Academic career
Kreeft was born March 16, 1937, in Paterson, New Jersey, the son of John and Lucy Kreeft. He took his AB atConversion story
Kreeft converted to Catholicism during his college years. A key turning point came when he was asked by a Calvinist professor to investigate the claims of the Catholic Church that it traced itself to the early Church. He said that, on his own, he "discovered in the early Church such Catholic elements as the centrality of the Eucharist, the Real Presence, prayers to saints, devotion to Mary, an insistence on visible unity, and apostolic succession." The "central and deciding" factor for his conversion was "the Church's claim to be the one Church historically founded by Christ." He reportedly applied C. S. Lewis's trilemma (either Jesus is Lunatic, Liar, or Lord): "I thought, just as Jesus made a claim about His identity that forces us into one of only two camps ... so the Catholic Church’s claim to be the one true Church, the Church Christ founded, forces us to say either that this is the most arrogant, blasphemous and wicked claim imaginable, if it is not true, or else that she is just what she claims to be." According to Kreeft's personal account, his conversion to Catholic Christianity was influenced by, among other things,Bibliography
Books
* * '' Between Heaven and Hell'' (1982) — A Dialog with John F. Kennedy, C. S. Lewis, and Aldous Huxley * ''The Unaborted Socrates'' (1983) — Socratic dialogue on abortion * ''The Best Things in Life: (1984) — Twelve Socratic dialogues on modern life * ''Yes or No? (1984) — Straight Answers to Tough Questions about Christianity'' * ''Making Sense Out of Suffering'' (1986) * ''Fundamentals of the Faith, Essays in Christian Apologetics'' (1988) * ''Heaven, the Heart's Deepest Longing'' (1989) * ''Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Heaven... But Never Dreamed of Asking'' (1990) * ''Making Choices: Practical Wisdom for Everyday Moral Decisions'' (1990) * ''Summa of the Summa'' (1990) — Summa Theologica edited and explained for beginners * ''Three Philosophies of Life'' (1990) — Ecclesiastes (life as vanity), Job (life as suffering), Song of Songs (life as love) * ''Prayer: The Great Conversation'' (1991) — Straight answers to tough questions * ''Back to Virtue'' (1992) — Reprint of ''For Heaven's Sake: The Rewards of the Virtuous Life'' (1986) * ''Shorter Summa'' (1993) — Shorter version of Kreeft's ''Summa of the Summa'' * ''Christianity for Modern Pagans: Pascal's Pensees'' (1993) * ''Your Questions, God's Answers'' (1994) — Solid responses for Catholic teens * ''Handbook of Christian Apologetics'' (with Ronald K. Tacelli) (1994) * ''C. S. Lewis for the Third Millennium'' (1994) — Six essays on Lewis' ''Abolition of Man'' * ''Shadow-Lands of C.S. Lewis: The Man Behind the Movie'' (1994) * ''Handbook of Christian Apologetics (Pocket Version)'' (1994) * ''The Angel and the Ants: Bringing Heaven Closer to Your Daily Life'' (1994) * ''Talking to Your Children About Being Catholic'' (1995) — A treasure trove of ideas * ''Angels (and Demons): What Do We Really Know About Them?'' (1995) * ''Ecumenical Jihad: Ecumenism and the Culture Wars'' (1996) * ''The Journey'' A Spiritual Roadmap For Modern Pilgrims (1996) * ''The Snakebite Letters'' Devious Secrets for Subverting Society (1998) * ''Refutation of Moral Relativism'' — Dialogues between a relativist and absolutist (1999) * ''Prayer for Beginners'' (2000) * ''Catholic Christianity'' (2001) * ''Socrates Meets Jesus'' (1987/2002)— Socratic dialogue with students of Harvard University's Divinity School * ''How to Win the Culture War: A Christian Battle Plan for a Society in Crisis'' (2002) * ''Celebrating Middle Earth: Lord of the Rings'' (2002) — On western civilization * ''Three Approaches to Abortion'' (2002) * ''Philosophy 101 by Socrates'' (2002) — An introduction to philosophy via Plato's Apology * ''Socrates Meets Machiavelli'' (2003) — Socratic dialogue between Socrates and Machiavelli * ''Socrates Meets Marx'' (2003) — Socratic dialogue between Socrates and Karl Marx * ''The God Who Loves You'' (2004) * ''Socratic Logic'' (2005) — A textbook on classical logic * ''You Can Understand the Bible'' (2005) — a combination of his previous books ''You Can Understand the Old Testament: A Book-by-Book Guide for Catholics'' (1990) and ''Reading and Praying the New Testament: A Book-by-Book Guide for Catholics'' (1992) * ''Socrates Meets Sartre: Father Of Philosophy Meets The Founder of Existentialism'' (2005) — Socrates and Jean-Paul Sartre * ''The Philosophy of Tolkien: The Worldview Behind "The Lord of the Rings"'' (2005) * ''The Sea Within (2006)'' * ''Socrates Meets Descartes'' (2007) — The Father of Philosophy Analyzes the Father of Modern Philosophy's ''Discourse on Method'' * ''The Philosophy of Jesus'' (2007) — On the wisdom of Jesus * ''Pocket Guide to the Meaning of Life'' (2007) * ''Before I Go'' (2007) — Letters to Children About What Really Matters * ''I Surf Therefore I Am'' (2008) — An exploration of Surfing * ''Because God Is Real: Sixteen Questions, One Answer'' (2008) * ''Jesus-Shock'' (2008) * ''Socrates Meets Kant'' (2009) — The Father of Philosophy Meets His Most Influential Modern Child * ''If Einstein Had Been a Surfer'' (2009) — A Philosophy of Surfing * ''Between Allah & Jesus: what Christians Can Learn from Muslims'' (2010) * ''Socrates Meets Hume'' (2010) — The Father of Philosophy Meets the Father of Modern Skepticism * ''An Ocean Full of Angels'' (2011) * ''Summa Philosophica'' (2012) — 110 Key Questions in Philosophy * ''Jacob's Ladder'' (2013) — Ten Steps to Truth * ''Charisms: Visions, Tongues, Healing, etc. (feat. Dave Nevins)'' (2013) — catalysts to "two-way" interactive prayer * ''Socrates Meets Kierkegaard'' (2014) — Questions the founder of Christian existentialism *''52 Big Ideas'' (2020) — From 32 Great Minds * ''Practical Theology'' (2014) — Spiritual Direction from Aquinas * ''Letters to an Atheist'' (2014) — Wrestling with Faith * ''The Philosopher's Bench'' (2015)(DVD) — Catholic philosophers Peter Kreeft and Thomas Howard bring philosophy to the 'man in the street' * ''I Burned for Your Peace: Augustine's Confessions Unpacked'' (2016) — Snippets and commentary from one of the most beloved books in the world * ''How to Be Holy'' (2016) — First Steps in Becoming a Saint * ''Catholics and Protestants'' (2017) — What Can We Learn from Each Other? * ''Between One Faith and Another'' (2017) — Engaging Conversations on the World's Great Religions * ''Forty Reasons I am a Catholic'' (2018) * ''Doors in the Walls of the World'' (2018) — Signs of Transcendence in the Human Story * ''The Platonic Tradition'' (2018) 8 lectures "for beginners" on the essence of the Platonic tradition throughout philosophical history * ''Socrates' Children'', 4 vols. (2019) — The 100 Greatest PhilosophersReferences
External links