Book Review: The Reason for God by Timothy Keller

With the recent death of Christopher Hitchens, atheism and agnosticism has been on a lot of people's minds.  In his book "The Reason for God," Timothy Keller takes on the beliefs of some of the most prominent atheist of our day by turning their doubts back on them.

Keller spends the first half of the book examining some of the most common objections and arguments against Christianity such as:

Chapter 1: There Can't Be Just One True Religion

Chapter 2: How Could a Good God Allow Suffering?

Chapter 3: Christianity is a Straitjacket

Chapter 4: The Church is Responsible for So Much Injustice

Chapter 5: How Can a Loving God Send People to Hell?

Chapter 6: Science has Disproved Christianity

Chapter 7:  You Can't Take the Bible Literally

After a brief intermission chapter, Keller switches gears from defending the Christian faith, to actually proclaiming reasons to believe:

Chapter 8: The Clues of God

Chapter 9: The Knowledge of God

Chapter 10:  The Problem of Sin

Chapter 11: Religion and the Gospel

Chapter 12: The (True) Story of the Cross

Chapter 13: The Reality of the Resurrection

Chapter 14: The Dance of God

Throughout the book, Keller tries to get Christians and skeptics to step back and evaluate why it is they believe what they believe.  If you do believe in God, why?  If you don't believe in God, why not?

Keller challenges skeptics to "...come to recognize the beliefs on which [their] doubts about Christianity are based, and if [they] seek as much proof for those beliefs as [they] seek from Christians for theirs - [they] will discover that [their] doubts are not as solid as they first appeared."

He also counters Christians to "acknowledge and wrestle with [their] doubts -- not only their own but their friends' and neighbors'; Only if [they] struggle long and hard with objections to [their] faith will [they] be able to provide grounds for [their] beliefs to skeptics, including [themselves], that are plausible rather than ridiculous or offensive."

Unlike most books written in defense of Christianity, Keller does an astounding job of disproving the doubts and arguments against Christianity while continually showing respect towards those he is disproving.

I have to admit, I'm a fan of Timothy Keller.  I've listened to countless numbers of sermons by him and am in the process of reading everything he's ever written.  God has spoken to my heart more through Keller's ministry than I could ever begin to express in words.

But, will this book make you turn from atheism and embrace, Christ?  Maybe, maybe not.  It will, however, give you a reason and a way to examine what it is you believe and why you believe it.  After all, even unbelief is a belief in something; even if that something is nothing.

I sometimes like to close my reviews with a personal favorite quote from the book I'm reviewing.  Today's quote comes from Keller quoting Fyodor Dostoyevsky from The Brothers Karamazov:

"I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidean mind of man, that in the world's finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity..."