Not Recommended.

Habermas is well respected as an apologist and historian, yet this book appears to be a personal journey through his unanswered questions rather than the cohesive scholarly look into difficult subject matter I had expected.  In fact, the title is misleading.  This book doesn’t deal with the reasons for God’s silence so much as it does with highlighting biblical and modern examples of God’s appearance and “disappearance” to His people.  Those who need that encouragement may get what they’re looking for from this read. For those looking for a quick, biblically sound list of why God’s voice seems muted, check out my post on Questions to Ask Ourselves when God is Silent.

But despite Habermas’ efforts to explain the balance between what God has allowed us to experience and what He chooses to heal, I felt his argument was circular, unorganized, superficial, and lacking divine wisdom.  It also bothered me that Habermas lumps together suffering and persecution as they are not the same despite sharing a few attributes.  And I felt the one chapter that really was most important (regarding telling ourselves positive truths), lacked the theological emphasis it needed to separate solid biblical truths from secular psychological principles.

I received a complimentary copy of this book as a part of the Tyndale Blog Network.