The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism | Timothy Keller

The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism | Timothy Keller | Everyone has a view about spiritual reality

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The Reason for God...

	The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism Timothy Keller Dutton Adult, 2008 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 100 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

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.

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Well Thought Out - Challenging Reasons

This is an excellent book. While the majority of the material is the "standard apologetic material," all of it is packaged in a very helpful and accessible way for young Post-moderns. Several of the "old ideas" are even given a new, fresh twist by Dr. Tim. No ivory tower here: obviously the work is the result of interaction with real people with real questions.

This book is definitely worth the price; definitely worth the read. Do Christians just take it all on blind faith? You won't be able dismiss Belief that simply after reading this book!

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Everyone has a view about spiritual reality

An excellent book that makes the convincing case that everyone has a view about spiritual reality, whether they deny the supernatural or not. Keller points out that even those with the most "skeptical" of views place their trust in unprovable assumptions about the world; "strong rationality" is impossible. Therefore everyone needs to think carefully about their worldview, holding to beliefs only with the strength the evidence permits. Keller's main point is to clear away brush that may have hindered your journey, and encourage you to seriously consider whether Jesus really rose from the dead and all that entails.

Keller deals with several objections to Christianity in a compassionate, but no-nonsense, manner. He takes some common views to their absurd, and self-annihilating, ends, and shows other criticisms to be ethnocentric, essentially imposing a Western, Enlightenment, individualistic, democratic, privatized view of religion (held by a minority on the planet) onto spiritual matters.

Some notable aspects of this book I haven't seen in others, or at least not tied together as they are here:

* the distinction between slavery in the ancient Roman world and more recent (and heinous) New World slavery

* an excellent discussion of how a good God could allow pain and suffering and the Christian resources to deal with suffering

* careful articulation of the lack of any objective moral grounding for human rights on the secular view

* a insightful discussion of "sin" as not merely wrongdoing, but the making of good things (e.g., children, career, social justice) into ultimate things

* a comparison of "religion" and the "gospel " (salvation through moral effort versus salvation through grace)

* a clear discussion of the resurrection and the history of the early church which basically leaves Jesus' actual bodily resurrection as the account which best explains the evidence

* a concise and accessible description of the Christian view of the complete restoration of humanity and the entire universe, as opposed to the uninspiring caricatures of heaven sometimes found in the popular mind (think clouds and harps)

All in all, a persuasive and insightful discussion that will enrich both the skeptic and believer. I would recommend this to anyone with ANY interest in spiritual matters. Keller's book may be the best work of apologetics for this generation of Westerners.

p.s.: You can listen to and watch free lectures by Keller on his book by visiting the Veritas Forum website www.veritas.org The man seems even more humble, compassionate, and even humorous in person.

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excellent book

This book is well written, clear and concise. It's well worth reading for both christians and skeptics. Some theology books can be hard reading, but Keller keeps it interesting throughout the entire book.

A model for apologetics

What sets this book apart from other Christian apologetic books is its tone and the manner in which it presents the material. It's clear that pastor Keller put in a lot of thought in 1) the orderly way the content is presented within each chapter, 2) the tone with which he conveys the ideas, and 3) understanding the vantage points and experiences that nonbelievers and even some believers are coming from.

For the first point, the chapter on evil exemplifies Keller at his best. There are some logical arguments that he uses to address the issue of how a good God could allow evil and suffering in the world. He doesn't leave you hanging or browbeaten by the sheer weight of the logical force of the arguments. He ends the chapter by talking about the suffering of God. For a nonbeliever and for the believer, the last thing anyone wants to hear, when one goes through personal trial, are the logical holes behind the assertion of a good God allowing evil. When one suffers, words of logic does nothing to make sense of the situation. If anything, it's the silence of compassion that is best displayed by a powerful God, who suffers along with the rest of humanity and who is, thus, able to identify with the pain and despair. Why does evil happen? It's hard to come up with logic to explain children dying in senseless tragedies like the Sichuan earthquake or Myanmar floods but one thing that's for certain, Keller points out, is that God is not oblivious nor untouched by the pain and sufferings of the world. This is how he ends that chapter and in all of my readings of apologetic books, Keller did the best job in ending a chapter on the problem of evil by talking about the Christian God who suffers along with the rest of humanity.

For the second point, you really have to hear him in person. I got a chance to hear him at Stanfurd and Cal Berkeley. It feels nothing like an academic lecture but rather his gentle tone and warm exuberance makes you feel like your grandfather just pulled you aside to give you one of those talks on life and you are all ears. I think that tone is aptly conveyed throughout the book and makes it for pleasurable reading.

For the third point, he's had many experiences counseling and fielding questions regarding God, Bible, Christianity, etc. from people from all walks of life. Because of this, this really allows him to understand where people are coming from with their questions. Reading through the book, you get the sense that the basis of many people's questions/doubts/objections to Christianity isn't really so much logical as it is personal.

This is a great book. Ignore those reviews that say that this is too light and shallow. The believers who say such things have really missed the point of evangelism, which is relational in nature and not about winning a debate through the use of sheer force of logic. God did not win our hearts over by cornering us with logic but by dying for us. I think that's the difference with Christianity and the other religions. The gods of other religions respond to humanity's rebellion by saying, "You must die for your sins." The Christian God, on the other hand, in response to humanity's rebellion says, "I must die for your sins." This is what sets apart the Christian God from others.

Aside from that, the reason why I gave it 4 stars is because the chapter on science was weak. Other than that, this book is destined to be a classic. Enjoy!!!

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