WORLD Magazine Book of the Year: The Reason For God
Marvin Olasky pens a great article and interview with Tim Keller, author of WORLD magazine's Book of The Year, The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism (Dutton, 2008). Excerpt:
WORLD: What's the difference between proofs of God's existence and "clues of God"—and why is the difference important?Read the whole thing (need to login to access the full text).KELLER: I can give you enough rational reasons to believe in God that fall short of demonstrable proof but that cumulatively give me warrant to say that Christianity makes more sense than alternate views of reality.
There are enough clues of God's existence that when you add them all up it makes more sense to believe in God than to not. That's short of proof. And if somebody says, you haven't proven it to me so I don't have to believe it, they're using a naïve rationality. The fact is, they believe all kinds of stuff they can't prove.
Comments
There are enough clues of God's existence that when you add them all up it makes more sense to believe in God than to not. That's short of proof. And if somebody says, you haven't proven it to me so I don't have to believe it, they're using a naïve rationality. The fact is, they believe all kinds of stuff they can't prove.
"You haven't proven it to me so I don't have to believe it" is exactly the kind of thing one also hears from creationists, especially young-earth creationists, when presented with evidence (or "clues") of an old earth and common descent of all life. Unfortunately, that's an analogy that Keller doesn't pursue, probably because it would alienate some of his fans.
His book is an embarrassment. But that is essentially the problem: Christians who are aware of its shortcomings don't want to talk about them. I think the best use of this book would be in a critical-thinking course at a Christian college, so that students would really learn that an argument should not be judged by whether you agree with the conclusion. I posted some specific complaints about the book on this amazon review.
Posted by: Peter | July 15, 2008 01:39 AM