God Forsaken, Dinesh d’Souza
Socrates in the City, edited by Eric Metaxas.
Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America, Mark R. Levin
God Forsaken, Dinesh d’Souza
Socrates in the City, edited by Eric Metaxas.
Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America, Mark R. Levin
I’ve read Dr. Berlinski’s book you mentioned, “The Devil’s Delusion” and am currently reading several IntelligentDesign tomes including Stephen C. Meyer’s, “Signature In The Cell”, and Michael J. Behe’s, “The Edge of Evolution”. I have a book of essays from Discovery Institute Press by Dr. Berlinski entitled, “The Deniable Darwin”, which displays his sharp-witted prose.
I was just reading some blogging on Prof. Will Provine’s beliefs which I was introduced to in the documentary by Ben Stein, “Expelled”. He said that he was told it would be an unbiased presentation, but was disappointed when the program leaned heavily in favor of ID. I am glad to have seen and heard from many proponents of the nascient theory of ID, because I’ve heard plenty from the other side on the tired old evolutionary theory generally referred to as, “Darwinism”.
Several of the other titles in your list interested me also and am familiar with a few incuding, “I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Athiest”. I’d be interested in reading the “Theology of the New Testament” you are reading but those books take more time to read and I’ve found myself in the middle of several.
Thanks Pastor Jeff for your ear or rather your eyes.
Thanks for contacting me. Sounds like you have quite a reading list going. You are correct that Theology of the New Testament is a fairly ambitious read, but well worth the time. I would love to hear some of your responses to the ID stuff you are reading since that is of particular interest to me.
I read Compte-Sponville’s A Small Treatise on the Great Virtues. It is an excellent book, with a surprisingly traditionally Christian list of virtues and an entertaining and solid defense of them. C.S. (for short, not to be confused with C.S. Lewis) has some wisdom that I think is worthwhile. However, he is definitely not a Christian himself, and it’s important to note his frequent deviations from Christian belief. I believe it was the chapter on Humility where he briefly gave his reason for being an atheist: he thought the idea of a God who had specially created him and loved him was a prideful idea, because it made him seem too special. Supposedly the virtue of humility causes him to not believe in God. It was a pretty weak argument. Despite this, I think God in His grace has allowed some good wisdom to come into C.S.’s book.
(in fact, my philosophy professor many years back, when we read this book, said that Compte-Sponville was “as Christian as a philosopher can get without actually being a Christian.” That statement may be dubious, especially to we believers, but there is some truth in the gist of it. C.S. seems to treat the Christian tradition with great respect. If only he would meet and acknowledge Christ!)
I think you have described quite well what I have read of C.S. He is about the most Christian sounding (or just nostalgic) atheist I have ever read. I must admit that it is enjoyable reading such a “soft-toned” skeptic–if that word actually fits him.
That sounds about right for him. One of my favorite insights of his is that “forgiveness is like an overabundance of freedom.” I could only think of Christ’s command that we forgive others as we are forgiven by God.