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| The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism | 
 enlarge | Author: Timothy Keller
Publisher: Dutton Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  107 reviews
Sales Rank: 163
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 0525950494
Dewey Decimal Number: 239
EAN: 9780525950493
ASIN: 0525950494
Publication Date: February 14, 2008
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Product Description
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 isnt Christianity more inclusive? Shouldnt 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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| Customer Reviews: Read 102 more reviews...
 Challenging Your Doubts September 4, 2008
I don't believe we can reason our way to God but Keller's outstanding book may well shake the confidence of those who believe reason leads away from God. He gives concise rebuttals to many questions expressed by young people seeking spiritual answers in an Age of Doubt. I have shared it with those closest to me who share these struggles. It is a powerful tool for anyone sincerely pursuing ultimate truth.
Clear Reasoning about God and Christianity September 1, 2008
Should be required reading for anyone who is a Christian, calls himself a Christian, has ever thought about being a Christian, has ever met a Christian, doesn't know what a Christian is (or even if you think you do!), or is absolutely certain that Christians have it "all wrong".
If you're a thinking person, it's for YOU!
Everyone should read this book September 1, 2008
After reading this wonderful, intelligent book, I plan to buy more and give as gifts for Christmas. No matter what you believe, you will find Tim Keller compelling and thought provoking.
Calling all skeptics...read this book August 28, 2008
If any of these questions -- or questions like them -- are yours, you should read this book:
1. Science, logic and philosophy disprove Christianity, don't they?
2. Isn't Christianity an outdated religion rooted in superstition and fear?
3. How can an intellectual being accept that an all-powerful God demanded a perfect sacrifice for the redemption of his people?
4. Is there even a God at all?
5. Aren't we all just chemical by-products of a cosmic accident?
Tim Keller concisely, intelligently and respectfully shows that the Christian faith is much more logical and much more believable than the skeptical world is sometimes ready to accept. Keller makes a graceful case for Christianity without being argumentative or condescending. I don't think there has been such a clear book on this topic since Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.
 Honeyed words signifying dogmatism, not intellect. August 23, 2008
8 out of 18 found this review helpful
As an atheist, I looked forward to reading this book to find what an intellectual and sophisticated believer would say to a skeptic. Keller leads with a convincing presentation of both skeptical and dogmatic viewpoints, and leads the reader to believe that he will "explode" the case for atheism and otherwise answer skepticism with convincing and highly reasoned arguments. However, for all his good writing and insistent good will, the intellectual tenor of this book is as hackneyed as they come- as classic an apologia as one might want to find from the last decade or the last century. His coups de grace generally invoke C. S. Lewis, whose chestnuts of apology hardly break new intellectual ground.
On the problem of evil, he concludes: "Just because you can't see or imagine a good reason why God might allow something to happen doesn't mean that can't be one." This is of course the old panglossian argument that all is for the good, at least by the mysterious ways of god. The problem is that scripture and religious believers have very definite ideas about what is just and unjust, to the point of a license to kill (the just war, not to mention the inquisition). So this cognitive humility foisted on the skeptic suddenly evaporates when the issue is, say, abortion, or the divinity of Jesus. The fact is that humans have an inborn and cultivated sense of morals, which is what they use to assess whether a religion is beneficial, not the other way around. Indeed, Keller then turns around to give secular reasons (the liberation of women) why Christianity was at its origin was more moral than its surrounding community. It is our subjective and evolving moral sense that is the criterion, not words on a page, let alone words from the bronze age.
On the problem of multiple religions, Keller presents an equally deficient and hackneyed solution. Quoting Alvin Plantinga in answer to the proposition that a Christian would in all probability be Muslim if raised in a Muslim society, he notes: "... If the pluralist had been born in Morocco he probably wouldn't be a pluralist. Does it follow that ... his pluralist beliefs are produced in him by an unreliable belief-producing process?". The problem with this formulation is that it ignores the reasoning at issue. The "leap of faith" that is required to take on religious belief is notoriously non-intellectual (as Keller admits in his introduction as being the "second barrier" to his personal faith, which was overcome with a personal experience of god's presence). This leap is socially conditioned, as is the expression of religious emotions generally. Thus the religious person takes on the religious forms she was born into with few exceptions. On the other hand, the skeptical reasoning process applies equally to all cultural settings, and results in a dismissal of each of the religious forms, resulting in a logically consistent and universal viewpoint rather than a parochially artistic product. There is no harm in valuing the many expressions of religious sentiment that humanity has generated over the millennia, but we should not mistake those expressions for intellect.
Ultimately, you should read this book if you want uplifting stories of how urban, hip (yet gullible) people joined the Redeemer church. But do not read this book if you are looking for deep intellectual discussions of skepticism and why one might honestly reason one's way to Christianity.
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