The End of Reason: A Response to the New Atheists

With The End of Reason, Ravi Zacharias has written a brief but articulate argument responding to "the new atheists." In just under 130 pages--a read of an hour and a half--he refutes many of the claims and charges laid against religion in general and Christianity in particular. But Zacharias's book is not just negative, arguing against atheism, he eloquently argues for belief in God. The result is a well-rounded, thoughtful little book and one of the best apologetic works in recent years.The End of Reason is primarily a response to Sam Harris, author of The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation. Zacharias uses Harris as a starting point, skilfully countering not only Harris's arguments, but also those of other well-known atheists like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens.The book is divided into several distinct sections. To begin, Zacharias notes the particular kind of atheist to which he is responding--those that make others "embarassed to be an atheist." He also describes his own past as an atheist and the suicidal hopelessness to which such thought brought him. The second and longest section describes this atheism in philosophical terms. Zacharias outlines this worldview's stance on life's origins, the meaning of life, morality, and hope in a painful world. In the third section, Zacharias sets out to confront and debunk a number of Harris's specific claims, whether of Christianity's inferiority to religions like Buddhism or Jainism or that the Christian doctrine of the virgin birth is erroneously founded on a mistranslation and the root of Christian "anxiety about sex." Zacharias also discusses Pascal's Wager--that the fulfilment brought by Christianity is worthwhile even if the universe turns out to be meaningless--and a number of other major issues.The final section is perhaps the best, and the lynchpin of Zacharias's book. In the closing pages, Zacharias puts forward a simple, understandable argument for the existence of God and discusses the true meaning of the Eucharist, at once the most important rite of the Christian church and the symbol of the unity brought through Christ to believers around the world. And, in closing, Zacharias suggests that in the end the final decision will not be between atheism and religion, but between Christianity and Islam.I found this book encouraging and refreshing--encouraging, because it fed my desire to not only believe but to believe for good reason, and refreshing because of its brevity and coolheadedness. What perhaps encouraged me most about the book is the overwhelming tone of reasonableness that Zacharias maintains throughout. Never once does he stoop to the level of crassness and vitriol demonstrated by polemicists like Harris. Instead, Zacharias proves by his own example the kind of peace and fulfillment of which atheism is devoid and only faith can bring. This book is a beautifully clear-headed respite from the current trend of "flame-war" argumentation.The End of Reason is a good, quick read--like I said, I read it in perhaps an hour and a half. But packed into a very little space is the kind of brain-fodder on which meaningful reflection thrives. Christians will value this book as a defense of the faith; atheists will value this book as a civil counterargument in an ongoing debate.Highly recommended.

"The End of Reason" is essentially a critique of new atheist Sam Harris' book "Letter to a Christian Nation".This is a small book and one of the best and most beautifully written books I have ever read. The language is excellent, and the arguments are ruthlessly accurate in exposing the meaningless of an atheistic worldview. Common objections that are often used to slay Christians and that have a lot of rhetorical power are clinically dealt with by Ravi as he again and again exposes Harris' confident assertions for what they are. Over and over again Ravi turns Harris' own arguments back on to themselves with devastating consequences.I am a little surprised at how aggressively Ravi takes on Harris. He is not mean spirited and does not attack the man, but he is ruthless with Harris' shallow and foolish wisdom and its consequences. The reason for the 'tone" of the book is that Ravi sees this as such an important issue with deep consequences, and one that we cannot afford to ignore.Personally I regard Harris as a clever guy who is completely out of his depth when it comes to philosophy and religion. His shallow thinking resonates well with my own shallow secular atheistic childhood upbringing and teenage years. The problem is, as JP Moreland has said, that "the make-up man is more important than the speech writer", meaning that Harris' weak arguments are more than made up for by his confidence and clever rhetoric.Highly recommended.

I would have liked more in-depth coverage, but I understand the intention of the author was t answer Sam Harris' book in like format. That given, the book does indeed challenge the assertions of Letter to a Christian Nation very well. Certainly, this book takes Harris' argument and sets them back to zero at worst. Stated differently, all the power is removed from Harris' arguments.If an undecided individual read both of these books ("The End of Reason" and "Letter to a Christian Nation"), I really think that she or he would remain undecided. For this reason, I think Zacharias' book is a good response to Harris' book, but it is not persuasive. The author can indeed be pesuasive and has been in his other works.Now, if you're going to read Harris' book, it would be of great benefit to read this book along with it. I, personally, refuse to read on one side of an issue. That's why I read book that are pro-evolution and anti-evolution. I read books that are pro-abortion and anti-abortion. I think this book, along with Harris' book, makes for good reading and insights into the theism/atheism debate; however, they will likely just get you interested in it (though I think that's the intention).

Truth: It is ahisorical fact that man or woman wants to be in authority. Not in equal portions, as the it is recorded in the U. S. that we were created equal. That's not natural for him. He wants to be above authority & in authority. Which is playing God. But there is only One Who IS God & man, Jesus the CHRIST. R. Z. definitely put Mr. Harris in his place. And R. Z. definitely made it clear how phoney & vicious Mr. Harris is in trying to embarrass to bully the populace into believing what he wants the world to believe.

I thought this book was great. I think Ravi has just an outstanding way of drawing from so many different sources and articulating things well so that good points are made not only in and of themselves, but made to have weight, value, and leave one asking true and deep questions about these things.I read this book, and talking about it with my brother began a long conversation with him, and opened up the door to many topics I thought were good. I'm a Christian, and he's still not, but some of these issues I felt like held good weight with him and made him think. We were both challenged.

Ravi Zacharias was a brilliant writer and defender of the Christian Faith and the Bible. As always he meets and refutes the new atheist arguments with clarity and sense. However this otherwise excellent book is totally focussed on refuting Sam Harris' "Letter to a Christian Nation," which it does ably, and so tends to lack a more general value. The new atheists writings, including Sam Harris have become stale and hackneyed, and in being primarily a response, Ravi's arguments tend to come across as stale and hackneyed too.

This book is inspiring and brilliant, yet Ravi never talks down to his readers. He is a modest genius and a leader for people who like to think.

A good book with much substantial apologetics. It strengthens your faith and speaks so much of the fact their must be a God just by reading the rebuttal of humanistic/ atheistic flawed thinking

Clear and very readable book that addresses the spirit and arguments of this age.

This book was passed to me by a fellow Christian. I have known of Ravi Zacharias for many years, although this is the first of his books I have read, and I respect him as a scholar and as a Christian believer.Having read several books in the past that deal with similar topics, I really appreciated reading this one. I found Ravi's arguments to be rational, polite and sincere, even when he clearly opposes the arguments of the new atheists. Although Ravi is clearly a philosopher - from a school of academia whose writings I find difficult to understand - I found The End of Reason easy to read and understand. That said, there are sections that were not always easy to grasp at a first reading, and warranted a second, more careful, perusal.I recommend this book for the coherent, well-reasoned discussion that it provides. It exposes the contradictions and bias that are among the hallmarks of new atheism - or secularism, for that matter - in a logical manner. That said, my favourite sentence is: 'And I strongly suspect that Jesus would have said, "Whose portrait and inscription are on you?"'