FB05 – The Reason for God by Timothy Keller
Is God relevant to Life in an age that celebrates Reason and Science?
Timothy Keller persuasively affirms relevance in The Reason for God: Belief in the Age of Skepticism (2008).
In addressing issues of Justice, he cites Wilberforce (abolition of slavery), Bonhoeffer (protestation of Naziism), and Dr Martin Luther King Jr (Civil Rights Movement).
Since memories of the former have largely faded from public consciousness, let’s just consider the case of King. Keller writes:
- When Martin Luther King, Jr., confronted racism in the white church in the South, he did not call on Southern churches to become more secular. Read his sermons and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” and see how he argued. He invoked God’s moral law and the Scripture. He called white Christians to be more true to their own beliefs and to realize what the Bible really teaches. He did not say “Truth is relative and everyone is free to determine what is right or wrong for them.” If anything is relative, there would have been no incentive for white people in the South to give up their power. Rather, Dr. King invoked the prophet Amos, who said, “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream” (Amos 5:24). The greatest champion of justice in our era knew the antidote to racism was not less Christianity, but a deeper and truer Christianity.
Does this view still have a ring of truth about it?
The Library Journal: “Convincing… Refreshing… An excellent conversation-starter, this book presents a valid, well-written, and well-researched argument.”
First published on Facebook Page (My Reads and Views):
www.facebook.com/RonInRegina/posts/139936087875284
First published here: 2020/11/18