The Reason for God

Due to my busy schedule in May / June, my reading has taken a back seat until the last couple of weeks. To end my reading fast, I pick up Tim Keller's The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism. (Here is a link to the book's website.) Dr. Keller leads the Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. He planted this church some 15 years ago and the congregation averages over 5000 each week. His strength is communicating the gospel to a multi-cultural, postmodern society -- and this is the purpose of his book.

At this junction, I would like to draw the opinion of Mark Meynall and his review of the book. (I admit it. I'm too lazy to reinvent the wheel.) He makes four points:

• It is very readable - in fact it is basically a précis of countless conversations Keller has had with various archetypal Manhattan sceptics. The standard format is "X asked me this… and Y asked me that …"; "and this is how I answered them…". So it is not exposition as such (a small point is that the book could have benefited from more explicit biblical material), but it is fair to say that it is thoroughly 'bibline'!**
• The format is not accidental - because the aim of this book is to tackle all the big ones that people ask - or rather, all the big ones that sophisticated New Yorkers ask. So it may be that these are not necessarily the questions your friends are asking. So for example, the American political context (with its caricatures of 'liberal left' and 'religious/evangelical right') is such that it is necessary to say more about how the gospel transcends these boundaries - in our more secular European settings, the presenting issues are slightly different. But i would think that there are few questions out there that have not been addressed in some shape or form by this book.
• It is full of thought-provoking angles and arguments, and helps to put things on the front foot by exposing the flaws in current thinking.
• Keller has read deeply and widely - and it shows. By that I don't mean that he does this in a showy way - it is all very constructive and handled with a very light touch. So it is not like reading one of those doorstops in which there seems to be footnote for every line or Notes pages taking up more space than the main book. The point is that Keller is constantly tapping into popular culture and secular thinking in order to engage. I am convinced that this is both fundamentally necessary for us all as we seek to communicate to our culture and provides a very strong model. I think this is particularly powerful in his articulation of the problem of sin (a more unpalatable or culturally incorrect subject one could perhaps not find these days!).

Keller's book is a great read and shows us that it is very possible to reach today's postmodern generation.

Update on Shestopalov Family (3)

On Tuesday, July 28, I had the opportunity to spend an afternoon with our Russian overseer Vladimir Shestopalov and his wife Aphrodite. It was the first time for me to see them since the tragic events from last month (see earlier posts). I wasn't quite sure what to expect. But I think they are holding up well considering what they have gone through.

Aphrodite is still wearing a cast for her broken elbow. Vladimir is still taking pills for the kidney damage from the accident. The second oldest daughter is healing on schedule from her broken legs. But the patient with the longest path of recovery ahead is the oldest daughter Christine. She has several fractures of the facial bones and will face future surgeries once the current bruises / swelled areas have gone area. Due to the swelling, an acurate diagnosis has been slow in coming.

In describing the accident, the police calculated that Shestopalovs were traving about 60 mph *100 km/h) on the highway when an upcoming car doing 100 mph (160 km/h) crossed the yellow line and hit them head-on. Both cars rolled over several times before coming to a stop. It's a miracle that anyone survived the accident - and of course, there was one fatality.

The Shestopalovs have had strong support from the local church and from their ministerial colleagues in Russia. And they are also grateful for the prayers and support they have received from abroad. But they continue to be in our need of our prayers.