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Book Review
Tough questions find answer in God
Reviewed by Andrew Junker, ajunker@catholicsun.org
August 21, 2008
In addition to writing more than 40 books, Peter Kreeft is also — or maybe foremost — a teacher. His experience in the classroom shines through in all his writing.
His books on Catholic apologetics and theology feel like dialogues, conversations between Kreeft and his reader, where ideas and truths are discovered together.
In “Because God is Real: Sixteen Questions, One Answer,” Kreeft continues this dialogic tradition.
“Why are questions good?” Kreeft asks at the beginning of chapter one, and then breaks that query into subsections like, “Which questions are we talking about?”
“Our 16 questions are no ordinary questions, like ‘What’s on TV tonight?’ or ‘Who is the president of France?’” Kreeft writes. “They are 16 of the most important questions you can ask, like ‘Why do I exist?’ and ‘Why must we die?’ and ‘Why aren’t we happy?’”
Kreeft begins to answer all of these questions and more in clear, concise and lively prose. He manages to walk the line between a friendly, familiar tone without ever coming across as flippant.
These are important questions, Kreeft writes, and they deserve well-reasoned — but readable — answers.
There’s also a great benefit in presenting these topics on life, purpose and the nature of God and the Church in a question-and-answer format. It helps to break up some of the denser subjects and allows the reader to engage the text better — as if she were in a classroom discussing happiness with Kreeft himself.
It’s especially helpful when dealing with large, unwieldy topics like the chapter titled, “Why is Jesus different?” — that is, different than other prophets or founders of religion. This is the sort of question Kreeft excels at answering.
First, he finds the proper starting point to answer the question. If Jesus is different than Confucius or Moses, we should probably start with who Jesus is.
“The answer to these questions is found in the earliest creed in the history of Christianity,” Kreeft writes. That creed was written before the Nicene Creed that we recite at Mass and even the earlier Apostles’ Creed. This earliest creed is mentioned twice in the New Testament, Kreeft writes.
“It consists of only three words: ‘Jesus is Lord,’” he writes. “The Greek word translated ‘Lord,’ kyrios, means ‘God,’ not any merely human lord, like a king or a master of servants. ‘Jesus is Lord’ means ‘Jesus is God.’ This is the essential belief of Christianity.”
The next question builds upon the previous answer: “What makes this belief different from those of other religions?”
After showing the reader who the Bible claims Jesus is, Kreeft proceeds to show how this is a claim not found in the other major religions. Then, he investigates whether such a claim is ridiculous or not.
And while it would be easy for Kreeft to create straw man arguments and questions to answer, he admirably tackles real issues and difficult objections to the faith. That he manages to answer these objections convincingly and with good humor probably plays a part in why he is such a successful author.
Kreeft knows that human beings are curious by nature, and he knows what we want is truth and authenticity. The fact that it can sometimes be difficult to find the authentic truth in such a synthetic culture is why a book like “Because God is Real” is so important.
Andrew Junker is a staff writer for The Catholic Sun. Comments are welcome. Send e-mail to letters@catholicsun.org.
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