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The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism

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Publisher: Dutton Adult
Catalog: Book
Release date: 2008-02-14
Media: Hardcover
Number of pages: 293
Ean: 9780525950493
Book Isbn: 0525950494

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Author:

Timothy Keller

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Professional Review:

The End of Faith. The God Delusion. God Is Not Great. Letter to a Christian Nation. Bestseller lists are filled with doubters. But what happens when you actually doubt your doubts?

Although a vocal minority continues to attack the Christian faith, for most Americans, faith is a large part of their lives: 86 percent of Americans refer to themselves as religious, and 75 percent of all Americans consider themselves Christians. So how should they respond to these passionate, learned, and persuasive books that promote science and secularism over religion and faith? For years, Tim Keller has compiled a list of the most frequently voiced “doubts” skeptics bring to his Manhattan church. And in The Reason for God, he single-handedly dismantles each of them. Written with atheists, agnostics, and skeptics in mind, Keller also provides an intelligent platform on which true believers can stand their ground when bombarded by the backlash. The Reason for God challenges such ideology at its core and points to the true path and purpose of Christianity.

Why is there suffering in the world? How could a loving God send people to Hell? Why isn’t Christianity more inclusive? Shouldn’t the Christian God be a god of love? How can one religion be “right” and the rest “wrong”? Why have so many wars been fought in the name of God? These are just a few of the questions even ardent believers wrestle with today. In this book, Tim Keller uses literature, philosophy, real-life conversations and reasoning, and even pop culture to explain how faith in a Christian God is a soundly rational belief, held by thoughtful people of intellectual integrity with a deep compassion for those who truly want to know the truth.

User Reviews:

Written on December 10, 2008
Summary: Good, but incomplete
Tim Keller's recent book The Reason for God has received much critical and popular acclaim, landing on several bestseller lists (including Amazon and the New York Times). It's not hard to see why: Keller is a great communicator who writes with an engaging style that is personal and accessible yet still culturally, philosophically, and academically informed. Keller is also effective because he doesn't come across as writing "from above" but is writing from the trenches of spiritual and intellectual struggles prevalent in New York City. I had a difficult time writing this review because while I really enjoyed the book, I found it to be lacking in some areas. Is it a good book? Absolutely. Is it a great book? I might have to read it again to answer that accurately. For Keller's audience and purposes, I do think that it is a very good, solid book.

The first half of the book is devoted to answering some of the most frequent questions of skeptics of Christianity, including topics like science, exclusivity, suffering, judgment, injustice, and human freedom. The second half is devoted to reasons for the Christian faith. I thought Keller is most effective in the first half, especially the chapters on suffering and injustice. He does a great job engaging the postmodern reader, and I especially appreciated Keller's critique against the prevalent fallacies of "strong rationalism." He argues that skeptics' logic and reasoning against Christianity should also be applied to their own belief system (often their reasoning against Christianity is through "strong rationalism"). By doing so, the skeptics should discover that their system is not as solid as it seems.

Some aspects of Keller's work seemed incomplete - not that I expected it to be perfect of course. However, I don't think these are "make or break" issues, and for what I believe Keller's intent to be, are not major concerns for me. But I would like to attempt to flesh them out a little bit here. I do so mindful of Keller's encouragement to "major on the majors" of faith first and foremost, agreeing with him loosely that only after the foundations of the faith are wrestled with and accepted do the "minors" take on larger significance.

Keller argues using a "probability" perspective (mainly in Chapter 8, "The Clues of God") - while the Christian God cannot be absolutely proven, Keller says, He is the most probable answer to many of life's questions. While Keller presents good arguments for the existence of a god, he does not make the leap to reason from a god to the one true God. Thus, I found the name of the book to be inaccurate - Keller does not really give "The Reason" for God, but provides a roundabout argument to why God is the best probable answer.

Another of these issues was Keller's approach to defining sin, as he does not discuss sin in legal or covenental terms, but instead in relationship terms. For example, contrast the Westminster Shorter Catechism's explanation of sin with Keller's (based on Kierkegaard's):

WSC question 14: "Sin is any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God."

Keller: "Sin is the despairing refusal to find your deepest identity in your relationship and service to God. Sin is seeking to become oneself, to get an identity, apart from him." (p 162)

1 John 3:4: Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.

While Keller isn't explicitly wrong here, and I agree with his later discussion of the first commandment, I'm not totally on board with his discussion of sin. While Keller does not necessarily present explicitly wrong ideas regarding this and other crucial Christian truths, he seems to present incomplete ideas. For example, he focuses on the atonement as primarily a loving act of God - which is true, but incomplete without explaining the need for sinners to be justified and reconciled before a Holy Judge (i.e. penal substitution).

I also found Keller's discussion about forgiveness (primarily using Bonhoeffer's perspective on forgiveness) to be generally unhelpful (p 191ff). Keller writes that "everyone who forgives someone bears the other's sins. On the Cross we see God doing visibly and cosmically what every human being must do to forgive someone, though on an infinitely greater scale" (p 192). But isn't Christ the only sin-bearer, the once-for-all, sufficient, perfect, atoning sacrifice? We forgive because Christ forgave us, not because we are fellow sin bearers. I agree with Keller when he says that "it is divine forgiveness that is the ultimate ground and resource for the human" (p. 193). But without delving into this perspective on forgiveness more, Keller leaves the reader without a full explanation of the relation of human forgiveness to divine.

Finally, Keller hints at a non-literal or poetic interpretation of the Genesis 1-2 creation narrative, but doesn't really come out and say which he holds to. While I don't think it's necessary for him to do so in the book, he does comes across as uncomfortably accommodating to evolution (theistic evolution, not naturalist evolution).

That said, my overall point here is that though Keller's work might raise questions for some believers, I think it raises more and better questions (i.e. those of eternal significance) for skeptics. Further, Keller has a large, thriving church where he preaches the Gospel clearly and where he does not try to lure "seekers" in with gimmicks and flashiness, but is instead faithful to the Word of God and the Gospel of Christ - and this Word has not returned void.

I realize that my review is weighted toward the negative. Am I being overly critical or nit-picky? Perhaps, though my intentions are by no means malicious. Am I in a place to criticize a widely popular pastor laboring for the Gospel in one of the most anti-Gospel areas of the country? Maybe not, but I also don't want to quietly or even blindly endorse Keller's work just because of his immense popularity. It is a good book, and my biggest reason for it not being a great book is because of Keller's incomplete explanations. I did enjoy the book.

Written on December 8, 2008
Summary: A fine piece of relevant apolgetic writing
I first came across Tim Keller when I heard an mp3 of him speaking at the 2006 Desiring God National Conference. The subject was `The Supremacy of Christ and the Gospel in a Post-modern World". Keller struck me as highly intelligent, well read, and an excellent thinker in general. His foundation and argument for an `exclusive' Christianity was extremely refreshing and well thought out. In this volume, The Reason for God, Keller has constructed water-tight arguments for the Christian faith, as well as highly logical and intelligent answers to common objections to Christianity.

Part 1 of the book is sub-titled `The Leap of Doubt'. Keller answers the 7 most common moral and philosophical objections to Christianity. These are:

1. There Can't be Just One Religion

2. How Could a Good God Allow Suffering?

3. Christianity is a Straightjacket

4. The Church Is Responsible for So Much Injustice

5. How Can a Loving God Send People to Hell?

6. Science Has Disproved Christianity

7. You Can't Take the Bible Literally

Keller's experience in answering these questions is obvious. He is head pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York. In what is generally thought of as the bastion of secularism and modernism, Keller planted and grew a church which, today, has over 5,000 regular attendees. He approaches each objection carefully and considerately. Keller is no Dawkins; he is considerate and understanding of the other side of the argument. His logic and clear thinking, though, exposes the flaws and fallacies which are pertained in many of the assumptions behind these objections.

The second part is called `The Reasons for Faith'. Chapters are as follows:

1. The Clues to God

2. The Knowledge of God

3. The Problem

4. Religion and the Gospel

5. The (True) Story of the Cross

6. The Reality of the Resurrection

7. The Dance of God

Keller, here, lays down solid philosophical and logical foundations for why Christianity makes sense and why believing in God is, in fact, a fairly reasonable thing. Broadly, the reasonableness of faith is supported here. Keller, though, does set out to try and prove God exists. He states explicitly that he cannot do that. He says:

"We should not try to "look into the sun" as it were, demanding irrefutable proofs for God. Instead we should "look at what the sun shows us." Which account of the world has the most "explanatory power" to make sense of what we see in the world and in ourselves?"

Indeed, what Keller sets out to do is to explain why Christianity does provide the best and most convincing answers to the big questions. Keller is one of a band of evangelical Christian preachers and writers who invite, and force, Christians and skeptics to use their minds. This book is an excellent example of this. The writing style is accessible to almost anyone. The book is well researched and well constructed. It is written for skeptics and non-believers. It will challenge them to think hard before dismissing Christianity. Similarly, the book is an invaluable tool for Christians who wish to better understand their faith and the reasons for it. It will also provide believers with a solid apologetic foundation with which to defend their faith. Keller's approach is summed up in this passage:

"Whether you consider yourself a believer or a skeptic, I invite you to seek [honestly] and to grow in an understanding of the nature of your own doubts. The results will exceed anything you can imagine."

This book is great. A must-read for those in both camps.

Written on November 30, 2008
Summary: Concise, Clear Arguments
It starts strongly with the almost paradoxical problem that the special grace offered by God through Jesus requires substantial reflection and justification when compared to the acts-based grace of other religions. I wrote paradoxical because in Judaism, acts matter, what you believe is secondary, nice, but not damning by absence. Jews think of this as superior to Christianity, but it allows very sloppy thinking, which the carefulness of Keller shows.

The highlight of the book is really on pages 58-62. These words would and will turn many thoughtful non-Christians into acolytes.

If I could add one thing to the early text, it would be a reference to Gödel's Incompleteness theorem. Most people think it means that nothing humans conjure contains the all truth or all causes. In effect, everything is faulty: so your belief is just as valid as my belief - another argument for relativity or nihilism. However, what Incompleteness really implies is that there is a reality out there, outside our closed thoughts, and that reality may just be god: a wonderful belief that rests on extremely solid, non-religious ground: a real proof no different than vertical angles are congruent in plane geometry.

Written on November 26, 2008
Summary: Reasonable
At last, here is a crisp intellectual reply to the challenges raised by secular, humanist and atheistic thinkers against Christian doctrine and belief. Tim Keller addresses their most common and pointed questions in an eloquent, firm and thoughtful way. Best of all, he does so without the rancor, sarcasm and arrogance that have typified so many of the challengers themselves. He invites people to seek the truth, and offers solid, sensible supporting points for each argument.

He readily admits the profound harm and mistakes that have been made by those claiming to be Christians who act contrary to the teachings of Jesus and the early church. By drawing a distinction to clarify the true message and beliefs of the faith, he dispels multiple misinterpretations and misconceptions about Christianity. His moderate voice of love and tolerance towards others has already led so many people to think through the profound implications of their belief systems in Manhattan. This book reflects his decades of street-level experience in New York.

Mr. Keller's reasoned approach contrasts sharply with the shrill and emotional outbursts so common in our "progressive" post-modern age. His work is a welcome and worthy successor to that of his proclaimed predecessor, C.S. Lewis.

Written on November 18, 2008
Summary: you better be willing to use your brain
I was a little disappointed in this book, probably because I have listened to a lot of Tim Keller's messages and I guess I was hoping for new ideas in this book. I didn't find many points that I hadn't already heard him speak about but that doesn't mean his points aren't intelligent and helpful because they are. I was hoping to give this book to some friends, but after reading it, I think it's too intellectual for them to want to read it. It's a well written, clear, helpful book . . .expectations are a bummer.

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Catalog	Book	Book	Book	Book	Book	Book
Release date	2008-02-14	2008-10-30	2008-02-05	2008-02-29	2008-04-15	2007-08-31
Media	Hardcover	Hardcover	Hardcover	Hardcover	Hardcover	Hardcover
Number of pages	293	160	352	256	256	187
Ean	9780525950493	9780525950790	9780061551826	9781581349757	9781601421128	9781600061400
Book Isbn	0525950494	0525950796	0061551821	1581349750	1601421125	1600061400
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