Redeeming Reason by Vern Poythress looks at how all of our human reasoning needs to be rooted in God as Creator and His word. It is not the easiest read but worth the effort.

Redeeming Reason
A God-Centered Approach
Vern S. Poythress
Pub Date 25 Apr 2023
Crossway
Christian



I am reviewing a copy of Redeeming Reason: A God-Centered Approach through Crossway and Netgalley:



In Redeeming Reason Vern S. Poythress examined how all human reasoning reflects God’s nature.


Poythress provides a foundational understanding of God as the source of rationality, Poythress explores the 3 fundamental laws of logic with a strong focus on analogical reasoning.



I give Redeeming Reason five out of five stars!


Happy Reading!

Redeeming Reason by Vern S Poythress

This little book invites the reader to explore reason by first studying what the Bible has to say about God, especially the Trinity, and how God is the foundation for reason.

In the opening chapters, I found a comparison to Charlotte Mason’s view of the faultiness of human reason - truly we can reason our way into anything! I also enjoyed the author’s dive into the Trinity, how God is one essence with three Persons and how logic/reason/analogy are reflections of Him.

The middle of the book was quite confusing for me as I do not have much of a background with the rules of logic and reason. I will say, the many diagrams included made it possible for me to continue on. While I’m sure I missed a lot of detail, I do believe I was able to tech the main points.

At the end, the author ties everything up, giving us a conclusion in just a few brief points. There are also two appendices.

For me this book has both some strengths and some weaknesses.

Strengths - Getting the main idea across.
- Diagrams
- Scripture references
- The explanation of the Trinity

Weaknesses - I would have loved to see more of the Bible references typed out. I had to keep going back and forth from the book to my Bible. (I used my phone)
- The author uses a lot of his own works in the footnotes. It just seemed a little odd to me.
- This book was a little heady without the heart. I would like to see a “so what” part in the conclusion. How do I use this information in my own life?

Overall, I’m glad I read it. It pushed me out of my usual reading into something more difficult which I’m sure was good for my brain!

I am grateful to @netgalley for providing me with an ARC of this book!