Book Review: Why God won’t go away by Alister McGrath

IN THIS BOOK, Alister McGrath offers an overview and critique of the movement known as the New Atheism.  He begins by looking at what the New Atheism is, with particular references to four names associated with the movement – Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and Christopher Hitchens.  He also explains the differences between the “New” Atheism and other, more moderate forms of Atheism.  McGrath then addresses three themes often identified by the movement as arguments against religious belief – those of violence, reason and science.  He then assesses the current state of the New Atheism before asking what the future may hold.

This is an engaging and accessible book.  It’s succinct but thorough and as such is a very useful tool in understanding the New Atheism, its strengths and its weaknesses.  By looking at this worldview in such a way it’s a brilliant introduction for those wanting to understand the New Atheism better without focusing on only one issue or one associated ‘name’ or book.

McGrath is not a sloganeer and offers a perceptive analysis, asking difficult questions of the New Atheist worldview while attempting to give them a fair hearing.  It is interesting that although New Atheists accuse religious people of being irrational and ‘vile’, they frequently resort to insult to try and make their often incoherent point.  This appears to frustrate McGrath more than anything – rather than having a constructive conversation it becomes a shouting contest whereby reason  and rationality appear to have very little say – highly ironic since New Atheists like to accuse anyone with a belief in God as ‘irrational’.  Religion, to them, is evil, and God the cause of all the world’s woes.  But ‘evil’ is a moral statement, and if God is a delusion how can he cause anything?

The New Atheist tendency to proclaim itself as right and everyone else as wrong smacks of the very fanaticism it criticises.  It fails to back up its statements from history and ignores the criticism from other atheists, seeing them somehow as traitors to the cause.

I could go on far longer – but this is a review rather than an opinion post!  I will simply say this – if this is a topic that interests you, or indeed you are fascinated by either religion, philosophy, reason or science, this is an excellent book.





I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

The Lord is my Light - Lecture with Professor Alister McGrath

Spent some time listening to this lecture by Alister McGrath this morning. He tends to tackle topics that interest me, theology and apologetics among them. I decided to plug my netbook into the radio and listen while doing the ironing downstairs. It's a good way of getting two things done at once but I did find myself hissing occasionally that I did not have a notebook and pen to hand. I know my mind is so full of holes by nature that I cannot rely on my memory.


So, I may need to listen/watch again at some point - with a pen instead of an iron!  Plus, the screen was not in my view as I stood at the ironing board, trying to get the fluff off a T-Shirt.  I did run and get a coat hanger at one point, too.

I liked the ideas of seeing Christianity as light but also something that sheds light on everything else, seeing doctrines as both the glass of a window but also seeing through it to a wider landscape.  McGrath talks of theology as something that informs but also excites, something we do together as we look at scripture, drawing each other's attention to things we had not previously noticed (one of the reasons I love this kind of discussion).

In relation to apologetics, I was struck by the fact that in order to translate something, we need to understand our own meaning - which is often what I'm trying to put across when I bang on about intelligent faith.

 If you're interested in theology, apologetics and thinking deeply about faith this may be worth a look, as McGrath talks about loving God with all our minds - while still allowing for the fact that there are some things beyond our mental grasp, some things words cannot contain and some questions that cannot be resolved in a logical way.

Lecture with Professor Alister McGrath – Lanier Theological Library

Image from Alister McGrath's biography on RZIM website