Product Description

Richard Dawkins recently claimed that 'no theologian has ever produced a satisfactory response to his arguments'. Well-known broadcaster and author Keith Ward is one of Britain's foremost philosopher- theologians. This is his response. Ward welcomes all comers into philosophy's world of clear definitions, sharp arguments, and diverse conclusions. But when Dawkins enters this world, his passion tends to get the better of him, and he descends into stereotyping, pastiche, and mockery. In this stimulating and thought-provoking philosophical challenge, Ward demonstrates not only how Dawkins' arguments are flawed, but that a perfectly rational case can be made that there, almost certainly, is a God.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #26274 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Review
A witty and engaging addition to the ongoing debate between atheists and Christians, written by a reputable author, broadcaster and academic --The Guide

About the Author
Keith Ward is former Professor of Divinity at Gresham College, London, and Regius Professor of Divinity Emeritus at the University of Oxford, an Anglican priest, canon of Christ Church, Joint President of the World Congress of Faiths, and a Fellow of the British Academy. He is the author of over 20 books, including Is Religion Dangerous? (Lion, 2006)

Customer Reviews

Doubting Ward
With such a preponderance of books attacking Dawkins tending to uncritically recommend each other, it is hard to choose which makes the best case for theism to read as a foil to Dawkins. While the evangelism of John Lennox (or even the heartfelt sermonizing of David Robertson) might appeal more to committed Christians (and atheists playing "spot the special pleading"), this book comes closer to addressing Dawkins directly. More challenging than McGrath's rushed polemic, Ward describes his underlying position with clarity.

Having written books attacking fundamentalism, Ward shows himself a more reasonable apologist than most with statements such as "The judgment as to whether or not the resurrection happened as recorded in the Bible is likely to depend on whether or not you already believe in God." Unfortunately the same is likely true for the claims of this book. Key claims such as the fundamental validity of personal explanation are justified briefly by (tenuous) analogy, a "most philosophers agree that..." assertion, and the implicit "trust me, I'm a much nicer guy than Dawkins". More space is devoted to Ward's musings on consciousness and quantum mechanics.

The book starts inevitably with praise for Dawkins' previous works followed by castigation of his temerity to comment on faith and a list of historical theist philosophers, with more barbed insults popping up throughout. For a book directly addressing Dawkins, Ward needs understand what he criticizes more carefully. For example he seeks to characterize "the ultimate nature of reality", and assumes Dawkins is attempting to do the same. Ward is brave to tackle Dawkins on evolution, and does make some interesting points on probability and complexity which challenge rather than undermine Dawkins' more accessible writing.

Ultimately, Ward's view of God will be too abstract for many: "Could there be an unembodied mind, a pure Spirit, that has knowledge and awareness? I can see no reason why not." So where's the evidence? Ward has an answer: "So it seems that God does make a difference, but it is not a neutrally testable difference that could be settled by experiment." More work is needed to show that he is describing something more substantial than metaphor - if indeed he is.

A Ward to the wise!
This deceptively slim volume of 159 pages is a book of three parts and eight chapters. It has been primarily written as a refutation of the arguments to be found in chapters 2 and 4 of Richard Dawkins 'The God Delusion'(chapter 4 from which the book takes its slightly ammended title), as Ward explains (p10):"...because those are the chapters in which he enters into the territory of philosophy, of arguments about God and the ultimate nature of reality. That is my territory...". The book however goes well beyond the bounds of its remit and quickly builds into a comprehensive, sophisticated and nuanced defence of theism as a rational worldview whilst simultaineously critiqueing and exposing the philosophical weakness and naivity of the reductionist materialist position of the Neo-athiests. This is not a defence of christian doctrine or beliefs (we are not in C.S.Lewis territory here!) but of the rationality and cogency of theism, as Ward states(P137): "In this book I am not discussing the topic of revealed religion or defending the Christian faith specifically.I am concerned with general reasons for believing in God, or for accepting the God hypothesis. Those reasons hold good for any theist, Jewish, Christian ,Muslim, Hindu or Sikh...".
Keith Wards arguments do not lend themselves to simple synopsis but they cover areas such as: the New Design Argument, Causality, Certainty(practical and theoretical), Chance(two meanings of), Common Sense, Complexity and the improbability of God, Conciousness, The Cosmological argument, Eternal things and causality, Eternity of God, Evidence for God, Faith, Final explaination, First cause argument, Five Ways of demonstrating God, the God hypothesis, Goods(objective and intrinsic), Idealists and idealism, Immortality, Intelligence, Materialism, Matter, The difference between the scientific and metaphisical hypothesis, Mind, Morality and reigion, the Multiverse, Necessity and contingency, Occams razor, the alleged paradox of Omniscience and Omnipotence, Ontological argument, Personal explanation, Probability, Proofs of God, Purpose in the Universe, Reductionism in science, Relationship as an intrinsic good or perfection, Revelation, Self-transcendance, Simplicity of the laws of nature, Simplicity (three senses of), Simplicity,complexity and probability, "Skyhookery", Theory of everything, Timelessness of God and Transcendance.
Philosophers and scientists engaged with include: Anselm, Aquinas, Aristotle, Peter Atkins, A.J.Ayer, Martin Buber, Paul Davis, Daniel Dennet, Descartes, Einstein, Bernard d'Espagnate, Hugh Everett, Stephen j.Gould, John Gribbin, Steven Hawking, Hegel, Fred Hoyle, David Hume, Kant, Gottfried Liebniz, Lock, Simon Conway Morris, Isaac Newton, Rudolf Otto, Roger Penrose, Alvin Plantinga, Martin Rees, Thomas Reid, Matt Ridley, Jean Paul Satre, Spinoza, Swinburne, Richard Taylor, Max Tegmark, Steven Weinberg and E.O.Wilson.
As I said, a deceptively thin volume! But one which covers an immense area of philosophical and scientific ground. And although a refutation of the arguments of a notoriously splenetic and ill mannered adversary 'Why there almost certainly is a God' is a measured, dispassionate and gracefully written riposte (-and then some!). Recommended to the more philosophically inclined Christian reader.

Possible further reading:
Gods Undertaker by John Lennox.
Dawkins God by Alister McGrath.
Creation and the world of science by Arthur Peacock.
Science and Creation by John Polkinghorne.
Reason and Reality By John Polkinghorne.
The Existence of God by Richard Swinburne.
The Coherence of Theism. ""
The Existence of God. ""
God, Freedom and evil by Alvin Plantinga.
God, Chance and Neccesity By Keith Ward.
The Big Questions in science and Religion By Keith Ward.

Stonkingly Good - But Very Deep
This book took me several days to read despite the fact it is relatively short at 150 pages. The reason is the content. Here at last is a book that avoids simplistic platitudes and tired old arguments traded by one side or another in religious debates. Instead the author builds a philosophical argument that systematically deconstructs the unchallenged assumptions of Dawkin's materialism, and replaces them with a philosophical framework that is at its core rational and consistent - and that makes God necessary.

Keith Ward is much more honest than certain other writers in this book. His case is convincing, but he draws attention to its limitations - primarily that we must assume the universe is both rational and intelligible. Thus ultimately all he can tell us is "why there almost certainly is a God". But he does exactly that.

The book is heavy going, and will probably only be appreciated fully by readers who know at least some philosophy, some logic and some physics. Ward does his best to put the argument in terms that don't require such a grounding, but the argument relies heavily on the understanding of terms such as necessity, contingency and other such concepts that are the bread and butter of philosophers, but not often discussed over a game of darts in the pub.

But it is quite clear that Keith Ward does something quite remarkable - he pulls the rug from under the assumptions of materialism, and if nothing else, it shows that the arguments of Dawkins et al. cause rather more problems than they resolve. The clear message of this book -whether you accept the hypothesis of God's existence or not - is that belief in God is profoundly a rational belief.

Thoroughly recommended - a book to make you think long and hard whether you agree with it or not.