Apolo-what? You may never have heard of this word, but most likely you've actually practiced apologetics whether you knew it or not. Apologetics is the defense of our faith. Think answering questions from your very atheist friend and you get the idea. But sometimes it's hard to find answers to those questions. Listed below are some resources that will give you real answers to real questions others will throw at you. Or maybe it's you who has some nagging questions you can't seem to figure out. Either way these books will help.

Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis One of Lewis’ most popular books, Mere Christianity stands as one of the foremost apologetic books ever written.  Now, I’ll be honest, this is not an easy read.  But if you put the work in it is more than worth it.  Lewis shows how there must be a God, and then discusses the basics of Christian theology.  His keen intellect will  help you understand your faith better and help you better articulate that to others.  Originally this was three separate books, so there is a little bit of a break in between them.  But every bit of it is valuable and useful.  I come back to this book often.

The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel If you want to know how to defend your faith but don’t really know what to say, this is the place to start.  Written by a former atheist who set out to disprove the Bible Strobel puts his journalistic skills to work and peppers great Christian thinkers with some of the most common questions about faith in Christ.  You’ll find out whether the Bible is accurate in what it reports, whether the gospel accounts are reliable, and why Jesus stands alone among all other religious figures.  It’s incredibly easy to read and a great resource for finding answers to questions your friends ask.  Invest in a highlighter, you’ll need it with this one.

The Question of God: C. S. Lewis and Sigmund Freud Debate God, Love, Sex, and the Meaning of Life by Dr. Armand Nicholi, Jr. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m a Lewis freak.  So this was a no-brainer buy when I saw it.  It’s actually a fascinating read.  Nicholi is a Harvard prof who takes both the views and lives of Lewis and Freud and pits them against one another.  The results are striking.  It’s remarkably easy to read considering the two intellectual heavyweights being discussed.  Especially interesting is how Nicholi compares what these guys said with how they lived.  You find out very quickly what the implications of your philosophy are in real life, and which one leads to real joy.  I highly recommend this one.