The Reason for God by Timothy Keller

Week 8: Chapter 7 — You Can't Take the Bible Literally

Read Chapter 7 of The Reason for God by Timothy Keller.

Objections to the Bible's reliability, consistency, and authority are some of the most common barriers to Christian faith — Keller addresses them with more nuance than either dismissive skeptics or defensive fundamentalists typically bring. Come ready to think carefully about how you read.

Discussion Questions

7 questions

1.What is your own history with the Bible — have you read it extensively, occasionally, or rarely? What is your default assumption about its reliability going into this chapter?

2.Keller notes that the charge "you can't take the Bible literally" often reveals a confusion about what "literally" means. He argues that every careful reader already reads the Bible with genre awareness — distinguishing poetry from history from letter from prophecy. How does this reframe the question of biblical interpretation?

a.What literary genres can you identify in the Bible? How do you read a poem differently from a historical account?

b.Does acknowledging genre distinctions undermine biblical authority, or does it actually reflect more careful reading?

3.He addresses the objection that the Bible has been edited and changed so many times it can't be trusted. Keller points to the field of textual criticism and the remarkable consistency of the biblical manuscripts. Before reading this chapter, how much did you know about the textual history of the Bible? Has your view shifted?

4.Keller deals with the objection that "we all pick and choose which parts of the Bible to follow" — pointing out that even the most conservative readers make interpretive decisions, and the real question is whether those decisions are principled. Do you think there is a principled way to distinguish between the Bible's timeless moral teaching and its culturally specific applications? What principles would you use?

5.He argues that the parts of the Bible that modern people find most offensive — its demands for forgiveness, enemy-love, and self-sacrifice — are not the parts typically used to dismiss it. It is rather the parts that conflict with contemporary sexual or social ethics. What does this pattern suggest about the source of many objections to biblical authority?

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Closing Prayer

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