True Paradox (David Skeel)

In True Paradox, lawyer David Skeel lays out reasons he believes "Christianity makes sense of our complex world."  Not content with the standard debates- like discussing origins- Skeel claims

If a system of thought is true, it must . . . explain the character of creation- what it is like.  If we shift from origins to the world as we actually experience it, we will need to explain sensations like our sense of beauty and evil, as well as the puzzles of morals and law.

He proceeds to look at five areas where he says Christianity offers credible explanations for some of our most complex and puzzling realities.  I present them below, along with the questions discussed for each:

Ideas and Idea Making

What does our capability for abstract thought mean?  Why do we work with purely invented concepts, debate things unnecessary for survival or advancement as a species, and dream up ideas?  Why is mathematics so reasonable?  Why is the universe make sense?  "There is no reason to expect that the universe is intelligible.  Yet it is."

Beauty and the Arts

Why do we find certain things beautiful- or ugly?  Why do we create art?  Why do we feel that beauty ". . . is real and that it reflects the universe as it is meant to be, but that it is impermanent and somehow corrupted[?]"

Suffering and Sensation

Why do ". . . we experience many kinds of suffering as immoral, rather than simply accepting them as part of the natural order[?]  The perception of immorality is starkly at odds with the suggestions that the processes of nature are amoral . . ."

The Justice Paradox

Why do many people ". . . invariably seem to persuade themselves that the right laws can produce a just moral order[?] . . . [L]egal codes have never succeeded in producing a just social order."

Life and Afterlife

Why is there a belief in an afterlife, or a sense that something better is coming?  Why do we have such desires?  If what C.S. Lewis claims- "the desires we experience as human beings always seem to have a real object"- is true, what does that imply about this one in particular?


Overall, the book is okay, but could be better.  I like Skeel's novel approach- many books looking for evidence of a God focus on things like origins and order, but Skeel's tactic is much more personal.  In each case, he claims that the Christian worldview offers explanations where others (like materialist or dualist) may not.  For example, regarding beauty, he argues that

Christianity explains the paradox of beauty as our recognition that the world around us is good but it has been corrupted . . . Christians believe that the sensations we associate with beauty reflect the deepest reality of our existence: that we are finite but made in the image of a transcendent God and that we long for him and yet have rebelled against him.

He's also respectful of other beliefs, acknowledging that they may not have strong answers to certain questions currently but could develop them.  On the downside, both his writing and arguments vary in quality, and it feels anecdotal in places.  I don't always follow his reasoning- he is a lawyer, and probably thinks very differently than I, an engineer.  In the end, it's good for a skim and to make you think about questions you may not have previously considered . . . but better treatments may exist.

Rating: B-