Letters we all need

Shortly after I had written my May 8 review of Jen Wilkin’s book on the Ten Commandments, I came across her comments on Michael J. Kruger’s book Surviving Religion 101, Letters to a Christian Student on Keeping the Faith in College (Crossway, 2021).

Wilkin sent her four children off to large state schools for their college years and is full of praise for Kruger’s observations on the challenges faced by his three children, which he covers in the form of letters to his elder daughter, Emma.

Wilkin, a busy mother and Bible teacher, remarks on the compassion and clarity with which Kruger addresses key questions that often precipitate a crisis of faith for young believers.

She says, “This accessible book equips families for good conversations about challenges to our faith, helping us trade panic and doubt for blessed assurance.”

And I couldn’t say more. Or say it better. She’s virtually done my job for me!

Yet Kruger takes us further when he explains in his preface that his hope is that his book will help college students realize that belief in Christianity is not just intellectually defensible but also intellectually satisfying at the deepest of levels. “Yes, we believe God with our hearts. But we can also enjoy him with our minds.”

Professor Kruger (PhD, University of Edinburgh) teaches New Testament and Early Christianity at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, North Carolina.

He explains that his book is designed to help students tackle not only the key issues in biblical scholarship but also the flashpoints of people’s cultural conversations. 

He wants to provide an intellectual pathway for Christian students so that they can keep their faith without sacrificing their intellectual integrity.

Letter by letter, Kruger poses and answers questions Emma and her friends might have tossed his way, and he does it with the tender forthrightness fathers often show their daughters.

For example:

How do we know the Truth of the Bible is really from God?

Can I trust the contradictions in the Gospels?

How can we say Christianity is the only right religion?

How can I believe in miracles if I’ve never seen one?

How does one determine what is moral or immoral?  

What if I feel God isn’t working for me?

Toward the end, Kruger bluntly admits that the Christianity we encounter among those around us often falls woefully, and sometimes tragically, short—occasionally, it doesn’t even seem very Christian. 

Yet he remains upbeat, insisting that in the midst of the challenges and difficulties of life, and even in the midst of competing world views that seem to offer more satisfaction and fulfillment, the amazingly good news is that “Jesus is still worth it.”

“He is glorious enough, wonderful enough, worthy enough to spend your entire life on. He is where abundant life is found. As Jesus himself declared, ‘I came that they may  have life and have it abundantly’ (John 10:10).”

And that’s where Kruger is at his best. He leaves us in no doubt that abundant life lies not just with college students, but with all of us prepared to listen and learn.