Dr. DuBose could say of himself, "I am for men," as truly as did Henry George. In every one of his books he is the champion of the human spirit, of the rights of human reason, of the sacredness of human freedom. The Gospel according to William P. DuBose is the good news of a reasonable religion, of a salvation that challenges mankind's highest aspirations of growth and achievement.
In the "Reason of Life" the author takes St. John as his text, finding implicit in the prologue of the Gospel a philosophy of the universe. To St. John, the Gospel was the Word of Life, and that Word was the Incarnate God. The reason of life is God, who is Love, who created life that it might become object of His love and grace. The reason of life is Christ, who is our life, and the life of God in us. The reason of life is humanity, called to be sons of God that it might share in the life of God. As to St. Paul salvation was righteousness, so to St. John salvation was life.
Throughout this work, the author sounds again and again the note of the human. The life of God is in us, not apart from ourselves, but in our own faith, reason, will.. The salvation of Jesus Christ was accomplished for us that we might accomplish it in ourselves. In Him, life, resurrection, victory, were not only God's work, but humanity's achievement; God saving through grace, man achieving salvation through faith and obedience. The salvation that God gives and that we win in Christ is not magical, in contravention of Nature, or foreign to human aspirations, hopes, and ideals; it is the fullness of life.
Some readers will find most illuminating the interpretation of the Holy Spirit in this volume. Here again the human note is sounded. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Man, as well as the Spirit of God. Life is through Word and Spirit; the Word is God speaking to us, while the Spirit is God in us.
This work almost completes Dr. DuBose's series of New Testament interpretations which, all together, form an epoch-making contribution to the philosophy of Christianity.
–The Sewanee Review, Vol. 20 [1912]
