Below are links to the works of 19th Century apologists which are FREE!....
Most of the questions and allegations brought against Christianity today were already answered soundly by these brilliant and godly men.
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*NOTE: Clicking on the apologist's name will take you to the search results at the University of Pennsylvania's "Online Book" search.
APOLOGISTS OF THE ERA
- Edmund Hatch Bennett (1824-1898). An introduction and links to The Four Gospels from a Lawyer's Standpoint is available at the Library of Historical Apologetics.
- Thomas Cooper (1805-1892). The Bridge of History Over The Gulf of Time (also available for FREE in audiobook) is recommended reading by Dr. Timothy McGrew. This great little book is a unique apologetic argument written in the 19th Century by a man who became a hardened and outspoken skeptic. But when he came to Christ, he became a very powerful and tireless defender of the Gospel. An excellent article-length biography of Cooper (with a nice selected bibliography) can be found at McGrew's Library of Historical Apologetics. Cooper also wrote a book-length autiobiography.
- Franz Delitzsch (1813-1890). The Old Testament commentary produced by Delitzsch and C.F. Keil is perhaps the best ever published. A brief introduction and biography of Keil and Delitzsch is found at SwordSearcher. Delitzsch also produced two works on Messianic prophecy, including: Messianic Prophecies in Historical Succession and Messianic Prophecies: Lectures.
- Alfred Edersheim (1825-1889). The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (2 volumes). Part of this work is dedicated to Messianic Prophecy. Of special note is Chapter V: "What Messiah Did the Jews Expect?" (Vol. 1: p.160-179), Appendix VIII: "Rabbinic Traditions About Elijah, The Forerunner of the Messiah," and Appendix IX: "List of Old Testament Passages Messianically Applied in Ancient Rabbinic Writings." Prophecy and History in Relation to the Messiah. The Warburton Lectures for 1880-1884. A concise biography of Edersheim is found at CCEL. At this same link, you will find brief introductions to three of his most important works, which are also hosted there.
- George Park Fisher (1827-1909). Highly recommended: Manual of Christian Evidences (1888, 1892), a brief and brilliant guide to defending the Christian faith--a true gem. Written by a great scholar but for a popular audience. J.W. Wartick has a series of blog posts for this book. You can find a brief biography of Fisher at CCEL and from the 1879 American Cyclopaedia. A slightly longer bio is available from the December 1, 1916 issue of Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Volume 51..
- Thomas Hartwell Horne (1780-1862). Highly recommended: An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures (1834, 1863). An excerpt from this work and a brief biography of Horne can be found can be found at the Library of Historical Apologetics. Also found there is a concise guide to the apologetic contributions of this book. Also see here and here.
- Stanley Leathes (1830-1900). Recommended for studying Messianic prophecy: Old Testament Prophecy: Its Witness as a Record of Divine Foreknowledge (The Warburton Lectures for 1876-80) and The Witness of the Old Testament to Christ (The Boyle Lectures for 1868). His biography from the 1901 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
- J.B. (Joseph Barber) Lightfoot (1828-1889). Considered the greatest scholar of the New Testament and the early church of his era and still has a significant impact to this day. The standard critical edition of the Apostolic Fathers is based on his work. Although all of his work is in some way a defense of the New Testament, two works have explicit apologetic emphasis: Essays on the Work Entitled Supernatural Religion and Biblical Essays (to which the first three chapters are a defense of the genuineness of the Gospel of John). A brief biography can be found at The Anglican Library. A more substantial biography (3 pages) by F.F. Bruce can be found as a PDF housed at BiblicalStudies.org.
- Sir William Mitchell Ramsay (1851-1939). Highly recommended is Ramsay's magnum Opus: St. Paul the Traveler and the Roman Citizen (1895, 1907) which is FREE at Christian Classics Ethereal Library, where you will also find a nice summary of the book and a short biography of Ramsay. And here is a short article by Don Stewart quoting from this book and showing how Sir William Ramsay is related to settling the question of the historicity of Acts. Sir William M. Ramsay: Archaeologist and New Testament Scholar -- A Survey of His Contribution to the Study of the New Testament by W. Ward Gasque, an excellent 95-page book about Ramsay and his contribution to New Testament study--available in a FREE PDF file. (NOTE: The link for the PDF file of the book is located below the title and publisher's info and immediately above the Table of Contents.) For a list of his later writings see "The Later Ramsay: A Supplementary Bibliography of the Published Writings of Sir William Mitchell Ramsay" by Colin J. Hemer
- J.C. Ryle (1816-1900). One of the great preachers and Christian thinkers of the 19th Century. In his book Old Paths, he confronts the liberal "Christian" movement (whose heirs today often call themselves "progressive Christians") that was beginning to have great influence and would sadly soon take over the mainline denominations. See a brief biography of Ryle here with links to much more (including an audio biography). I highly recommend Old Paths: Being Plain Statements of Some of the Weightier Matters of Christianity (99 cents on Kindle). FREE at Internet Archive and Monergism. FREE audio at Internet Archive (or Librivox app). You will also want to check out his Expository Thoughts on the Gospels:
- *Expository Thoughts on Matthew by J.C. Ryle. (After clicking on the link to the FREE PDF version, scroll down in the PDF file to find "Expository Thoughts on Luke.") If you want a commentary that will fill your mind with wisdom, application and fire, this is it. Also FREE in audio....or on the Librivox app. FREE PDF at Internet Archive also. Paperback and FREE Kindle version at Amazon.
- *Expository Thoughts on Mark by J.C. Ryle. (After clicking on the link to the FREE PDF version, scroll down in the PDF file to find "Expository Thoughts on Luke.") If you want a commentary that will fill your mind with wisdom, application and fire, this is it. Also FREE in audio....or on the Librivox app. FREE PDF at Internet Archive also. Paperback and FREE Kindle version at Amazon.
- *Expository Thoughts on Luke by J.C. Ryle. (After clicking on the link to the FREE PDF version, scroll down in the PDF file to find "Expository Thoughts on Luke.") If you want a commentary that will fill your mind with wisdom, application and fire, this is it. Also FREE in audio in 2 volumes: Volume 1 & Volume 2....or on the Librivox app. FREE PDF at Internet Archive: Volume 1 and Volume 2. Paperback and FREE Kindle version at Amazon.
- *Expository Thoughts on John by J.C. Ryle. (After clicking on the link to the FREE PDF version, scroll down in the PDF file to find "Expository Thoughts on Luke.") If you want a commentary that will fill your mind with wisdom, application and fire, this is it. Also FREE in audio in 2 volumes: Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3....or on the Librivox app. FREE PDF at Internet Archive: Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3. Paperback and FREE Kindle version at Amazon.
- Philip Schaff (1819-1893). Find Schaff's The Person of Christ available for FREE in ebook or audiobook. The full title is The Person of Christ: The Miracle of History. With a Reply to Strauss and Renan, and a Collection of Testimonies of Unbelievers. In my opinion, this great little book has received far too little attention. Schaff is one of the great scholars of the 19th Century. You can find his biography here.
- Constantine von Tischendorf (1815-1874). Tischendorf was one of the great scholars of the 19th Century. He made huge contributions to the textual criticism of the New Testament, including the discovery of the oldest complete manuscript of the New Testament: Codex Sinaiticus. A brief biography can be found here along with his chief apologetic work, Origin of the Four Gospels--which I highly recommend. His book When Were Our Gospels Written? recounts his discovery of Codex Sinaiticus in its first chapter. Also check out this 10-minute video by Daniel Wallace on Tischendorf and his discovery of Codex Sinaiticus...or this longer 55-minute version by Wallace here.
- R.A. Torrey (1856-1928). An excellent biography of Torrey. Other biographical resources. Torrey edited The Fundamentals, a classic 4-volume defense of the faith published between 1910 and 1916, to which he contributed the following essay: "The Deity of Jesus Christ." More info about this work at Theopedia and this article: "The Untold Story of the Fundamentals." Also see: "Ten Reasons Why I Believe the Bible Is the Word of God" (1891).
- Samuel Prideaux Tregelles (1813-1875). Highly recommended: A Lecture on the Historic Evidence of The Authorship and Transmission of the Books of the New Testament (1852). Lucidly and cogently written by an eminent 19th Century scholar. A brief biography and overview of his greatest scholarly accomplishment are found at The Center for The Study of New Testament Manuscripts (and a slightly longer biography here).
- Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1901): An introduction and links to The Gospel of the Resurrection are available at the Library of Historical Apologetics.
- Elizabeth Jane Whately (1822-1893). A brief biography, excellent quote and link to her single apologetic work (How to Answer Objections to Revealed Religion) are found at the Library of Historical Apologetics.
*I have plans to greatly expand this page, so keep coming back.
Samuel Prideaux Tregelles
