Product Description

Atheism is one of the most important movements in modern Western culture. For the last two hundred years, it seemed to be on the verge of eliminating religion as an outmoded and dangerous superstition. Recent years, however, have witnessed the decline of disbelief and a rise in religious/spiritual devotion throughout the world. In this highly readable book, the distinguished historian and theologian, Alister McGrath examines what went wrong with the atheist dream and explains why religion and faith are destined to play a central role in the twenty-first century. A former atheist who is now one of Christianity's foremost scholars, McGrath traces the history of atheism from its emergence in eighteenth-century Europe as a revolutionary worldview that offered liberation from the rigidity of traditional Christianity and the oppression of tyrannical monarchs, to its golden age in the first half of the twentieth century. Blending thoughtful, authoritative historical analysis with incisive portraits of such leading and influential atheists as Sigmund Freud, Marx and Richard Dawkins, McGrath exposes the flaws at the heart of atheism and argues that the renewal of faith is a natural, inevitable and necessary response to its failures. 'Readable and memorable, this is intellectual history at its best' - "Publishers Weekly".

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #143878 in Books
• Published on: 2005-10-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Review
"'Readable and memorable, this is intellectual history at its best'. Publishers Weekly"

Church Times
A sympathetic and interesting guide to the intellectural and social landscape of the past 200 years or so.

The New York Times
Gripping...impressive intellectual range

Customer Reviews

There Are Two Sides To Every Story
As McGrath duly notes in the introduction to 'The Twilight of Atheism': "This book will not settle anything; but at least it can further discussion of one of the greatest issues of our time." Having studied Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Molecular Biophysics, before gaining first class honours in Theology at Oxford University, Alister McGrath is well positioned to provide a broad insight into any debate concerning religious belief. A one time Atheist turned Christian, McGrath has first hand experience of life on both sides of the fence.

Rest assured this book is not aimed at converting 'non-believers' but at dispelling the controversial notion that "religion is the world's greatest evil." McGrath achieves this by tracing the history of atheism and highlighting the flaws, not of atheism as a whole, but of the secularist movements that have tried to impose atheism. Contrary to the beliefs of some, by no means does McGrath imply that the fall of the Berlin wall was a result of atheism, although he does draw attention to the failures of oppressive systems that have enforced their doctrine upon the unwilling. McGrath explains that, like religious movements, secular-atheist movements have been marred by a history of atrocities. As such atheism can be considered no less evil than monotheism.

Clearly 'The Twilight of Atheism' is written from a Christian perspective, but McGrath does not attempt to con the reader into thinking otherwise. McGrath is sympathetic to atheists who "just ask to be left alone, getting on with their lives peacefully and Godlessly". He does however take exception to the "militant, awkward, and angrier" forms of atheism. Just as religion has oppressive factions, so does atheism. Both are unacceptable.

"The Twilight of Atheism" is undoubtedly more accessible to the Christian reader. However, given Alister McGrath's impressive, diverse, credentials, this book is a must for any peron interested in religious debate.

P.S. It is a supposition to believe that humans are born atheist. There is absolutely no proof to validate such a claim. Surely, if anything, a person is born agnostic.

Intriguing
This book was very different from what I expected. While the author clearly states he is a christian who was previously an atheist, this does not read as an attempt to convert or as a religious book.

The book is really a study of atheism as a social phenomenon, considering those factors that have tended to favour atheistic outlooks and those that have not. The message I came away with was that the rise of atheism had much more to do with the prevailing social environment than with evidence for or against the existance of God.

The author seemed very sympathetic to atheists as a whole, with the exception of irrational extremists, like 'Dawkinsian' fundamentalists. It is interesting that the language of extremists, whether religious or atheistic, tends to be similarly intolerant and aggressive.

I did not agree with all that the author wrote, but it was always informative, and proved an enjoyable read.

Broad subject in a narrow context
This is a well written and accessible discussion on a subject that interests many and is relevant to everyone but beware: the Author limits this book to the social and political implications of an unconventionally defined Atheism on the organised Christian Church. He touches on the work of many influential thinkers which has given me a long list of further reading. However, the Author tends to 'sum up' the gist of most of these without any real discussion in a way that I suspect is sometimes for the convenience of his arguments (based on the cited Authors I am familiar with). As long as the socio-political context is borne in mind some of the arguments are reasonable whilst others I found to be flawed.

He draws a dichotomy between the Christian Church and a broad selection of people he defines Athiests (many of those he cites under this definition would be better termed agnostic by their own admission) making up a coherent 'Atheism Movement' akin to an organised Church. Putting Richard Dawkins, Lenin and the Marquis de Sade in the same camp seems somewhat simplistic. A more relevant division may be between Athiests and Theists (Mono- and Poly-) acknowledging the diversity within both Theism and Atheism.

He also does not make an adequate distinction between 'belief' and 'faith' which I believe (!) is essential to any discussion on this subject. Belief is asserting something based on reasonable evidence. Faith is asserting something on little or no evidence. The former is rational, the latter is irrational. If I believe I am sitting in front of a computer monitor because I can see it I would not require Faith. If I believe in an omnipotent God based solely on the distribution of a historical document in some parts of the world (the Bible) I would require Faith. Although I can be very sure about sitting in front of the monitor, I cannot prove it beyond all uncertainty but it is rational to keep it as a 'working hypothesis' until I (literally) see otherwise. Nothing beyond the realm of Mathematics can be proved beyond uncertainty and Science (that some think of as rigid and factual and many associate with Atheism) is based on degrees of uncertainty. Given that you cannot observe something that (hypothetically) isn't there, a rational belief in God would require some evidence of God's existence which is conspicuously lacking whilst a 'working hypothesis' that existence is 'Godless' until there is evidence to the contrary is a rational belief that does not require Faith.

Under the section 'The Stalled Intellectual Case against God' the Author states 'Christianity and atheism are faiths' with minimal justification or exploration which given the title of the book I found somewhat inadequate. There are Athiests who have Faith in a Godless existence (which seems to be the former position of the Author) and there are Atheists who would happily believe that a God exists (be it Hindu, Christian or otherwise) given some supportive evidence. Despite the Authors simplistic definitions of Atheism, Faith and belief and the narrow context of Christianity (there are many other theistic Faiths in the Modern World) the book is accessibly written and has a fairly broad coverage of influential thinkers.