Why Christianity is Probably True: Building the Case For a Reasoned, Moral and Relevant Faith
When the New Atheists famously coined the phrase ‘There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life,’ they implicitly suggested that it was no longer reasonable to believe in God.
Brian Harris tackles three of the most common accusations made against the Christian faith, namely that Christianity is intellectually vacuous, morally suspect and experientially empty. He looks at each accusation in turn, outlining the issue in the first chapter of each section, then looking at evidence against the claim before evaluating the argument as a whole. He is clear that he is not trying to ‘prove’ that Christianity is true as he acknowledges that absolute proof is impossible in this life, and in reality there are many tough and challenging questions to be faced – whether you are a Christian believer, a believer in another faith, an agnostic or an atheist.
This book explores these questions in a rigorous but accessible way. It doesn’t offer easy, solve everything answers, but it does build a cumulative case based on reason, history and experience to suggest that God probably exists, and that the Christian understanding of God could well be valid.
There is a subtle but profound shift at work in this book, a shift from the cocky certainty of far too many Western apologists who are given not only to arguments and reasons, but to brash insults of anyone who thinks their reasons might fall short of full proof. This book shifts the argument about God and about Jesus from the word “certain” to the world “probable,” and the word “probable” takes just the sort of stance that can be given an ear in our world: a humble, generous, and kind stance that says “let’s reason about this together, but give us believers a chance, will you please?” I have known many brilliant Christians over the years, but the ones who make the faith most credible (and probable), like Brian Harris, wear their learning lightly and show their faith in their life. One more time, please, give it a chance.
Rev. Canon Dr. Scot McKnight, Professor of New Testament, Northern Seminary
Brian Harris takes the reader on a voyage that sets sail into the teeth of the secular seas in our conflicted world, identifying the jagged reefs that threaten Christianity as “intellectually vacuous, morally suspect, and experientialy empty.” With refreshing transparency, lucid argument, and winsome literary style, he navigates the sojourner to the shore.
Prof David Crutchley, Dean, School of Religion, Carson Newman University
