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| | Description | Timothy Keller, the founding pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, addresses the frequent doubts that skeptics and non-believers bring to religion. Using literature, philosophy, anthropology, pop culture, and intellectual reasoning, Keller explains how the belief in a Christian God is, in fact, a sound and rational one. To true believers he offers a solid platform on which to stand against the backlash toward religion spawned by the Age of Skepticism. And to skeptics, atheists, and agnostics he provides a challenging argument for pursuing the reason for God.
The remarkable New York Times bestseller by the "C.S. Lewis for the 21st century" (Newsweek).
A New York Times bestseller people can believe in-by a "pioneer of the new urban Christians" (Christian Today magazine). | |
| | Product Details | | Author: | Timothy Keller | | Paperback: | 336 pages | | Publisher: | Riverhead Trade | | Publication Date: | August 04, 2009 | | Language: | English | | ISBN: | 1594483493 | | Product Length: | 8.02 inches | | Product Width: | 5.12 inches | | Product Height: | 0.86 inches | | Product Weight: | 0.59 pounds | | Package Length: | 7.9 inches | | Package Width: | 5.1 inches | | Package Height: | 1.0 inches | | Package Weight: | 0.6 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 374 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 374 customer reviews )
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689 of 735 found the following review helpful:
 A Must-Read for Both Believers and Skeptics Feb 14, 2008
By Tim Challies
There are many people I "know" primarily through their books. I read constantly and find that books allow me to understand the people who write them, especially when the author has written several books. As I read through the corpus of his writings I learn to understand how he thinks and learn to understand what he believes. Even if I have never met an author face-to-face, I often feel like I have met him in his books. Because Tim Keller has written so little, I do not know him in the way I feel I know many of his peers--pastors and theologians who have written extensively. So it was with great interest that I read The Reason for God, only his second book (besides edited volumes to which he has contributed a chapter) and certainly his most significant. Published by Penguin and with a positive review by Publishers Weekly, it has all the makings of a bestseller.
The Reason for God is written for skeptics and believers alike. It is a response to or perhaps an antidote to the the writings of popular authors like Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris. And it is a fine one, at that. While the skeptic has several volumes he can hand to a believing friend (many of them written by the aforementioned authors), the believer has fewer to choose from. So many introductions to Christian beliefs were written many years ago and simply do not resonate with today's skeptics. They assume too much and deliver too little. Keller's volume seeks to fill that void, and it does so well.
The Reason for God arrives at a unique time, for we are at a point when both belief and skepticism are on the rise. "Skepticism, fear, and anger toward traditional religion are growing in power and influence," says Keller. "But, at the same time, robust, orthodox belief in the traditional faiths is growing as well." As each grows, those who hold to each become increasingly convinced that they are in imminent danger. The world is polarizing over religion--or at the very least our culture is polarizing over religion. "We have come to a cultural moment in which both skeptics and believers feel their existence is threatened because both secular skepticism and religious faith are on the rise in significant, powerful ways. We have neither the western Christendom of the past nor the secular, religionless society that was predicted for the future. We have something else entirely."
Attempting to find a way forward, Keller suggests that both believers and skeptics look at doubt in a whole new way. Within the book he does not make the classical distinction between believers and unbelievers, but rather between believers and skeptics. His thesis depends on this distinction between unbeliever and skeptic because, he says, we all believe something. Even skeptics have a kind of faith hidden within their reasoning. Understanding what we believe about belief is crucial. His thesis is this: "If you come to recognize the beliefs on which your doubts about Christianity are based, and if you seek as much proof for those beliefs as you seek from Christians for theirs--you will discover that your doubts are not so solid as they first appeared." He seeks to prove that thesis in the book's first part.
In the first seven chapters Keller looks at seven of the most common objections and doubts about Christianity and discerns the alternate beliefs underlying each of them. This section is titled "The Leap of Doubt" and answers these seven common critiques:
1. There can't be just one true religion
2. A good God could not allow suffering
3. Christianity is a straitjacket
4. The church is responsible for so much injustice
5. A loving God would not send people to hell
6. Science has disproved Christianity
7. You can't take the Bible literally
In the second half of the book, titled "The Reasons for Faith," he turns to an examination of seven reasons to believe in the claims of the Christian faith.
1. The clues of God
2. The knowledge of God
3. The problem of sin
4. Religion and the gospel
5. The (true) story of the cross
6. The reality of the resurrection
7. The Dance of God
The book begins with an Introduction, between the two parts is an Intermission, and following it all is an Epilogue.
The Reason for God is, at least to my knowledge, unique. The reader will soon see that Keller follows closely behind C.S. Lewis whom, along with his wife and Jonathan Edwards, he counts as his primary theological influences. Yet he sets Lewis and Edwards in a new context. And really, much of the book only makes sense within our contemporary cultural context. The arguments that matter here and now are different from those of days past and, I'm sure, different than ones in days to come. But the arguments Keller makes are compelling and reasonable and targeted pointedly at today's skeptics. If you have read our day's leading skeptics you owe it to yourself to read this as well.
Nobody but Tim Keller could have written this book. It seems likely to me that nobody but Tim Keller will agree with everything he says. For example, many believers will be uncomfortable with his defense of evolution--not the naturalistic evolution of so many skeptics, but a theistic evolution that attempts to reconcile rather than ignore the creation accounts of the Bible. Others will take issue with his description of hell and the thread of ecumenism that runs throughout the volume. But if we heed his exhortation to major on the majors, to look to what's most foundational to the faith before focusing on matters of secondary importance, both believers and skeptics have a great deal to learn from this book.
Publishers Weekly has said well that this is a book for "skeptics and the believers who love them." Believers will rejoice in a book that carefully and patiently answers the objections of their skeptical friends and does so with grace and in a way consistent with the Bible. Skeptics will see that even their skepticism is founded on some kind of faith and will be challenged to discern those underlying beliefs. May this book convince us all that we can believe and can believe reasonably, even in this age of skepticism.
120 of 139 found the following review helpful:
Rationality, as well as beauty and respect Feb 27, 2008
By Darryl Dash
"DashHouse"
I'm a certified member of the Tim Keller fan club. I listen to his sermons. I read everything he writes. I even belong to the Facebook fan club. Few thinkers or practitioners have influenced me more than he has. I am not the biggest fan out there, but I'm certainly a member of the club. This is dangerous, because nobody can live up to all that.
But Keller isn't the first to face the challenges of a growing profile and unrealistic expectations, and thankfully, he continues to use his influence wisely. The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, now on the New York Times bestseller list, is likely to multiply his influence even more, not only within the church but also within a culture with serious doubts about Christianity.
In a sense, there's nothing new in this book. It's all out there in other places, just like all the ingredients of a meal prepared by a chef are there in the grocery store. In The Reason for God, you have presuppositional apologetics in the tradition of Van Til, as well as generous doses of C.S. Lewis, the subtle but strong influence of Jonathan Edwards, as well as engagement with contemporary thinkers and writers.
What is unique is how Keller brings all together; in other words, the way these ingredients are mixed. Keller aptly deals with common doubts and objections to Christianity, such as "There can't be just one true religion" and "How can a loving God send people to hell?" Behind every doubt is an alternate set of beliefs. "The only way to doubt Christianity rightly and fairly," Keller writes, "is to discern the alternate belief under each of your doubts and then to ask yourself what reasons you have for believing it." Keller does this with each of the objections to Christianity, showing that none of the objections make Christianity impossible or even implausible.
Doubting our doubts about Christianity is only part of the journey. In the second half of the book, Keller offers reasons for faith, demonstrating that the Christian faith makes the most sense of the world. "I ask you to put on Christianity like a pair of spectacles and look at the world with it. See what power it has to explain what we know and see."
What really stands out about this book, besides its content, is the way that Keller engages with these issues. He is civil, respectful, winsome, and ironic, but never hostile. He does not belittle those with alternate beliefs, even as he directly examines and challenges those beliefs. Keller models a way of relating to those who disagree, and provides a model for all of us. He shows how one can possess an robust and orthodox Christian faith, and yet winsomely engage with those with completely different and hostile beliefs.
Keller's wife, Kathy, has said that the mark of a good sermon is that people stop taking notes part way through. It starts rationally, like a lesson, but ends with an encounter with Jesus. The Reason for God is full of rational arguments, but it doesn't end there. By the end of the book we encounter beauty, and some of the most profound expressions of the Christian faith I've read.
Last Sunday, somebody thanked me for making this book available to them. They've been looking for a book like this for some time, and they're loving it. I don't think he will be the last one. The Reason for God is a book that deserves to be read not only by Christians, but by those who have doubts - even by those who are hostile. It covers important issues, and shows not only the rationality but the beauty of the Christian faith. Just as importantly, it does so in a way that is genuinely respectful to the reader no matter what their beliefs. I hope it will be read widely.
247 of 299 found the following review helpful:
 Now is the time for REASON Feb 15, 2008
By Jonathan
This book is filled with excellent arguments and - persuasions - for the existence of God. If you don't believe there's a God, I challenge you to read it with an open mind. If you do believe in God, this book will increase your faith in that proposition and your ability to persuade others of it.
I believe this book is a net positive to the world of Christian thought and I would easily recommend it (and have) to my secular friends who are wrestling with the issues surrounding the question of the existence of God.
However, there are a few caveats that my traditional, orthodox and evangelical Christian friends may want to note.
First, Keller quotes extensively from N.T. Wright. Wright however, does not believe in the doctrine of "justification", i.e. the traditional Christian belief that sinners are redeemed by faith in Christ and that the justification of our sins is brought about through Christ's death and resurrection.
Wright said in his book "What St. Paul Really Said":
"Many Christians, both in the Reformation and in the counter-Reformation traditions, have done themselves and the church a great disservice by treating the doctrine of "justification" as central to their debates, and by supposing that it described the system by which people attained salvation." pp. 158-59
I don't think Keller agrees with Wright on this point, but he references him so frequently in this book and in his sermons that I wanted to bring Wright's position on this most central doctrine of Christianity to your attention.
Also, Keller has some interesting things to say about heaven. On pages 31-32 he says, "In Revelation 21, we do not see human beings being taken out of this world into heaven, but rather heaven coming down and cleaning, renewing, and perfecting this material world."
However, Revelation 21 doesn't say anything about renewing and perfecting THIS world. It in fact says this world will pass away - referring to it as the "first earth" or the "old earth" - indicating that this earth will no longer exist. It will be replaced by a new earth.
Revelation: 21:1 - Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had passed away. And the sea was also gone.
This may not seem like an important divergence from Biblical teaching, but it actually ends up in a place quite different than most Christians would expect.
For more insight into just where Keller goes with this -- in a talk to the church's Entrepreneurs Initiative a few years ago, Keller said this:
"I'm trying to overcome a typical, wrong, unbiblical attitude on the part of Christians, particularly evangelical Christians, toward this material world. ... An awful lot of Christians say, 'this world is going to die, it's going to burn up, and while we're here basically the only thing that's important is to get people saved, and if they get saved eventually they'll be able to leave this world. So it's a temporary theater for salvation. ...
THE WHOLE PURPOSE OF SALVATION IS TO MAKE THIS WORLD A GREAT PLACE. ... God sees this world as not a temporary means to an end of salvation, but actually salvation is a temporary means to an end - to the renewal of creation. ...
SAVING SOULS IS A MEANS TO AN END OF CULTURAL RENEWAL. Does the Christian church understand that? I'm not sure."
There are a lot of deep theological issues here - I'll be the first to admit. But I seem to remember something about the saving of our souls also having something to do with glorifying God and sparing each individual person from an eternity in hell -- separated from God.
Cultural renewal is well and good and certainly a by-product of saved souls, but is it really the "whole purpose" of salvation?
35 of 39 found the following review helpful:
The 'Go-To' Book for Thinking Christians AND Questioning Non-Believers Feb 29, 2008
By J. Wentling
In the late '70s and early '80s, Christians coming of age who wanted a better grasp of theology turned in significant numbers to one book: J.I. Packer's 'Knowing God.' The book was a watershed in how many of us understood the nature of God and His interaction with the world.
There were, of course, other excellent texts for thoughtful laypeople. Francis Schaeffer's work excited the imaginations of that generation of believers. Of course, C.S. Lewis was (and still is) at the pinnacle of modern-day Christian thinkers and apologists.
But it was Packer's book we all read and discussed studied in order to make up for what we should have known about our faith, but didn't.
Thirty years on, Tim Keller's 'The Reason for God' is the new 'Knowing God,' but with a critical difference: This is a go-to book for everyone thinking about Christianity.
Indeed, as Tim says on thereasonforgod.com, the book is primarily for non-believers with doubts about Christianity. My point here is that it is likewise indispensable reading for Christians who regularly interact with others who have serious questions about faith in a secular age.
For that reason, the first half of the book will be new and somewhat challenging, even if you've heard Tim speak many times. Tim's response to the different arguments against God's existence require careful attention, particularly if you refer to and study his footnotes (well worth the price of the book on their own).
The second half will be familiar territory to regular Keller devotees. But here again, the great benefit of this work is that all those themes that have shaped our thinking about the Gospel are now collected in one place.
Finally, the last chapter (`The Dance of God') is pure poetry. Great writing from a great thinker.
48 of 57 found the following review helpful:
Everyone has faith in something. Mar 02, 2008
By S. Wolgemuth
The Reason For God by Timothy Keller is a superb book. It presents powerful arguments for the Christian faith, but without the complexity and underlying judgmentalism that has characterized many books on the subject. It makes an obvious but powerful point, that even the loudest critics of faith are themselves "people of faith." Not to believe in a creator, for example, requires a leap of faith. On close examination, each of us inevitably believes in something, even if that something is the belief that there is nothing worth believing in.
What do you believe about your life, why you are here, where you are going? Is life just a mindless fumbling through a maze or does it have purpose and meaning? What does the future hold, a depressing existence and then annihilation or the promise of hope and a future? These questions and many more are answered in plain language with intelligence and respect. It is a powerful book.
Keller is the founder and senior pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. Redeemer is amazing, attended by more than 5000 each week, mostly in their 20s and 30s. Many are highly successful people with advanced degrees and lots of questions. The church does not rely on music or drama to bring people in, rather Keller has found a way to speak into the interests and concerns of so many people by addressing their serious questions directly: "There can't be just one true religion." "How could a good God allow suffering?" "Science has disproved Christianity." "You can't take the Bible literally." And many others.
You will find them all here and will not be disappointed.
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