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This book came with significant praises, including that of London Theological Seminary principal Philip Eveson and Answers in Genesis president Ken Ham. In fact, it was Ham's recommendation with the AiG bookstore that motivated me to purchase it in the first place. The AiG review stated: "This is our favorite 'layman's' apologetics book for the truth and authority of the Bible! None that we are aware of is easier to read and understand." I was intrigued and thus I eagerly ordered a copy. At 512 pages, Nothing but the Truth is a colossal work in relation to its intent, but don't be daunted by its intimidating size; it has a lot of value.
The book is a near even split between basic systematic theology and apologetics. Chapters one through twelve discuss issues such as the nature of God, the history of the Bible, Sola Scriptura, prophecy, canon and New Testament relation to the Old Testament. Chapters thirteen through nineteen are focused on textual criticism, alleged Bible contradictions, archeology, hermeneutics and how it all relates back to the importance of the systematic theology established in the first twelve chapters.
What I respected about the book is that it is very Scripturally-based and makes constant references to the Bible itself. It also comes with a pretty good Scripture and subject index, as well as a statement of belief so the reader isn't left in the dark as to what the author believes as far as Christian doctrine goes. This is a revised edition of the book, which allows for a lot of updated and expanded information based on earlier research. Furthermore, the author is an experienced pastor-theologian and clearly knows the Bible very well.
The book provides a fairly solid explanation regarding the history of theological thought throughout the ages, among many other topics as aforementioned. While the broad coverage of topics makes this a good work for people who are just learning to study theology and apologetics, it often leads to slow reading and tends to drag on quite a bit. Also, while parenthetical citations are provided from time to time, the book lacks footnotes or endnotes and thus it can be difficult to organize a source listing. It's also worth mentioning that from time to time, the author phrases some minor assumptions as if they were fact. For example, he refers to "Mount Sinai" as if the actual location of the mountain from Exodus has been definitively located. Whether or not he intended such a meaning, it certainly sounded like it. While this is neither an excessively-significant nor common occurrence, readers should watch out for it.
To return to the recommendation from AiG, I would qualify their statement by saying that the book is more suited for those with an intermediate or better understanding of apologetics and an overall good knowledge of Scripture. It would be of little benefit to the new or immature Christian because the topics and heavy emphasis on systematic theology would likely confuse or seem meaningless to them. On the inverse, the professional apologist or Bible scholar would likely have little use for it due to its more general nature in contrast to specific scholarship. However, some apologists may find use in the latter chapters because they feature some of the finest answers that I've ever read to some of the most common "Bible contradictions," including the death of Judas (Matthew versus Acts) and the inscriptions written on Jesus' crucifix. So while a scholar would almost certainly learn a few new things within this massive work, it's most likely not worth searching through 512 pages to find. However, for the "lay Christian" with a good knowledge of Scripture and a desire to know more about the Bible and apologetics, this book is a solid choice. It would also function well for an undergraduate-level class on apologetics or an introduction to systematic theology.
The real value of this book is in the last half, especially for someone looking to boost his or her apologetics arsenal. While I absolutely recommend it, I would have liked to have been able to skip over a good majority of the first half of the book. While it is well-written and the systematic theology would no doubt be very informative to many people, by the time I reached the real treasure trove --- the apologetics --- I was simply weary of reading the book. Yet don't let my disparaging turn you away; Nothing but the Truth is well worth the time and the effort.
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