Making Sense of God by Timothy Keller
Week 9: Chapter 8 — The Problem of Satisfaction
Read Chapter 8 of Making Sense of God by Timothy Keller.
Previewing Week 9 of Making Sense of God
Read 3 of 7 discussion questions below. Unlock the complete 14-week guide when you’re ready.
Human beings are remarkably bad at being satisfied — we desire intensely, acquire what we desire, and then desire again — and Keller argues this restlessness is not a bug to be fixed but a clue to be followed.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Keller describes the experience of 'inconsolable longing' — a deep desire for something we cannot quite name or find, which C.S. Lewis called 'Sehnsucht' and which Keller connects to Augustine's famous line about the restless heart. Have you experienced this longing? How would you describe it?
2.He argues that consumer culture promises satisfaction through acquisition and experience but is structurally designed to prevent it — perpetual desire is more profitable than contentment. Do you agree with this diagnosis? Where do you see it most clearly?
3.Keller distinguishes between pleasures that genuinely satisfy (even temporarily) and the deeper longing that no finite pleasure can fill. How does he use this distinction to point beyond the material world? Does this argument depend on a specifically Christian worldview to work, or is it observable to anyone?
a.Think of something you wanted for a long time that you eventually received. How did your satisfaction compare to your anticipation?
b.What does this pattern suggest to you — about yourself, about what you are made for?