Reasons to Believe: How to Understand, Explain, and Defend the Catholic Faith is a great first book for Catholics who seek to understand their faith in a world that suggests all religions are basically the same, or that faith and science are opposed to each other (or mutually exclusive).

Our culture has been radically infected with the unspoken belief that faith is just a matter of opinion, and that in contrast to faith it is only science and politics that deal with the real world. This is often called the “modern secular hypothesis.” I know I grew up with many assumptions based in this thinking--- that God and His influence were in a different sphere or realm from the “real” world that I live in.

Dr. Hahn examines this split-world view and the problems with this hypothesis in the first two sections of this book, starting with human reason and then moving on to God’s revelation in the Scriptures. He does a masterful job of showing the proper relationship between faith and reason, and the reasonableness of faith.

In the final section of the book, he offers a positive alternative which he calls the ‘Royal Reasons.” I won’t spoil this section but it is very interesting. So Reasons to Believe is not just a critique of the modern secular hypothesis, but also a positive and thoughtful examination of WHY we believe what we believe.

I used this book for my senior honors theology class when teaching high school a few years back, and found that it helped my students see things in a new light. It had a few spots that were challenging for them to get their minds around- but that in itself was an important realization they had- that our faith is not just lovey-dovey feel good sentiment, but based in deep thinking and ideas that require some effort.

Faith is not shutting our brains down, but rather firing them up to search for truth. Instead of the polarization between faith and reason, Hahn helps us see that both faith and reason come from God, and that our biblical faith is not at odds with what we experience today, but actually makes it more real and tangible in many ways.

Catechism Tie-in: CCC 26-49

For a deeper look at this topic: Fides et Ratio by John Paul I