Why Faith Matters

In Why Faith Matters, Rabbi David J. Wolpe blends the powerful personal story of his struggles with his own faith with a poignant response to the new atheists that reveals just how important faith in modern society. With a foreword by Rick Warren, New York Times bestselling author of The Purpose Driven Life, Why Faith Matters is an articulate and much-needed nondenominational defense of established religion in America by the man Newsweek magazine named the #1 Pulpit Rabbi in America.

Judging by today's bestseller lists, one would think that religion is either irrational or extreme. What's missing is a genuine debate between the atheists and fanatics; someone to point out that religion has value in the modern world. Why Faith Matters is an articulate defense of religion in America. It makes the case for faith and shows its relationship to history and science. Refuting the cold reason of the atheists and the hatred of the fanatics with a vision of religion informed by faith, love, and understanding, Rabbi David J. Wolpe follows in a literary tradition that stretches from Cardinal Newman to C. S. Lewis to Thomas Merton—all individuals of faith who brought religion and culture together in their own works. Drawing on the personal and powerful story of his battle with cancer, Wolpe offers a moving statement in support of religion today. In a poignant response to the new atheists, Wolpe takes readers through the origins and nature of faith, the role of the Bible in modern life, and the compatibility of God and science. He concludes with a powerful argument for the place of God, faith, and religion in today's world.

“A reasoned argument and spiritual autobiography. Rabbi Wolpe is a graceful writer, an insightful thinker, and a wide reader.” - Jewish Week

“Rather than tense up about atheism, its defenders and their dismissive attitudes about people of faith, Wolpe answers these challenges with such kindness and thoughtfulness that even Christopher Hitchens might find his heart warmed. . . . With gentle, wonderfully engaging prose, Wolpe scrolls through history and shows how faith traditions don’t offer easy, simplistic answers for the intellectually weak, as the New Atheists imply. More often than not, religion sparks believers to ask even more difficult questions.” - Publishers Weekly

“A book about transformation . . . [Wolpe] has a spiritual counselor’s instinct for sharing in the afflictions of the people he interviews. . . . This is a book to pass on to those who are grieving; i.e., every single person we know.” - Kirkus Reviews, praise for MAKING LOSS MATTER

“[A] compelling book, based in ancient Jewish teachings, [that] deals not only with death, but with many of the painful losses in life, our miscarried dreams.” - USA Today, praise for MAKING LOSS MATTER