One of the hardest parts of apologetics is speaking in such a way that people who disagree with you want to interact with you. Far too often, apologists find themselves reaching those already in the choir. The choir gets excited, but few new members join. The result is an echo chamber full of very convinced people who cannot get their message out. Tim Keller is an apologist who skillfully exited the echo chamber in his 2008 book The Reason for God, and who ably repeats the feat in his new offering, Making Sense of God.
While Reason dealt with traditional doubts concerning the teachings of Christianity (existence of God, hell, and so on), Making Sense attempts to convince skeptics that they should want to believe Christianity. Keller argues that Christianity is not only true (as in Reason), but that it is the best belief system for a life and community of meaning, hope, satisfaction, morality, and human rights.
The book is divided into three sections. Part 1 combats the widely held Western belief that secularism has defeated religion. Keller points out that these Western assumptions are just that: Western. Appealing to the postmodern virtue of globalization, Keller shows that the “death of religion” idea fails to account for Christianity’s explosive growth in Asia, Africa, and South America. This argumentation illustrates Keller’s acuity in using our culture’s own values to point to Christ and his gospel without succumbing to it entirely. The foundation of his thought is always scriptural; but rather than lobbing logic bombs from an ivory tower, Keller allows this biblical foundation to anchor him as he confidently wades in the stream of postmodern culture and thought. This is certainly one of the reasons Keller is so fruitful to read for both Christians and non-Christians. It is also the reason that the conclusion of part 1 lands its blow so successfully: modern secularism is just as faith-based as religion.
Part 2 follows this conclusion by outlining why faith in Christianity is desirable and necessary. Keller again shows cultural wisdom in the aspects of Christianity he chooses to discuss, such as meaning, the self, personal freedom, and justice. I say “wise” rather than “shrewd,” because Keller’s choices reflect a desire to reach out to those steeped in secularism, instead of resting contentedly in well-trodden theistic argumentation. For example, Keller’s chapter on hope is not a puff piece on escapism and how much better the new heavens and new earth will be from our current experience. Rather, Keller pauses to consider the terrifying existential reality of death—not to scare the reader to Christ, but to show the personal love of the Savior. This Savior took upon himself that terrifying existential reality so that our experience wouldn’t have to be so terrifying. Keller is thus able to present the gospel not as the horror story it sometimes is made to be, but the love story it truly is.
Another example of Keller’s cultural aptitude is his refreshing perspective on postmodernism. In his chapter on the self, Keller outlines the “ancient” and “modern” views of the self—the former being grounded in tribal identity while the latter is rooted in the individual. As a Millennial, I braced myself for a diatribe against my generation’s proverbial dropping of the torch, a critique I’d heard from many a pulpit. But the diatribe never came. In fact, Keller recognizes that postmodernity has done much to overthrow “extremely hierarchical societies” and “rigid, exploitative social stratification,” which have victimized oppressed groups, such as the poor and racially oppressed (123–24). Of course, Keller still discusses the dangers of such individualism, but it is a welcome surprise to see the positive results of postmodernism acknowledged in a work of apologetics. Keller’s answer to postmodernity is not to return to modernism but to recognize Christianity as the “‘nontotalizing metanarrative,’ a nonoppressive absolute” (205).
In the third and final part of the book, Keller offers the skeptic a case for Christian faith, utilizing the foundational arguments he presented in parts 1 and 2. As I said earlier, Keller’s goal here is not necessarily conversion, but to invite the skeptic to consider the value and coherence of Christianity. Some may see this limited goal as a weakness, and I assume that most critiques of the book will focus on the third part. However, Keller’s aim is to engage the secular mind-set that is ubiquitous in his context of Manhattan and that is more present in the church than most leaders realize. Doubts and questions are viewed by Keller as objects for engagement and discussion rather than as enemies to be destroyed. Some may call this a weakness, but I think it is a strength.
I highly recommend Keller’s newest book. The breadth of research (read the endnotes) will leave readers with a longer list of books and articles on their reading list than when they first began. The tone is welcoming and intellectual in the best sense of both words. The thoughtfulness of the argument will bear fruit for all who read it—whether evangelistic, homiletical, personal, devotional, or pastoral. I can perhaps give no greater recommendation for a work whose subtitle is An Invitation to the Skeptical than to say that I plan on buying many more copies to give to those questioning, doubting, and skeptical.
Andy Smith is a licentiate in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and graduate of Westminster Seminary California. He lives in Chicago, where he participates in the OPC’s church planting efforts.
