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 enlarge | Author: Timothy Keller
Publisher: Dutton Adult
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $14.34
You Save: $10.61 (43%)
New (39) from $14.34
Avg. Customer Rating:  118 reviews
Sales Rank: 193
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.2 x 1
ISBN: 0525950494
Dewey Decimal Number: 239
EAN: 9780525950493
ASIN: 0525950494
Publication Date: February 14, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 This book made me leave Christianity September 15, 2008
9 out of 16 found this review helpful
My reasons for leaving Christianity are exactly the same as Tim Keller's reasons for why you should join it: There is no one overwhelming argument which can't be denied; instead there are a lot of smaller reasons which, when taken together, provide an inductive force so compelling I couldn't resist it. Also, like Keller, I like this story better.
Ironically, Keller's book was fairly instrumental in my deconversion. As I've said other places, it was a long and gradual process which finally led me away from the faith. But the last lifeline I had was Tim Keller's recent book, The Reason for God. I know and respect his work in many other places and was hoping that this book would provide me with the rationale I needed to counter credible unChristian arguments and sustain my Christian belief. The opposite happened.
Keller takes up a two-part strategy: First, he demonstrates how the objections to Christianity, or "defeater beliefs," assume the same form which they intend to criticize. Second, the constructive portion of his argument can probably be accurately caricaturized(1) as: "Christianity is a really nice story, so you should accept it."
In the first half of the book, the "defeater beliefs" section, Keller astutely lays out the overall problem: there is no objective place from which to judge various worldviews. Kudos to Keller on this because many people never get this, especially many Christians! Unfortunately, the book is all down hill from here. Keller tries to illustrate the issue with his elephant analogy. A summary: Imagine several blind people touching a creature which they don't know is an elephant. One says, "It's long and flexible like a snake," feeling the trunk. Another says, "No it's thick and round like a tree trunk," feeling its leg. Another touches the side and says, "No it's large and flat." Then Keller says:
In the same way, it is argued, the religions of the world each have a grasp on part of the truth about spiritual reality, but none can see the whole elephant or claim to have a comprehensive vision of the truth.
This illustration backfires on its users. The story is told from the point of view of someone who is not blind. How could you know that each blind man only sees part of the elephant unless you claim to be able to see the whole elephant? ... How could you possibly know that no religion can see the whole truth unless you yourself have the superior, comprehensive knowledge of spiritual reality you just claimed that none of the religions have?
As someone who was wrestling with this very question, I was thrilled when it looked like Keller would say something profound about it. Excitement turned sour when instead of the profound and rational thinking I've come to expect from Keller (and I have read/listened to his work many other places with the highest praise), I was given a very flimsy straw man and logic-less pebbles hurled in its general direction.
My immediate response to this particular analogy was first that it is probably a good analogy, and the many different religions do "feel" different parts of a single great reality. But to answer the last question in this quote above: We would know by listening to each other charitably, thinking clearly, and not by a theological imperialism that claims the perspective of omniscient narrator simply because we already proved no one can hold that position (sic).
The rest of Keller's first section on "doubting your doubts," is filled with more of the same: straw man arguments weakly attacked. No person who actually holds the various positions Keller represents would agree with his caricatures--evidenced by each of the non-Christians and even my Keller-loving Pastor friend who made up our book discussion group. By the end of the first half, our group continued reading out of astounded disbelief at what could possibly be in the second half that would redeem the first.
The second half of Keller's book is nice. He starts with a smart approach which finally recalls his admission in the Introduction that no one stands in an objective position to evaluate other worldviews. So he suggests that instead of looking for airtight arguments, we look at the gestalt of small indicators like: The origin of the Big Bang, cosmological constants allowing for life, the regularity of nature, beauty, and "the clue-killer [that] is really a clue." This is not meant to be a long book review, so I must deprive you of specifics, but as Keller went through his clues for God, each of them struck me as either having a simpler explanation short of God, or even as full support against his Christian suggestion.
To close, Keller morphs the last six chapters away from almost any rational argument at all. Instead, he describes features of Christianity that are nice and appealing, expecting to make the sale on ideal virtues. Isn't it nice that Christianity gives you paradise after you die? Isn't it nice that Christianity give you a justification for morality? Isn't it nice that God did such a dramatic thing as sending his son to "write himself into the story?" If you're ready to convert, see the epilogue.
So Keller's project is actually three-part: 1.) give reasons to doubt objections to Christianity, 2.) Present Christianity as something that "would be nice if it were true," then 3.) Invite the reader to believe it.
My response to Keller's book went like this: 1.) every single objection you raised has far deeper merit than you even begin to acknowledge, 2.) There are parts of Christianity which are great and really "would be nice if it were true," but "want makes not." 3.) I already want to believe Christianity is true, but it's the real arguments which your straw men caricaturize that have twisted my arm away from belief.
After reading Keller's book, I'm left at the last conclusion that Christianity is a nice story--and even my favorite religion--but it's a long way from being true. But his book is very convincing: It has convinced many Christians that they should be Christians; and it has convinced many non-Christians that they should be non-Christians. But it has also convinced at least one Christian that he should be a non-Christian.
(1) I use this word "caricaturize" several times despite my spell-check trying to make it "characterize," because I mean it as: "a good natured exaggeration of the most significant features: to make a caricature."
 It's Not About Proving God Is... September 12, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
Keller's work is first rate. I found myself diving deeply into this work and enjoying every aspect of it. It is true that many of his arguments are not new, rather they are just wrapped in a more modern or should I say post-modern packaging.
I believe the beauty of the book is that he doesn't seek to prove God is there. Rather he presents the case that the notion that God isn't there requires a suspension of observations and known conditions of our society and world. Ultimately, he works to create doubt in the belief that God is not real.
It is without a doubt that Keller works from a christocentric view and that is evident throughout his work.
Kind of a Dry Read September 8, 2008
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
Reading this book was actually a huge factor in my becoming a Christian. Although Anthony Flew is not a Christian the fact that someone as educated and also whose aetheim was so publically intertwined with his professional life was able to admit to the existence to a higher being made me reconsider my aethiestic paradigm that I had held so firmly to. That said this book is boring, it reads like a disertation but I am sure glad I read it because it changed my life!
Thought-provoking. September 6, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Timothy Keller's THE REASON FOR GOD: BELIEF IN AN AGE OF SKEPTICISM offers questions and doubts for believers and comes from the pastor of a Presbyterian Church in New York City. His list of the most frequent doubts skeptics bring to his church - and his answers - results in an inspirational presentation written with atheists, agnostics and skeptics in mind. Religious collections as well as general-interest lending libraries will find it thought-provoking.
Bingo! September 6, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Along with Mere Christianity by C.S.Lewis this should be required reading for all Christians of any denomination. Fills you with ammo to defend what you KNOW is true when debating with skeptics and affirms your faith. Excellent!
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