Making Sense of God by Timothy Keller
Week 10: Chapter 9 — The Problem of Freedom
Read Chapter 9 of Making Sense of God by Timothy Keller.
Previewing Week 10 of Making Sense of God
Read 3 of 7 discussion questions below. Unlock the complete 14-week guide when you’re ready.
Keller returns to the theme of freedom in greater depth here, examining how Christianity offers a richer account of human freedom than the autonomous self-determination that modern culture idealizes.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.In this chapter, Keller deepens his earlier discussion of freedom by engaging with the concept of 'moral weight' — the intuition that some choices genuinely matter, that some things are really right or wrong. How does this intuition create a problem for purely secular accounts of freedom?
2.He argues that if human beings are purely the product of nature and environment — if our desires and values are entirely determined by genes and culture — then 'freedom' becomes an incoherent concept. Do you find this argument convincing? What are its implications?
3.Keller explores the paradox that the most deeply 'free' people we admire — those with great moral courage, self-sacrifice, or creative achievement — are almost always people of enormous inner discipline and commitment. How does this complicate the idea that freedom means 'doing what you want'?