John R.W. Stott, Basic Christianity, Inter-Varsity Press, Illinois, 1971
Vince's opinion:
I first read this book many years ago, and I certainly enjoy it quite a bit (I actually went off to buy like 20copies of it and gave them to my friends, think still have 3 or 4 copies in the cupboard).
What I like this book so much is the simplicity of the message, in that the author attempts to explain christianity and the gospel message in a basic and simple manner.
* For those that wants more complexity, more indepth/wide debates and informations, this is definity not the book.
Here is an abstract to it (its a very short book)
Christianity
Today the word is ambiguous. It conjures up in our minds a variety of thoughts and memories, different for each person. For some, it brings to mind certain historical events, such as the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, or the Salem Witch trials. Others may think of church, worshiping God, or going to Heaven. For still others, it may be a reminder of the recent scandals among television evangelists. However it is that we perceive Christianity, our perceptions are based on our experience and knowledge of it. For many people, this experience may include hearing about it through the media (e.g., TV, newspapers), attending church, talking with friends and relatives, or observing people who call themselves "Christians". However, many people do not have any knowledge about Christianity from reading the Bible. Since this is considered by most everyone to be important to Christianity, gaining an understanding of what it says is helpful in forming a more complete view of Christianity. It is therefore my intention to present and discuss various topics that may not be known other than through the Bible.
I want to emphasize that for someone to better understand Christianity through knowledge of the Bible, it does not matter whether or not that person considers the Bible to be true. Indeed, just as in gaining an understanding of any religion, it is only important to understand that its followers take their holy books to be true. Thus, the topics presented are meant to be informative, and not persuasive, in nature. That is, they only discuss what the Bible says, without attempting to persuade one to believe that the Bible is true.
