Persuasions by Douglas J. Wilson

Genre: Fiction, Allegory, Worldview, Christianity
Length: 95 pages

Reviewed by: Laurelyn Aubrey

Janice glared at Evangelist. She thought for a moment, and then apparently changed her mind. She walked slowly back towards us.

“Truth, eh? You believe in absolute truth?”

“Certainly.”

“I thought as much. The trouble with you Christians is that you are just like the Nazis or any other group that claims to have a corner on ‘absolute truth’. You are so cocksure that your truth is the only truth, you fill the earth with your disputes. You make me sick.” At this Janice turned to go.

Thus begins a discussion in Persuasions, this short gem by Doug Wilson. The book opens in a form reminiscent of The Pilgrim’s Progress, with a man named Evangelist on the road to the Master’s City. On his way he passes many individuals going the opposite direction, toward the Abyss. Each short, scene-like chapter of the book is made of Evangelist’s conversation with one such person, exposing their particular form of flawed reasoning, and trying to persuade them toward the Truth.

Wilson’s writing here is powerfully concise. He avoids the rabbit-trails typical of discussions on worldview, instead steering each debate right into the heart of the matter. The differing lifestyles and objections to Scripture that each character displays will be grippingly familiar to anybody who’s tried to reason with an unbeliever, and the clarity of Evangelist’s arguments does an excellent job of showcasing God’s truth in every situation.

For being a paperback one can read in half an hour, this book is a beautiful little piece of Christian apologetics. Each of the 13 chapters takes on a frequently discussed topic, including atheism, immorality, antinomianism, election, Evolution, and hypocrisy. In the space of a few pages, Evangelist takes the next dispute thrown at him and shows how it’s nothing more than rebellion in the light of God’s reality.

As a girl who’s ended up in the middle of many worldview discussions, my first thought when I read this book was wow, I wish I was that good at coming up with the right words at the right time! Obviously, Wilson couldn’t cover more than a small portion of each topic in so short a book; there are many more issues people will bring up in real life. But I certainly intend to read this book many times over in hopes of gleaning as much as I can from it. Its engaging brevity and solid material make me eager to recommend it to anyone seeking to “always be ready” to give “a reason for the hope that is in you”. (1 Peter 3:15)

Note: Doug Wilson has many written theological works, some of which are controversial, and I do not recommend everything he’s written. This book, however, stays with mainstream orthodox Christianity in its theology, and can be helpful to any believer.