The End of Reason: A Response to the New Atheists
by Ravi Zacharias
List Price:
Our Price: $7.37
You Save: $5.62 (43%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Ravi ZachariasForeword: Lee Strobel
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-04-29
ISBN: 0310282519
Number of pages: 144
Publisher: Zondervan
Book Reviews of The End of Reason: A Response to the New Atheists
Book Review: An articulate and cool-headed discussion
Summary: 5 Stars
With The End of Reason, Ravi Zacharias has written a brief but articulate argument responding to "the new atheists." In just under 130 pages--a read of an hour and a half--he refutes many of the claims and charges laid against religion in general and Christianity in particular. But Zacharias's book is not just negative, arguing against atheism, he eloquently argues for belief in God. The result is a well-rounded, thoughtful little book and one of the best apologetic works in recent years.
The End of Reason is primarily a response to Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation. Zacharias uses Harris as a starting point, skilfully countering not only Harris's arguments, but also those of other well-known atheists like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens.
The book is divided into several distinct sections. To begin, Zacharias notes the particular kind of atheist to which he is responding--those that make others "embarassed to be an atheist." He also describes his own past as an atheist and the suicidal hopelessness to which such thought brought him. The second and longest section describes this atheism in philosophical terms. Zacharias outlines this worldview's stance on life's origins, the meaning of life, morality, and hope in a painful world. In the third section, Zacharias sets out to confront and debunk a number of Harris's specific claims, whether of Christianity's inferiority to religions like Buddhism or Jainism or that the Christian doctrine of the virgin birth is erroneously founded on a mistranslation and the root of Christian "anxiety about sex." Zacharias also discusses Pascal's Wager--that the fulfilment brought by Christianity is worthwhile even if the universe turns out to be meaningless--and a number of other major issues.
The final section is perhaps the best, and the lynchpin of Zacharias's book. In the closing pages, Zacharias puts forward a simple, understandable argument for the existence of God and discusses the true meaning of the Eucharist, at once the most important rite of the Christian church and the symbol of the unity brought through Christ to believers around the world. And, in closing, Zacharias suggests that in the end the final decision will not be between atheism and religion, but between Christianity and Islam.
I found this book encouraging and refreshing--encouraging, because it fed my desire to not only believe but to believe for good reason, and refreshing because of its brevity and coolheadedness. What perhaps encouraged me most about the book is the overwhelming tone of reasonableness that Zacharias maintains throughout. Never once does he stoop to the level of crassness and vitriol demonstrated by polemicists like Harris. Instead, Zacharias proves by his own example the kind of peace and fulfillment of which atheism is devoid and only faith can bring. This book is a beautifully clear-headed respite from the current trend of "flame-war" argumentation.
The End of Reason is a good, quick read--like I said, I read it in perhaps an hour and a half. But packed into a very little space is the kind of brain-fodder on which meaningful reflection thrives. Christians will value this book as a defense of the faith; atheists will value this book as a civil counterargument in an ongoing debate.
Highly recommended.
Summary of The End of Reason: A Response to the New Atheists
When you pray, are you talking to a God who exists? Or is God nothing more than your 'imaginary friend,' like a playmate contrived by a lonely and imaginative child? When author Sam Harris attacked Christianity in Letter to a Christian Nation, reviewers called the book 'marvelous' and a generation of readers---hundreds of thousands of them---were drawn to his message. Deeply troubled, Dr. Ravi Zacharias knew that he had to respond. In The End of Reason, Zacharias underscores the dependability of the Bible along with his belief in the power and goodness of God. He confidently refutes Harris's claims that God is nothing more than a figment of one's imagination and that Christians regularly practice intolerance and hatred around the globe. If you found Sam Harris's Letter to a Christian Nation compelling, the book you are holding is exactly what you need. Dr. Zacharias exposes 'the utter bankruptcy of this worldview.' And if you haven't read Harris' book, Ravi's response remains a powerful, passionate, irrefutably sound set of arguments for Christian thought. The clarity and hope in these pages reach out to readers who know and follow God as well as to those who reject God.Christian Living Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Similar Books and other products
Deliver Us From Evilby Ravi Zacharias
Thomas Nelson; Published: 1998-02-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.62
Price in other shops:
Beyond Opinion: Living the Faith We Defendby Ravi Zacharias
Thomas Nelson; Published: 2010-01-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.74
Price in other shops:
Cries of The Heartby Ravi Zacharias
Thomas Nelson; Published: 2002-10-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.93
Price in other shops:
Real Face of Atheism, Theby Ravi Zacharias
Baker Books; Published: 2004-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.66
Price in other shops:
Can Man Live Without Godby Ravi Zacharias
Thomas Nelson; Published: 2004-09-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.64
Price in other shops:
Who Made God?: And Answers to Over 100 Other Tough Questions of Faithby Norman L. Geisler
Zondervan; Published: 2003-08-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.43
Price in other shops:
Why Jesus?: Rediscovering His Truth in an Age of Mass Marketed Spiritualityby Ravi Zacharias
FaithWords; Published: 2012-01-25; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.17
Price in other shops:
Has Christianity Failed You?by Ravi Zacharias
Zondervan; Published: 2010-06-29; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
The Grand Weaver: How God Shapes Us Through the Events of Our Livesby Ravi Zacharias
Zondervan; Published: 2010-06-29; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.51
Price in other shops:
Jesus Among Other Gods: The Absolute Claims of the Christian Messageby Ravi Zacharias
W Publishing Group; Published: 2002-02-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.71
Price in other shops: