Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical

Tim Keller, Pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, is a prolific writer and influential leader in the evangelical world. There is none of the bluster with him which is commonly associated with evangelical preachers, in his speaking or his writing. Keller is a calm, measured voice committed to what he sees as biblical truth.Keller’s book, Making Sense of God, is something of a follow-up to his book The Reason for God. Keller went with a more conventional apologetic approach in The Reason for God but in this latest book he acknowledges that while this approach has its place, for many people today it is necessary to establish why considering the truth of Christianity is something that is even worthwhile to do. Many people in today’s world consider Christianity irrelevant, outmoded, unnecessary in an age of science, reason and technology. Keller’s aim in Making Sense of God is to gently undermine this view of Christianity and to show the superior value of a Christian worldview.Keller begins by challenging the notion that the world is becoming more secular. He also challenges the idea that non-religious people live by reason while religious people live by faith. Keller contends that a variety of factors lead us to embrace our worldview. In these first two chapters Keller leans on the work of Charles Taylor to understand contemporary Western culture. The goal of these first two chapters seems to be to cause the disinterested or the skeptical to question their assumptions and crack open the door to the Christian worldview.In the heart of the book, Keller takes eight chapters to show how Christianity presents us with an integrated worldview, which gives meaning that suffering can’t take away, satisfaction not based on circumstances, a life of self-giving love, an identity that doesn’t crush the individual or cause her to exclude others, a hope that can face anything, true morality and a justice that does not create oppressors. This section of the book presents a compelling case for the value of Christianity. Throughout this section Keller also consistently contrasts the Christian worldview with the secular/humanist worldview and shows the secular view lacking in providing us with a holistic path forward in the world.Keller concludes the book with two chapters and an epilogue on the issue of believing. Keller says at the outset of this section that he can not demonstrably prove that religion is true. Nor, he says, can the secularist demonstrably prove his view. Keller’s view is that we need to weigh the evidence of the worldviews. Which makes the most sense emotionally, culturally and rationally? Keller made the argument in the second section of the book that Christianity is the most compelling worldview and therefore is worthy of our allegiance. Keller concludes the book with a more traditional apologetic for the existence of God and the reality of Jesus as a way to address the nagging doubts of those who may have cracked open the door in the first section and opened it in the second section of the book but are still hesitant to cross the threshold to faith in Christ. In chapter 11, Keller marshals the most common arguments for God’s existence, being careful to note that while none of these arguments is conclusive in itself, taken together they form a rational basis for belief in God. But Keller goes on in chapter 12 to the person of Jesus Christ, the heart of Christian faith. He says we could come away from chapter 11 convinced of the existence of God but this would not make us distinctively Christian. So Keller takes time for a defense of the reasonableness of faith in Jesus, using the common arguments for the authenticity of His life and ministry. The Epilogue fittingly concludes the book with the story of Langdon Gilkey, a humanist who was imprisoned in China during the Japanese invasion. Gilkey’s worldview crumbled under the increasingly difficult circumstances he found in the prison camp. At the same time, Gilkey saw a living example of the Christian worldview in the person of Eric Liddell, the former Olympic champion who was working in China as a missionary when he was captured and imprisoned. The process of change in worldview that happened in Gilkey’s life is the same change Keller hopes to see in others who take up and read his book.

Tim Keller continues his run of well-researched and readable books for the seeker with an inquiring mind with this “prequel” to his excellent book “A Reason for God”. This book is a prequel because it addresses and challenges many of the background beliefs that shape the secular world view, often without overt acknowledgement, that lurk behind the given explicit reasons for “not God”. Such background beliefs may keep secularists from even considering the Christian faith. The pity is that this might also keep them from reading this book. Even so, this book can equip believers who are in relationship with secularists to understand where they are coming from, and how the Gospel addresses their deepest needs, including the shortcomings of the secularist position. With such a relationship in place, a secularist might be induced to read it.First, the good:1. The material in this book is the fruit of weekly discussions for skeptics held at Redeemer Presbyterian church in New York City, where Keller is Pastor. As a result the scope and content is in tune with the current secularism of the big-city urbane.2. Keller has a knack for presenting the essence of complex topics with a clarity that makes the book a pleasure to read.3. Assertions are backed up with extensive quotes, references, and 67 pages of notes.4. The flow of the book is logical. In Part 1, unfounded assumptions of secularism are challenged, and the case is made that both belief in God and secularism are both based on some kind of faith. This leads to Part 2, where the case is made that Christian faith makes a firm foundation for many secular beliefs that are otherwise unfounded. Finally, in Part 3, the reader is asked to evaluate which of the two views, belief in God or secularism, makes the most sense, based on the preceding.Next, the not-so-good:1. Perhaps as is inevitable when broad and deep topics are dealt with in summary fashion, people knowledgeable in those areas will find nits to pick. This does not matter much when assertions are fair, and Keller generally goes out of his way to treat fairly how a secularist might respond to the arguments he makes. Endless qualifications, appropriate in academia, would significantly detract from the readability of the book. But the following are to me more than nits.2. On p217 Keller asserts that “Nothing cannot produce something”. This would have never been challenged 50 years ago. But advances in cosmology since then have made it quite conceivable that something, including the universe (which is the context of his assertion), could have come from nothing. Evidence in support of a mechanism for the hyperinflation of the universe during the first tiny fraction of a second after the big bang has been gained by the COBE explorer. This mechanism, in conjunction with spontaneous particle creation from vacuum fluctuations, makes spontaneous creation of the universe conceivable within the framework of the laws of physics. It is surprising and disappointing that Keller does not appear to be aware of this. It is important because it appears to undermine the rationale of his argument. It can always be said, of course, that the question remains of what it is that determined the laws of physics. But that is what should have been in his argument.3. On p230 Keller quotes Richard Bauckham as stating: “All scholars agree that Gospel traditions must originally have been formulated by disciples of Jesus and others who encountered him, witnessed the events, and remembered his teaching”. While that may be true of all conservative scholars, not all liberal scholars are convinced of that. The statement is important because it inaccurately conveys a level of certainty that not all share, even though the overall case for the statement may be good. I doubt that all scholars agree on anything.4. A perhaps more serious concern is that, in Part 1, the juxtaposition of the faith-base of belief in God with the faith-base of secularism does not do justice to the force of the impact of science on the cognoscenti, an impact that has led to the materialistic world-view that underlies secularism. Many secularists would grant that the Christian world view would indeed provide a much rosier view of life than a secularist view, but the demythologizing influence of science has for many been very persuasive, and has rendered God an unnecessary hypothesis. The power of this viewpoint is under-represented when the God/notGod arguments are placed on a par just because of their common faith-base. A secularist might justifiably respond that the faith-base of secularism has proven reliable with the success and advancement of science, while the faith-base of belief in God seems to require a much bigger leap. To my mind, a better approach is to think more critically about whether there are things that materialism definitely cannot account for. The argument from consciousness on p222 has the potential to do this, but the argument is under-developed. A rigorous defeater of materialism (physicalism) could go a long way towards making secular people seriously reconsider their position, at least for those whose objections are genuinely world-view based.Conclusion: in spite of the above reservations, this is a book that can usefully serve to challenge the assumptions of secularists, and potentially remove some barriers to faith.

Possibly Keller's best book.So enjoyed reading this and sharing quotes on social media to sceptical friends, it caused a few conversations.This has the usual gracious tone from Tim Keller. I always love his ability to build his case using a wide array of sources, (the footnotes alone take up 30% of the book and could provide a years reading on their own!)He argues that secular humanism is also based on certain presuppositions that cannot be proved. There are faith based beliefs which cannot be scientific proved. He then seeks to convey that theistic belief makes more sense of the world in terms of morality, identity, purpose/meaning and beauty than secular humanism does.The final section of the book argues for the validity of the person and works of Jesus in particular.Will it convince a committed atheist, probably not, I dont think any book alone will do that. Should it raise questions, yes. Should it make us all think carefully, yes definitely.A must read, for Christians to think more carefully about our atheist and agnostic peers, our own ideas and for the bibliography !!

I came about this book when I heard that Tim Keller wrote a 'sequel' after 'The Reason for God', a book I've read couple of times and I though it was brilliant.My feeling is that 'Making Sense of God' goes a step backwards and addresses questions and dilemas for readers whom the idea of God is distant and perhaps have not though much about it and dismissed the idea of God.What I like from this book is:- how clear and 'concise' the arguments are.- large amounts of resources and quotes from thinkers and scholars.- it generally starts with the argument against.I'll very much recommend it to anyone really.

Loved the book. Thought it easily readable. Not too much deep theology. Restored my commitment to continue believing and praying. The author is a very likeable individual and happy in his way of life. I would recommend the book to ‘ doubting Thomases’ everywhere.

Every age needs to reinterpret God and the Christian message for living generations. The secularists and humanists in modern society assume we are at the highest level of development by freeing ourselves from the belief in God.This book questions all those secular assumptions and sheds new light of the need for religion and Christianity in modern life.Personally, I think it does an excellent job and is essential reading, especially if you were convinced by Richard Dawkins' book "The God Delusion".Scientists think they have all the answers but in fact, they know nothing of your individual human needs. This book examines the really important questions that matter to human individuals and that underpin our society.

A book that really makes you question your attitudes, your morality, and gives you an insight into how society can influence our opinions. It's a book to take your time over & allow the concepts to sink in. It's given me confidence to defend my faith & coherent arguments to do this.