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The End of Reason: A Response to the New Atheists | 
 enlarge | Author: Ravi K. Zacharias
Creator: Lee Strobel
Publisher: Zondervan
Category: Book
List Price: $12.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  18 reviews
Sales Rank: 3421
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 144
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.2 x 4.4 x 0.8
ISBN: 0310282519
Dewey Decimal Number: 239.7
EAN: 9780310282518
ASIN: 0310282519
Publication Date: May 1, 2008
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Product Description
When Sam Harris wrote his book Letter to a Christian Nation, stating that Christians display “murderous intolerance,” Dr. Ravi Zacharias felt called to answer. The End of Reason is a clear and powerful response to the “utter bankruptcy” of Harris’s New Atheism as it explains the true nature of God, the foundation for evil in the world, and the basis of true morality.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 13 more reviews...
 Timely! October 9, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you are tired of the pervasive political correctness of acceptable thought - read this.
 More Imaginary Friend Rationalization September 30, 2008
1 out of 5 found this review helpful
It is a stretch to describe this religious screed as a book. An extended pamphlet would be more apt.
I would ask if morality based on fear of punishment in some sort of afterlife is real morality at all.
Like most theists the author cannot see the rationalism of a secular humanistic based ethos that does not need an invisible bully in the sky to act as an enforcer
 Disappointing and simplistic September 4, 2008
2 out of 4 found this review helpful
In _The End of Reason_, Ravi Zacharias ultimately fails to counter arguments put forth by the so-called "new atheists," particularly Sam Harris, who authored _The End of Reason_ and _Letter to a Christian Nation_. Zacharias offers two major arguments in favor of a theistic worldview, but neither one is ultimately persuasive.
Zazharias's first argument is that a life without God has no meaning. In Zacharias's view, the inevitable conclusion to this worldview is suicide. No meaning? No reason to live. Zacharias further excoriates those who, confronted with meaninglessness, instead seek meaning through empty hedonism.
Zacharias's conclusion seems simplistic. This seems overly simplistic, and entire schools of philosophy -- existentialism in particular -- confront the question of whether a person should suicide, given a lack of meaning in the universe. Moreover, I suggest that if a person concludes that there is no God to grant meaning to life, then perhaps that person can find that meaning elsewhere. Through family or through friends. Through work or through craftsmanship. Through intellectual debate, if nothing else.
Zacharias's second argument also largely fails. Zacharias argues that without a divine lawgiver, there can be no morality. In particular, Zacharias spends inordinate amount of ink claiming inconsistency in Harris's belief in moral standards and denial of God. If there is an absolute moral standard, Zacharias reasons, there must be a God. There are moral standards, therefore there is a God.
Again, Zacharias's ship of argument cracks open against the shoals of complication. For some reason, Zacharias chooses to ignore entire theories on the origin of morality, any numebr of which lack a divine origin. Social contract theory? Non-existent. Consequentialism? Not a chance. Deontology? Only in the context of a divine lawgiver. Evolutionary development of morality? Absent.
Again and again and again, Zacharias assays simplistic approaches to complicated philosophical issues. And again and again and again, Zacharias's approach is unsatisfactory and unpersuasive. I cannot recommend this book as a suitable rebuttal to the "New Atheists."
That said, Zacharias still merits a two-star, rather than one-star rating for one thing. Both of Harris's works are replete with an attitude just short of outright hatred toward the faithful and organized religion, and Zachrias rightfully takes Harris to task for this religious bigotry.
I really wanted to like this July 28, 2008
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
I always want to like Zacharias' works, because they are always presented as the best counterpoint to difficult issues. Like always this volume disappoints. Despite the name, this book passes itself off as a response to Letter to A Christian Nation, but it does a miserable job. The most difficult issues are never touched upon and the issues that are responded to receive treatment with anecdotes, include Ravi's old chestnut 'Atheism made me attempt suicide.'
Don't bother.
Zacharias's work is most necessary and enlightening in reponse to "new atheists" teaching July 14, 2008
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias writes an eloquent yet firm response to author Sam Harris's LETTER TO A CHRISTIAN NATION, in which Harris debunks Christianity by telling readers that "science has the answers to our questions about life and that religion is the bane of existence." In rebuttal, Zacharias states that he has "Always found it fascinating how relativists who say they love the idea of tolerance ultimately reveal themselves to be among the most bigoted."
Zacharias writes not only in response to Harris's work but also to refute other well-known atheists, such as Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins, whose work runs along the same lines as those of Harris's. He opens his text by sharing his personal story of growing up in India, which some say is the most religious country in the world. Zacharias, though, says that many live there as practical atheists. He recalls listening to priests who were Hindu, Buddhist and Christian, and finding them (and their message) completely boring and inconsequential.
After following "only one serious philosophical question" as purported by Albert Camus, Zacharias watched two close friends commit suicide and then tried himself, but ended up in a hospital in New Delhi. It was then that he was handed a bible and was read the gospel story. Four decades later, he has traveled the globe lecturing and teaching in universities, finding Jesus "more beautiful and attractive than ever before."
Zacharias tells of his extensive study of atheism researching the world's best scholars and begins dismantling Harris's premises one by one, starting with "origin." Nothing cannot produce something, writes the author, and at this very starting point the laws of science begin to break down. Even the staunchest atheistic contenders cannot explain why there is "something" from "nothing."
Next, Zacharias tackles the "odds of random life," where Nobel laureate and atheist Francis Crick believes a spaceship delivered spores to "seed the earth." He shares more examples of well-regarded atheists' postulations on beginnings, each more far-fetched than the previous one. From there, he discusses the meaning of life and morality, posing important questions such as these: Does the reality of evil mean there is no God? Can morality exist apart from a moral lawgiver? Can reason alone provide a moral framework? Are atheists more "moral" than others? How do we define love?
Zacharias presents a study of the Christ of scripture, prophecy and the inherent morality of the Ten Commandments. He then tackles Jesus' method for changing hearts, along with current hot topics such as genetic engineering, abortion and cloning, before presenting his argument for the existence of God. Readers, whether Christian or not, will find Zacharias's work to be most necessary and enlightening reading in response to the "new atheists" teaching, which is gaining more credibility with society as a whole.
--- Reviewed by Michele Howe
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