Book Review: The Reason for God

This is my third book by Timothy Keller and my last, at least for a little while. Once again, Keller did not disappoint. This was a nice change from the last two books that I have read by him. The previous two were more expositions on either a section of scripture or one central concept. This book on the other hand, was much more extensive and broad. Now, I've read my share of Apologetic books, but this one was surprisingly different. It mirrored the apologetic style of Lewis more than, say, McDowell or Strobel.

There are a few reasons why I think that this book is better at defending the faith then most. First, he is extremely respectful when it comes to arguments of any kind. I find that most apologetic books can be abrasive to say the least. Don't get me wrong, I understand that when defending the basic tenants of the faith we need to be firm in our stance; it just seems that some authors err on the side of disrespect. Keller does an amazing job with this. He is able to take the arguments of the most critical scholars, concede certain points, and still come out with a rational, conservative Christian stance. The second reason I like this book, is that he is very systematic in his approach. He takes the first half of the book and discusses the major objections to Christianity (i.e. Exclusivism of Christianity, Hell, Inerrancy of Scripture, etc.). Most apologetic authors stop there and seem to have done a fair job arguing against objections. Keller takes it one step further. He then takes the latter half of the book and gives reasons for God. As with his other books, he does a fantastic job of using many different mediums as sources. Being a fanatic Lewis fan, I appreciated his numerous quotations from Lewis throughout this book.

The third and last thing that I really appreciated about this book is his conclusion. Obviously most apologetic books are specifically for believers and detailed explanations in which they can defend their faith through reason and rationality. It is quite clear that Keller is aiming specifically at self-acclaimed skeptics. He takes the last chapter of the book to lead the reader through an acceptance in Jesus Christ. He is quite thorough in doing this. Most authors neglect to do this.

Overall, Keller once again did not disappoint. He gave a great argument on many different cases. The book was well researched and should be appreciated by novice and scholar alike. I challenge you, whether you are a believer or a skeptic to read this book. Either way, you will at least walk away with some heavy arguments to meditate upon.