Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical

Timothy Keller addresses the intellectual assumptions of secularism by arguing that reason and faith are not mutually exclusive. Unlike his previous works that focus on doctrinal validity, this book examines the underlying cultural frameworks—such as autonomy, justice, and the pursuit of meaning—that lead skeptics to view religion as obsolete. He presents Christianity as a viable explanatory model for human experience, contrasting Christian hope with the limitations of secular humanism. The text analyzes how individuals derive significance through communal identity and moral frameworks, suggesting that a purely materialist worldview lacks the structural support to satisfy universal human desires for purpose and objective morality.

This book serves skeptics who find traditional religious arguments unconvincing but remain curious about the origins of human value and ethics. It also provides religious readers a vocabulary to engage in modern philosophical debates without relying on blind faith. Readers gain a methodical understanding of why secularism is itself a belief system requiring its own set of unproven assumptions. By the end, the reader possesses a clearer framework for comparing the practical outworkings of different worldviews regarding suffering, love, and the concept of a good life.