The Reason for God by Timothy Keller
Week 5: Chapter 4 — The Church Is Responsible for So Much Injustice
Read Chapter 4 of The Reason for God by Timothy Keller
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Read 3 of 7 discussion questions below. Unlock the complete 16-week guide when you’re ready.
The historical crimes committed in the name of Christianity — the Crusades, the Inquisition, colonialism, slavery — are real, and Keller does not minimize them. His question is whether these failures disprove Christianity or reveal something else entirely.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.Keller acknowledges the genuine historical evils done in the name of Christianity without flinching. How did you respond to his willingness to admit the church's failures? Does intellectual honesty about Christian history strengthen or weaken his overall case, in your view?
2.He makes the argument that the atrocities committed by Christians were done in direct violation of the teachings of Jesus — and that the reformers and abolitionists who eventually corrected those evils were also motivated by Christian faith. How strong is this argument? Does it excuse the church, or simply clarify what is actually being evaluated?
a.Is it fair to judge a religion by the worst behavior of its followers, or by its core teachings?
b.By the same standard, how would secular ideologies like Marxism or nationalism fare?
3.Keller points out that the 20th century's most systematic violence was carried out by explicitly secular regimes — Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, Maoist China — and that this does not make secularism evil any more than the Crusades make Christianity evil. Is this a fair parallel? Why or why not?