The End of Reason
By: Ravi Zacharias
Zondervan (May 11, 2008)
144 pages
In 2006, Sam Harris wrote Letter to a Christian Nation. In it, Harris vehemently takes to task Christianity itself. The End Of Reason is a response to that. Zacharias argues that a life without God is essentially unlivable – and points out flaw after flaw in the logic of Sam Harris as he goes. Readers would do well to read both the attack of Harris – as well as the response of Zacharias.
Two of my favorite quotes:
In Miracles, C. S. Lewis takes this kind of thinking to task: “Reason might conceivably be found to depend on [another reason] and so on; it would not matter how far this process was carried provided you found Reason coming from Reason at each stage. It is only when you are asked to believe in Reason coming from non-reason that you must cry Halt.”
In an earlier debate with Jesuit priest Frederick Copleston, Russell had tried another route to get around objective morality and ended up looking bad. When Copleston asked him how he differentiated between good and bad, Russell answered, “I don’t have any justification any more than I have when I distinguish between blue and yellow…. I can see they are different.” “Well, that is an excellent justification, I agree,” said Copleston. “You distinguish blue and yellow by seeing them, so you distinguish good and bad by what faculty?” “By my feelings,” was Russell’s reply. Father Copleston was kind. The next question was staring Russell in the face but wasn’t asked because he already looked so weak in that part of the discussion. The question that should have been asked was, “Mr. Russell, in some cultures they love their neighbors; in other cultures they eat them. Do you have a personal preference, and if so, what is it?
