The Good News

A WSJ article by David Skeel is posted on this site:

http://www.livingfreetoday.org/blog/wordpress/?p=234

The article talks about C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity (Lewis wrote the Narnia series but also was a prolific Christian commentator) and about the similar books published since that one that have sought to explain and defend Christianity. (Lewis' book was highly influential and has been used by many Christians to help evangelize others, meaning to share the good news of Christ with them.) I am especially eager to draw notice to Skeel's article because he commends a recent publication by the reverend at my church, Redeemer Presbyterian, here in New York City. www.redeemer.com (I shall have to post my own comments on Keller's book in a later post, but suffice it to say for now that I really enjoyed it.)

Read an excerpt of Skeel's article here:

"As it turns out, Tim Keller’s “The Reason for God” (2008), the book recommended by my friend, is the best of the “Mere Christianity” wannabes. Mr. Keller argues that the usual objections to Christianity—that it is a straitjacket, that there cannot be just one true religion—are themselves the product of a particular (secular Western) point of view. He then builds an affirmative case for Christianity, suggesting that the Big Bang and our appreciation of beauty are clues pointing to God and that Christ’s resurrection was so unlikely both to Greeks and Romans (who viewed the material world as weak and corrupt) and to Jews (who expected any resurrection to come at the end of time) that it cannot be dismissed as the clever marketing strategy of a new religion. If this sounds a little like N.T. Wright, it isn’t accidental: Mr. Keller draws liberally from him, as well as Lewis, Christian philosopher Alvin Plantinga (a professor at Notre Dame) and others. “The Reason for God” is as sensible and winsome as one would expect from the pastor of a latticework of churches that draw more than 5,000 attendees in New York City every Sunday, most of them young, single, urban professionals. But it too is no “Mere Christianity.” It does not have the original arguments or the magical prose of Lewis’s classic."

I'm not sure I would agree with the reasoning behind Skeel's last comment, that it doesn't have the original arguments of Lewis' book. That seems flawed logic to assume that ANY book about Christianity has original arguments for why Christianity is the truth -- all arguments have been discussed and taught for 2,000 years. Lewis' book may have presented the material in a stand-out way so as to attract noteworthy attention (including using his 'magical prose') in his time period, but certainly the inherent messages he was conveying was nothing new. At any rate, the good thing is that it was successful, and the people of his day, including many in our modern society, perked up their ears and took in the Christian message (the real Good News).
And also, Skeel's article is still a compliment for Keller. I encourage everyone to pick up a copy of Keller's and/or Lewis' books today!