CHRISTIAN LIT: The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller

 STORYTELLING: 5/5 

WRITING STYLE: 5/5

THEMES/MESSAGE: 5/5

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: 5/5

IMPACT/ENGAGEMENT: 5/5

Total Grade: A (100%)

This is the first book on Christian Theology that I’ve read in its entirety and it was a bittersweet experience: sweet, because it was marvelous and I consumed every page, but bitter, because I’ll never get to read it for the first time ever again. While the categories listed above are more compatible with novels than essayistic books, I’m going to hit those points as well as I can while also discussing my personal process of reading the late Timothy Keller’s words. Note: I’ve never annotated a book so fervently in my life (apart from the Bible). 

In a way, the book is structured like an argumentative essay. Keller’s asking the reader to look at things from a certain perspective while providing excerpts, evidence, personal testimonies, interviews, historical references, and passages from the Bible, though verses are used a bit more sparingly than one might expect. The book really is meant to make you stop, take stock, think about your life, and confront your beliefs. You’re an atheist? Interesting, tell me why. You’re an agnostic? Interesting, tell me why. You dislike all organized religion? Interesting, tell me why. Keller writes with a great deal of patience and understanding which I found really humbling. The book is separated into two parts, the first seven chapters falling under “Part 1: The Leap of Doubt,” and the following seven chapters falling under “Part 2: The Reasons for Faith.” There’s an Epilogue that I believe would be wildly helpful, particularly for the non-believer (or soon to be believer, or just general curious person) to utilize. The book is measured, complete and robust, brimming with a heck of a lot of wisdom. I can’t wait to read this again and again throughout my life, and to share it with so many people I care about. 

There is a linearity in the book which is connected to storytelling. We begin with unbelief, a state in which many people are living in, and it’s truly lovely to see the genuine care Keller holds for people. If there was anything about the author himself that was communicated through the book (and this is done implicitly, as a sort of side effect), it’s that he really loves people, he loves God and cares about people making well informed decisions concerning faith, truth, and justice. His writing style is simple and accessible. Even in the deeply philosophical discussions that take place toward the middle of the book (covering science, history, theory, etc.). The voice is straightforward, logical, concise, and caring. There’s always more to learn and learning is a beautiful thing. 

There were a few places that really took my breath away, and it wasn’t until I reached the twelfth chapter that I wholeheartedly decided that participating in a well-rounded argument is one of my love languages. I love thinking, I love logic, and the book invokes both at every turn. The first chapter that really moved me was “Chapter 5: How Can A Loving God Send People to Hell?” which reads, 

“That is why it is a travesty to picture God casting people into a pit who are crying ‘I’m sorry! Let me out!’ The people on the bus from hell in Lewis’s parable would rather have their ‘freedom,’ as they define it, than salvation. Their delusion is that, if they glorified God, they would somehow lose power and freedom, but in a supreme and tragic irony, their choice has ruined their own potential for greatness. Hell is, as Lewis says, ‘the greatest monument to human freedom.’ As Romans 1:24 says, God ‘gave them up to…their desires.’ All God does in the end with people is give them what they most want, including freedom from himself. What could be more fair than that?” (82). 

A hard pill to swallow for some, or a pill a person might never choose to swallow, but it changed the way I thought about things. That’s the mark of literature–it changes the way you think. Of course, by the time you read this in the book, you’re more prepared for it than you are when reading it in the middle of a book review. There’s a lot of scaffolding that takes place so the reader is in step with these conversations, debates, and discussions being examined. Later in “Chapter 9: The Knowledge of God,” Keller discusses the topic of human rights, a portion of which reads, 

“The fact is, says Leff, all moral valuations are subjective and internal, and there can be no external moral standard by which a person’s feelings and values are judged…If you believe human rights are a reality, then it makes much more sense that God exists than that he does not. If you insist on a secular view of the world and yet continue to pronounce some things right and some things wrong, then I hope you see the deep disharmony between the world your intellect has devised and the real world (and God) that your heart knows exists. This leads us to a crucial question. If a premise (‘There is no God’) leads to a conclusion you know isn’t true (‘Napalming babies is culturally relative’) then why not change the premise?” (159-162). 

Another deep, contemplative idea to conquer, but Keller does so with a lot of grace, always taking a moment to play the devil’s advocate (irony intended), and allowing room for expected contradictions and resistance. But the arguments are sound and they accomplish something so important. There's this popular assumption lingering among non-believers that the majority of Christians are simple-minded, over-emotional, traumatized and confusedly “saved” by some convenient, religious respite. Or, people think Christians are “Christians” because they’ve grown up in a Christian household, and, therefore, are limited in their education–it’s a cultural thing, not a faith thing, in a sense. In truth, that's the way I used to see things before I really believed. 

But, as 1 Peter 3:15 reads, “But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” I don’t take this lightly, and I don’t think anyone should take their beliefs lightly. Beliefs, values, faith–these are things people died and continue to die for. Keller, throughout this book, is simply calling his reader to be able to stand by whatever it is they believe, and if you can’t, if you’re indifferent, it’s time that you demand more of yourself. It’s time that you demand more of your life and your soul because both are precious, not just to you or to the people around you, but to God. You are important to God and you should care about that. 

In the epilogue, Keller writes, “However, if Jesus was not a lunatic, then our only alternative is to accept his claims and center our entire lives around him. The one thing we have no right to do is to respond to him mildly…Christians are people who let the reality of Jesus change everything about who they are, how they see, and how they live,” (240-241). If there was a book (outside of the Bible, of course) that I'd want everyone to read in their lifetime, it’s this one. It makes you think, moves your heart, and confronts any sort of spiritual lethargy that’s been left unchallenged. What a treasure, one made great for the fact that it points to the ultimate treasure.