Impact University Book Club: Week 1 Study Notes

Pages ix -- 17

1. Timothy Keller begins his book by making the odd assertion that "The Enemies Are Both Right." Who are the enemies he references? What does he mean in saying they are both right?
2. He goes further on p. x, sayng that the world is "getting both more religious and less religious at the same time." This is causing the world to "polarize." Why?
3. As a young man Tim Keller wrestled with the inconsistencies on both sides of the debate between "progressives" who seemed passionate about social justice issues while being moral relativists and "conservatives" who while passionate about personal morality "didn't seem to care about the oppression going on all over the world" (p. xi). ("Christianity began to seem unreal to me"). This led him to "desperately" seek a "third camp" (a "band of brothers"). What is this "third camp"? Is it something you have also sought? Have you found it?
4. The polarization deepens because the two sides don't know how to debate with each other. They (we) are only good at denouncing each other. With that in mind, what is the meaning of the following statement? -- "Arguments depend on having commonly held reference points that both sides can hold each other to" (p. xiv).
5. What does Keller mean in saying that we should "listen patiently" to our own doubts and only discard them after long reflection." (p. xv)?
6. How do you interpret the following statements? A. "All doubts, however skeptical and cynical they may seem, are really a set of alternate beliefs."
B. "Every doubt, therefore, is based on a leap of faith." (p. xv).
7. When (and only when) is it "safe and fair to disagree" with an opponent in an argument (p. xvi)?
8. Do you think the following statement properly assesses a movement occuring in our cities? -- "The new, fast-spreading multiethnic orthodox Christianity in the cities is much more concerned about the poor and social justice than Repulbicans have been, and at the same time much more concerned about upholding classic Christian moral and sexual ethics than Democrats have been" (p. xvii).
9. Keller quotes a student who said of the "exclusivity" of the different religions (especially Christianity), "We will never come to know peace on earth if religious leaders keep on making such exclusive claims." (p. 4) This likely means that we will never know world peace. Why?
10. Keller freely admits that religion, generally speaking, tends to create a "slippery slope" which contributes to the tensions in the world. (p. 4 and p. 15). What slippery slope?
11. What is the "tragic irony" mentioned on p. 5?
12. What is the "largely discredited" "secularization thesis" mentioned on p. 5?
13. Keller says that the arguments used to discredit religion (today's atheists would say "reasonably") cannot ultimately succeed,..... because at (their) heart is a fatal inconsistency, even perhaps a hypocrisy" (p. 6). What is the inconsistency, the hypocrisy?
14. What is the irony of the argument that all major religions are equally valid and that divisive doctrines don't matter (p. 7)?
15. What is meant by the phrase, "the social conditionedness of all belief" (p. 8)? Why does the phrase itself discredit those who use it to say that religious beliefs are never independently held?
16. Why does Keller believe "Christianity can save the world?" (p. 15), that Christian faith should not have the effect of causing its adherents to "feel superior to those who don't believe and behave as they do" (p. 16)?