ‘petty religion,’ the narrowness and provincialism of established Jewish religion that frequently becomes arrogant, rigid and judgmental. We need these people, these atheists, whom seek to befriend.”
    – Aaron
    Commented Jun 23, 2016 at 19:55
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    A very different kind of approach than the usual frum book (i.e. Permission to Believe, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, and Living Up to the Truth) is taken by Shalom Carmy, "Forgive Us, Father-in-Law, For We Know Not What To Think: Letter To A Philosophical Dropout From Orthodoxy" Commented Nov 15, 2016 at 18:44

5 Answers 5

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The Confused World of Modern Atheism by Moshe Averick might work for you.

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    amazon.com/Nonsense-High-Order-Confused-Atheism/dp/1535018348 I think
    – Double AA
    Commented Nov 15, 2016 at 20:45
  • Double AA's comment is the right reference - and it is a truly fantastic book on the topic, fascinating reading - the reference in the answer is to the title of the first edition, the comment has the reference to the second and latest edition
    – mbloch
    Commented Mar 12, 2017 at 18:19
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A great book is Search Judaism: Judaism's Answers to a Changing World written by Rabbi Yitzchok Fingerer

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You can look into the Ani Maamin Foundation which specializes in such issues and has shiurim available on the topic . Rabbi Dovid Sapirman also put out a book Emunah, A Refresher Course which you can purchase directly from the foundation or from Feldheim. The content deals primarily with answering Atheist claims. I believe the author also answers claims from Richard Dawkins and the like.

Hope this will be helpful.

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I attach a summarised version, a concise devastating attack on modern atheism.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxwYM1lVw9-9Rm1qZ29QZkhkWm8/view

This is a summary of a 300 page book Pollution of the Mind; A modern attack on Atheism, by Rav Chaim Rosenblatt.

It successfully tears apart the neo-Darwinian theory of evolution.

It is probably the only work out that does it in such a successful and concise way

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    Hi Mark. What is this a version of? Is it a Jewish based work? Please edit to include more details about the work and in what way it particularly addresses the question's parameters.
    – Double AA
    Commented Nov 15, 2016 at 21:09
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    The link leads me to a "Sorry, the file you have requested does not exist" page, and googling the title doesn't help either.
    – Tamir Evan
    Commented Nov 5, 2017 at 14:06
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I put together what I believe is a comprehensive list here of the types of arguments you can raise.

see the sections "Truth of Monotheism" and "Evidence of the Soul".

if you know others let me know. though keep in mind that God built the world around free will so it is impossible to completely corner an atheist.

also note that it is a complete waste of time to debate with atheists and may even damage you as the Mesilat Yesharim writes in ch.4

For not only do they lack the [proper] vision to see the truth, to perceive the evil right in front of their eyes, but they also see fit to conjure up great proofs and convincing evidences to support their evil logic and false ideas...

Also note, In order to make this paper comprehensive i also included evidence from controversial sources (ex. seances).

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    Comments have objected that several claims here are not scientific or unanimous. For a discussion of some specific issues, in addition to the general question of which criteria should be used to determine reality, e.g. anecdotal evidence, theoretical evidence, repeatable phenomena, etc., and for some dissenting views within the Jewish community, and to continue the conversation, please visit this chat room. Commented Nov 16, 2016 at 21:46
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    Here's another fake miracle for you youtube.com/watch?v=DRzcXbQaJDg
    – Double AA
    Commented Feb 9, 2017 at 17:15
  • @DoubleAA so what's your point? that all miracles are fake?
    – ray
    Commented Feb 15, 2017 at 6:18
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    No, you just seemed interested in collecting even disproven things in the apparent hope that collectively they sum to more than zero.
    – Double AA
    Commented Feb 15, 2017 at 15:10
  • @DoubleAA so you are saying there is nothing of value there. it all adds up collectively to zero?
    – ray
    Commented May 12, 2017 at 14:58

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