Review - The Reason for God

The Reason for God by Timothy Keller

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is the first book I've read in a long time, possibly even the first book ever, that is a well-reasoned, intellectually satisfying argument for the existence of God and his divinity in Jesus Christ.

One of the things I like most about Keller's writing is that he comes across as a down-to-earth person who obviously has great respect and patience for people's questions. Not having grown up a Christian, I have often had great difficulty relating to people who speak "Christianese" and justify faith using only the Bible, but Keller's arguments put God and Jesus in a rational, scientific, and historical context. He frames the book in two sections: confronting doubts about Christianity (scientific, cultural, Biblical, historical, etc.) and analyzing the foundations of its claims (particularly about Jesus).

The book comes down to a conclusion that I've heard in many other places--Jesus wasn't just an enlightened teacher. If you read everything he says in the Bible, you will quickly conclude that either he was the son of God . . . or he was a stark raving nutcase. But it's one or the other.

I want to summarize parts of the book here, but I would have to water it down too much for a small post, and I don't think I could do it justice. If I had to recommend one book, though, that sums up all of the reasons why I am a Christian, why my doubts six years ago were not enough to keep me from becoming one, and why, though I continue to struggle with faith, I keep coming back to Christ, it would be this one.

You won't find any irrefutable proof of God in this book (or in life, for that matter), but Keller makes an excellent, gently stated argument.

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