Product Description

The subject of atheism has been much in the news, following the highly publicized release of radically atheistic books by Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens. This volume, which contains the transcript of a lively dialogue between Alister McGrath and Daniel Dennett on the topic of the present status of atheism, highlights points of agreement and disagreement between the two. It also provides the reader with an interdisciplinary assessment by a team of philosophers and theologians, of atheism in comparison with Christian theism.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #492106 in Books
• Published on: 2008-10-23
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

About the Author
Before taking up the newly-created post of Professor of Theology, Ministry and Education at King's College, London, ALISTER McGRATH was Professor of Historical Theology at Oxford University. A prolific author, his recent book (with Joanna Collicutt McGrath), The Dawkins Delusion? Atheist fundamentalism and the denial of the divine (SPCK), is an international bestseller. American philosopher DANIEL DENNETT, currently Director of the Center for Cognitive Studies and Austin B Fletcher Professor of Philosophy at Tufts University, is author of Breaking the Spell: Religion as a natural phenomenon (Penguin) and many other titles. ROBERT B STEWART is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Theology at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and the editor of The Resurrection of Jesus: John Dominic Crossan and N T Wright in Dialogue (SPCK).

Customer Reviews

A civilised debate
This book is a welcome civilized debate between Christians and Atheists. The articles are fascinating, well informed, and well written. McGrath and Dennett are well known and both lead their side well.

The supporting articles add greatly to the opening dialogue. The book is a great overview of the current best arguments for and against both Christianity and Atheism.

Needless to say no definite conclusion either for or against either side is reached. However what this book shows is that each side of the argument needs the other to stimulate and sharpen their own thinking. There are lazy default positions on both sides, none of which will be happy being challenged by the powerful thinkers in this book.

Perhaps the conclusion of this book is that the future of Atheism is about as good or bad as the future of Christianity.

The perspective of this book is very much Western world, and in future I suspect the Islamic world will want a strong foot in the debate too.

Selection of articles about atheism and Christian belief
The initial part of this book is a transcript of a dialogue between Alister McGrath and Daniel Dennett on the present status of atheism, including some questions from the audience at the event. This part is actually fairly short and the book then contains seven additional essays by various thinkers (mostly Christian), purportedly on the future of atheism but sometimes wandering off into other, although interesting, directions.

The introduction of the book was excellent in setting the scene and there was a real gem of a paper, by Evan Fales, that made me instantly turn back to its beginning and read it again.

I felt that there was a missing thread in some ways, that despite containing much interesting food for thought it wasn't particularly coherent as a whole, but it is an excellent resource for considering arguments for and against atheism and religious belief away from the shrill, shouty manner of some of the more well-known atheists and Christian apologists in the media.