Why Christianity Makes Sense (Gavin Ortlund Interview)

Gavin Ortlund calls his new book the most important thing he'll ever write. Why Christianity Makes Sense (Zondervan) isn't a shorter version of Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn't. It's a different kind of book, which he modelled on Mere Christianity. It's built around a single word: ache. The longing in the human heart for something transcendent that we can't quite name. In this conversation we do a flyover of the whole book, chapter by chapter. What we cover: - Why Gavin took on another book when he was too exhausted to write one, and what changed on a walk with his wife - Pascal, distraction, and why you can't argue with someone who won't sit quietly in a room - Camus and the myth of Sisyphus. If there's no God, is it enough to embrace the boulder? - Meaning of life versus meaning in life, and whether subjective meaning can carry love and justice - Lucy through the wardrobe, and why chapter two asks what if before chapter seven argues whether - The contingency argument, and why "what caused God?" misses the nerve centre - Fine-tuning and the multiverse - Lewis's trilemma turned into a tetralemma, with legend added and Bart Ehrman as interlocutor - The orphanage analogy, and what Mark 2 shows about Jesus claiming divine authority - The resurrection, Joseph of Arimathea, and why falsifiability matters for claims about well-known people - Fulfilled prophecy, which is the argument that's fallen on hard times, and why Gavin thinks it deserves a revival - Slavery and violence in the Old Testament. - Divine hiddenness, Schellenberg, and Old Man Marley as an image of love misjudged - Pascal's wager, and why commitment can come before certainty Also, we discuss the five books Gavin would take to a desert island, and what he's writing next, including a novel.