J. P. Moreland, for whom I have the utmost respect, lists his choice (with comments) of "top 5 books on apologetics." His list appears in the Sept., 2007 Christianity Today:
Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics by William Lane Craig. "Craig is the finest apologist to come on the scene in 50 years, and this is his classic work for a thoughtful, general audience. It starts with
the case for God and moves to the case for Christ. For folks who want a first-rate treatment, there is none better."
New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics - W.C. Campbell-Jack, Gavin J. McGrath, C. Stephen Evans, eds. "A treasure trove of short, powerful entries that cover the gamut of apologetic topics. If you need to get your hands on a quick treatment of a specific issue, this is the place."
Icons of Evolution: Science or Myth? Why Much of What We Teach About Evolution is Wrong by Jonathan Wells. "An extremely readable, engaging volume. An interested layperson can benefit from it, yet you can confidently give it to a sophisticated, skeptical scientist."
Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview by J.P. Moreland and William Lane Craig. "Weighing in at a hernia-inducing 653 pages, this ia the most comprehensive treatment available of philosophical issues central to a defense of the faith, if I do say so myself. It's not an easy read, but it repays careful study."
The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence forJesus by Lee Strobel. "This is Strobel's seminal work. If I had to pick one book that presents the case for the historicity of the New Testament, this woudl be it."
Me: I am tempted to weigh in with other books as well but will hold off for now. As for Moreland's mentioning of New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics (InterVarsity Press, 2006, 779 pages), I wondered how it compared with Norman Geisler's single-person major work (Baker's Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics, 1998, 864 pages). Two Amazon reviewers helped me out. One reviewer tipped the scales towards NDCA saying:
What sets this book apart from, say, Norman Geisler's similar offering, is the fact that it benefits strongly from a multiple contributor standpoint. Where Norman Geisler's apologetics encycopedia was (despite being a solid effort by one man) obviously over-reliant on one man's point of view (which happens to be decidedly neo-thomistic in its framework, which makes Geisler's critique heavily steeped in "classical" apologetic method) this book has a number of different contributors who represent numerous different backgrounds (e.g. not just theology and philosophy, but biology, chemistry, physics, and all of their sub-disciplines, along with a host of different ideas on apologetic methodology itself) which gives the book a very welcome inter-disciplinary approach. Among some of the notable contributors are of course, W.L. Craig, W. Dembski, Del Ratszch, Alister McGrath, Veli-Matti Karkainnen, J.P. Moreland, John Frame, and a host of others.
The other reviewer tipped the scales towards Geisler, saying
I would like to offer my own comparison of the two, focusing on topics that come up most frequently in Christian apologetics, namely the existence of God, the problem of evil, biblical contradictions, miracles, the resurrection, creation, etc. Coverage by page count for the two are as follows:
Evidence/Arguments for God: Baker 32-1/2 pages, IVP 11 pages
Problem of Evil: Baker 5-1/2 pages, IVP 3-1/2 pages
The Resurrection: Baker 23-1/2 pages, IVP 5 pages
Bible Criticism: Baker 5-1/2 pages, IVP 2 pages
Bible Difficulties/Errors: Baker 6-1/2 pages, IVP 5-1/2 pages
Miracles: Baker 38 pages, IVP 5-1/2 pages
The Trinity: Baker 7-1/2 pages, IVP 3-1/2 pages
Views of Creation/Origins: Baker 15-1/2 pages, IVP 4-1/2 pages
Science & the Bible: Baker 9 pages, IVP 2 pages
Evolution: Baker 9-1/2 pages, IVP 2-1/2 pages
Big Bang Theory: Baker 4 pages, IVP 1/2 page
C. S. Lewis: Baker 5 pages, IVP 1 page
Salvation of Infants: Baker 5-1/2 pages, IVP 0 pagesIn addition, the articles in the Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics tend to be more structured, with sub-headings, text tables and numbered lists, which make them easier to follow and to browse. The articles in IVP's New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics are almost exclusively undifferentiated paragraphs of text.
Furthermore, in the area that I am personally most familiar with (science & the Bible), the articles in the Baker Encyclopedia are much more informative, presenting arguments on all sides of an issue.
As for the argument that multiple contributors are better than one, remember that systematic theologies tend to have single authors.