Gavin Ortlund - Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesnt: The Beauty of Christian Theism

In a few short years, Ortlund has become one of the worlds leading Christian scholars. This book delivers on its pledge to be both scholarly and inspiring. Writing from the heart, he shows us the eminent plausibility of the existence of Godand of the resurrection of Jesus. Ultimately, what sets this book apart is that Ortlund never overpromises and always engages the best counterarguments with scrupulous fairness, demonstrating in the process an amazing mastery of the Christian tradition and philosophical and scientific literature. A book to savor, and to pass on to friends and family.

Matthew Levering , Mundelein Seminary

In this engaging book, Ortlund stirs our deepest hopes and longings for infinite beauty and perfect goodness, longings we often ignore or repress. He goes on to argue that there are good reasons to sustain these hopes and that truth, goodness, and beauty are ultimately aligned. This is the ideal book to give thoughtful unbelievers, and one that believers will find most useful as a model for intelligent evangelism in the twenty-first century.

Jerry L. Walls , Houston Baptist University

In this remarkably lucid and engaging book, Ortlund asks us to reflect on the affective dimensions of a belief in God as the supreme source of truth, beauty, and goodness. When listening to music, or reflecting on the laws of mathematics, or expressing profound moral convictions, we sometimes experience longings for a transcendent beyond that cannot be contained within the realm of the natural. The Christian story, Ortlund argues, offers us a profound story in which these deepest yearnings of the human spirit are satisfied. Ortlunds compelling case is made with philosophical clarity, candor, and an impressive use of a wide variety of illustrations from fiction, poetry, and film.

Richard J. Mouw , Paul B. Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics, Calvin University

Ortlund has written a marvelous, engaging book that defends the coherence, beauty, and power of the Christian storythe one story to rule them all. He effectively shows how the naturalistic story in particular fails to furnish an explanatory account of the nature of the universe, of human experience, and of the deepest longings of the human heart. Rather, all of these things hold together in Jesus Christ, whose resurrection grounds the hope that everything sad will become untrue.

Paul Copan , Palm Beach Atlantic University; author of Loving Wisdom: A Guide to Philosophy and Christian Faith

Ortlunds considerable talents applied to the ultimate question have yielded an impressive and eminently readable treatise that is both academically rigorous and deeply personal. Impressively researched and beautifully crafted, this book makes contagious the authors obvious delight at exploring lifes mysteries, and it casts an animating vision of gripping beauty and enchanting transcendence. Without triumphalism it features epistemically modest yet hearty reasoning that invites readers into a conversation and into close consideration of existentially central threads of evidencefrom math to moralsthat end up weaving a lovely tapestry and providing a needed corrective to the postmodern fragmentation of truth, goodness, and beauty.

David Baggett , Center for Moral Apologetics, Houston Baptist University

If youve long thought that Christianity is unsophisticated and by the looks of things a boring way to live, and yet every now and again you find yourself wondering, But just what if there is something to it? then Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesnt is a book you should read. Gavin Ortlund avoids the overreach of attempting to prove God. Instead, he argues that belief in God and the Christian story is more rational and desirable than believing in atheism and the story that naturalism tells about the world. Ortlund serves as a careful guide through the arguments, engages the other side fairly, and admits he knows what it feels like to doubt. At the core of Christianity are the claims that there is a God and that Jesus rose from the dead. If true, they change everything. If false, they are some of the biggest errors of all time. Either way, these claims are worth your attention. This book will help you consider how wagering on God and Jesus might surprisingly make sense to you after all.

Josh Chatraw , executive director, Center for Public Christianity