No Argument for God: Going Beyond Reason in Conversations About Faith

by John Wilkinson

Religion is irrational! New atheists trumpet the claim loudly, so much so that it's become a sort of conventional wisdom. Professing your faith in God sounds increasingly like a confession of intellectual feebleness. Belief in God sounds as cute and quaint as it does pointless. John Wilkinson contends that the irrationality of faith is its greatest asset, because rationalism itself sets artificial limits on all that we've seen--which itself is hinting at something greater that can't be seen. In No Argument for God he turns the tables on the cult of reason, showing that it limits conversation to what happened, when what we really want is the why behind it. We settle for investigation when what we need is revelation--the answer to all our longings. Read this book and break though the gridlock of apologetic arguments to a life-giving encounter with the God who satisfies our minds and seeks our good.

Genres: Religion, Christianity, Nonfiction, Theology, Philosophy, Christian

174 pages, Paperback

First published January 28, 2011

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

John^Wilkinson = main list [this author]
John^^Wilkinson = Poetry
Jhon^^^Wilkinson = Writer, illustrator

Reviews

[John Martindale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, he does an excellent job writing about the limits of knowledge and reason. He shows that we have to 'make' sense of our world using our restricted language, insignificant perspective/viewpoint and our limited senses. All that enters through our senses is understood in light of past experiences, present expectation and future hopes. All is colored or rearranged, filtered or discarded by our prejudice or bias, attraction or indifference.
Our brain is a creator that hates voids; if we only get a few pieces our imagination gladly fills in the gaps, adding meaning, implying motives and arranging things in what it thinks is a sensible way. We paint such elaborate portraits based on a scanty descriptions. We generously contribute so much that eventually we cannot sort assumption from fact, and yet even the 'facts'... are they facts at all? Left to ourselves we have no hope of understanding the why questions, yet still we're going to try and create meaning, dependence upon science and what we can learn through our sense will not cut it, since we are going to fill in the gaps maybe we should trust someone who knows the Why Questions! Lots of truth can only be known relationally. Yet if we are to trust in a God, this God is beyond our senses, so aspects of what he reveals will be 'non'sense, it will be absurd to the rational mind. But if God is real, this is what we should expect, somethings will have to be accepted through trust, we'll never be able to prove or make truths that are beyond our senses, reasonable, because He is beyond us. But yeah, he covers lots in the book, he seems to have a pretty good head on his shoulders, I got the book thanks to a Facebook ad and I am glad I did.

[Richard Coller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should read this book. One of the best apologetic s I've read that is is fair to both reason and faith. John Wilkinson walks both the believer and non-believer through the maze of human thought effectively leading us to objectively consider our senses and what lays beyond. John writes to us in simple terms but from depths of deep philosophical perspectives. As Christians we can rest in the knowledge that there is "No Argument for God" ...... or "objective science". Every question boils down not to what, but why?

[Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

A deeply thought provoking examination of what "faith" actually is.

[Lucy Bridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I met the author at church which is pretty cool

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wilkinson's book is a good counterattack against the rationalism of modern science (and scientist fanboys) and of the modernist Christianity that thinks it must make the foolishness of Christian belief wisdom in the eyes of its cultured despisers.

The author points out the limits of reason and of the scientific method in understanding either our social world or knowing God. And he makes some nice bold statements about human limitedness. "There truly is no argument for God that is capable of bearing the weight of his existence." "When I say that faith is nonsense I don't mean that it is not real. I mean quite literally 'not of the senses,' something that exceeds the grasp of human sense organs and the reason that is fashioned from them."

Our faith is not built on reason but on an experience of Jesus Christ. It is not irrational, it is beyond the limits of the rational. Human methods are after the what, but cannot deliver the why. In human relations, "answers to our why questions are provided through the disclosure of a person. And this kind of revelation is just as valid a source of truth as description is." "Reason limits us to remaining inside our own heads."

"Relational truth comes to us from outside of ourselves. The truth shows up." The best apologetic is thus Christ in you.

[Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author masterfully utilizes philosophy, logic, and reason to showcase the utter absurdity of the Christian faith. He candidly confronts the damaging and downright silly weapons that the church has wielded in an attempt to "keep up" with post modernity and secular thought. In an attempt to make the gospel and a relationship with Christ look "fresh" and "attractive" we have plunged to ridiculous depths and have made ourselves look the fool. The author puts it this way,"We are always seeking to validate the truth of Christainity, desparately trying to come to a point of acceptance by mainstream culture"(pp.100-101). We are so busy aguing people's minds into accepting the facts of Christianity that we forget that genuine Christianity starts and ends with God working with an individual to change their heart. This book is the Mere Christianity of our generation. It resets and reminds us as to what Christianity truly is and what it is not. The author's argument: there is no argument for God. You either believe in Christ or you do not. God is either doing a work in your life or He is not.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book about the fact that there is, "No argument for God." When I was in college and had Evangelical guilt about how little I shared my faith, I often got into arguments with zealous unbelievers and adherents of other religions, trying to argue them into the kingdom of God. But as Wilkinson says, it doesn't work that way. The Christian faith and concepts like Grace or why Jesus died on the cross, do not make much sense using human reason. Reason, unaided cannot apprehend Christian faith. So my attempts at evangelism usually ended with me looking like a jerk, and one of us feeling stupid for being unable to best the other in an argument.

Wilkinson isn't arguing for a retreat from evangelism but his approach changes the rules of engagement. Rather than presenting a reasonable case, Wilkinson suggests we own the fact that the deepest Christian truth defies human reason and we simply unfold the story of Christ and his work and let the way that it defies reason and expectation be its apologetic, trusting in God's own revelation.

Wilkinson critiques reason so that we would respond with something else, something much more profound: wonder.

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't really think I was the intended audience for this book. It seemed to me that it was meant for high school students or those in the first couple years of college/university. The argument is that the Christian faith is irrational and must be based entirely off of faith. It is in part a response to the new atheism movement; Instead of arguing he replies that yes it is all silly and he believes anyway. He uses this both as a way to strengthen the faith of the unbeliever and as an evangelistic/apologetic technique. It was a decent book and I may recommend it if I knew a teenager who I thought would I appreciate it. But it was only decent. His arguments were rushed and flawed and most relied on the reader not knowing the counter arguments. And most of the book is spent explaining how much happier and more content a Christian will be if they just accept his thesis. He just explained the practical applications instead of showing me that there is no argument for God and why that does not matter.

[Kevin Norman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book - I've always been a seeker for truth and reasonability of Christianity and this book was a huge breath of fresh air for me. With this book John Wilkinson does an stellar job of showing that human reason and logic are only good for explaining the "what" but not the "why." One of my favorite snippets: "Descriptive truth is rooted in analysis and dissection; it pulls things apart to find what is there. Relational truth interacts with the entire system; it wants to keep things intact so that it can hear the heart of the issue, not just actions... When I hear of what Van Gogh went through in his short and tortured life, the painting Starry Night is transformed. The depth of relational truth, the underlying story of his tragic life, reveals to me something beyond what I can see. The truth that is revealed comes from outside of my head and is just as real, and sometimes more real, than what my eyes see."

[Adam Shields · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short review: Wilkinson is trying to move evangelism and other discussion about God away from a purely logical rational realm and to a more relational one. He starts by suggesting that Christianity is "nonsense" (literally outside the senses) and so cannot be fully described by language of science or reason. Instead we should embrace the non-sense of Christianity and learn other ways to talk about God.

I think this is a very good book about why logical and scientific language for Christianity is inadequate. And a pretty good book on the positive side. I would like a little more about how to talk about God positively, but it was a pretty good introduction.

My full review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/no-argument-for-god-...

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’ve ever wondered how to have a conversation with someone about your faith, this book breaks down how we reason with someone. Basically, we don’t. Faith IS absurd and doesn’t make sense. I loved how Wilkinson explained how we as Christians should view our faith and in turn, how we should approach conversations about faith. This book also built my confidence as a person of faith and what that should look like. All in all, highly recommend this read.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the premise: This book argues that human reason can/should conflict with the supernatural. He starts off well, using reason to argue reason's limits. But towards the end, (in my opinion) he claims too much, or at least with his chosen level of rigor. I can anticipate too many unanswered objections on the part of the reader. That said though, this is a refreshing anti-apologetics approach to apologetics.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why is Christianity so hard to grasp for many people? Because it goes beyond reason. How do you get your head around something that transcends reason? Wilkenson explains why there's no argument for God...which makes it perfectly reasonable why He must exist!

This is a great book and may forever change the way you talk about God.

[Whit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though I agree with his basic thesis, his articulation of it is weak - lots of his analogies and examples are shot through with holes. Not a book I'd give to an atheist/agnostic friend, but worth the read for interested believers

[Paul Ernst · Rating 1 out of 5]

As someone who came out of scientific materialism by listening to careful arguments for the deity of Christ, I find this an abomination.
I will pray for all the young souls he has deceived.
Paul Ernst

[Jordan Gerlach · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the main argument of this book to be weak, and the analogies irrelevent.

[Osup Kwon · Rating 1 out of 5]

Here is a review of the arguments of the author.

http://tyndalephilosophy.com/2015/05/...