The Search for a Rational Faith

The Search for a Rational Faith, Daniel K Williams. Oxford University Press (ISBN: 9780197748039) 2026.

Summary: Anglo-American efforts to make a reasoned defense of Christian faith amid the rise of Enlightenment reason.

It was not uncommon in campus ministry to encounter people who asserted that no thinking person could believe in Christianity. Daniel K. Williams argues that this is a reflection of secularization theory. That is, as Enlightenment rationalism advances, science progresses, and higher education becomes more accessible, religious belief will dwindle, especially among the educated. The problem is, while skeptics exist, college-educated Christians actually are more likely to attend church than those who are not. What is interesting is that many of these did not find reason and science to conflict with their faith. This is true to some extent in England and a greater extent in the United States, whereas secularization has advanced as expected in other parts of Europe. What is the difference?

Daniel K. Williams argues in his new book, The Search for a Rational Faith, that from the 1700’s to the present, there has been an Anglo-American effort concentrated in higher education and related intellectual circles to offer a reasoned defense of Christian belief, responding to Enlightenment challenges. He shows how courses on Christian evidences were a centerpiece of a college education until the early twentieth century. The books used in these courses could be found in the libraries of famous individuals throughout this time from John Adams to Alexander Hamilton.

Williams also traces how the content of these courses change over time. Puritans focused on classical proofs for God but believed conversion was a work of grace by God alone. However, Arminians made a place for human initiative and believed that rational evidences may help convince one to believe. Thus, until the rise of biblical criticism and Darwinist evolution in the mid nineteenth century, these evidences were widely embraced. They served as an intellectual foundation for the American Republic, argues, Williams.

As biblical criticism and Darwinism spread, apologists needed to adapt. Some engaged these theories, either trying to refute them, or adopt approaches that reconciled the theories to Christian belief. Williams traces a shift from historic, empirical evidences to those emphasizing the evidence of religious experience. Increasingly, the argument was for the value of Christianity in promoting American values. These changes even invaded Princeton Seminary, leading to an exodus of conservative scholars.

Williams then traces the parallel developments among conservatives and liberals in the mid-twentieth century. The Princeton exiles develop presuppositionalist apologetics, starting with belief in God, not as something proven, but assumed. This approach would shape the ministry of Francis Schaeffer with countercultural seekers and his subsequent books. Meanwhile liberals went from Reinhold Niebuhr’s neo-orthodoxy that argued that Christian belief alone made sense of human nature and history to a radical skepticism of the existence of God.

Finally, Williams traces the resurgence of Christian apologetics among evangelicals, even as liberalism was imploding, influenced by the works of C. S. Lewis, Timothy Keller, and on a more intellectual level, Alister McGrath and John Lennox and Craig Keener.

What is exceptional in this work is the history over four centuries of this apologetic enterprise. It was fascinating to learn of thinkers and their works throughout this history. It’s fascinating how some of them anticipate present day efforts. I also appreciated the exploration of the relationship of rational defenses of the faith to conversion. In most periods, Christian evidences seemed far more important in offering Christians a solid basis for confident assertion of their faith. Finally, I appreciate the tension his work reflects in differing approaches to Enlightenment rationalism. While some befriend rationalism, others recognize the incompatibility of man-centered reason with God’s revelatory and illuminating work.

Having worked among graduate students and faculty in the public setting, I certainly gained a great appreciation for approaches that addressed the challenges of science as well as the rise of post-modernity and critical theory in the humanities (the latter is not addressed here). But I would also have liked to see Williams gesture toward efforts that are not merely defensive, but bring to bear Christian premises, doctrines, and values in a constructive engagement with academic disciplines. I think of efforts by Christians in a variety of disciplines, including history, to think Christianly. Williams’ discipline of history is an example of such efforts by people like George Marsden, Mark Noll, and Harry S. Stout. For many, Abraham Kuyper’s rallying cry of “every square inch” has been a rallying cry for moving beyond a defensive posture.

What George Marsden did for understanding the relationship of Christianity to American higher education in The Soul of the American University, Williams has done for the apologetic enterprise. Not only does he offer this comprehensive history, he gives the lie to the secularization hypothesis. He shows how Christians through American history have offered a cogent, reasoned defense of the faith equipping generations of Christians for confident (and hopefully winsome) assertion of their faith. This is a great text for contemporary Christian apologists. There are lessons in this history as well as inspiration in learning of the shoulders on which they stand.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.